My first reading of that line was, "I can't compete with that [story]" -- like, I can't one-up you there, my life hasn't included anything comparable.
Anyway, what else could he have said? Not "My life can't compete with that" -- because Geoffrey is comparing his life and his acting, but Terry is comparing his life-plus-career to Geoffrey's life-plus-career, and "my life can't compete with that" wouldn't allow for that distinction. It'd just sound like Terry's saying his regular life can't compete to Geoffrey's acted life. (I guess that's my big problem with Terry as bisexual in this scene: if he's saying "I can't compete with that [romantically]," then he's missing that distinction too, because nothing can compete and that's Geoffrey's point.) And "My career can't compete with that" is just lame.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-12-29 06:47 am (UTC)Anyway, what else could he have said? Not "My life can't compete with that" -- because Geoffrey is comparing his life and his acting, but Terry is comparing his life-plus-career to Geoffrey's life-plus-career, and "my life can't compete with that" wouldn't allow for that distinction. It'd just sound like Terry's saying his regular life can't compete to Geoffrey's acted life. (I guess that's my big problem with Terry as bisexual in this scene: if he's saying "I can't compete with that [romantically]," then he's missing that distinction too, because nothing can compete and that's Geoffrey's point.) And "My career can't compete with that" is just lame.