Films and Emotions

[Valentina]

Hello everyone,

At the moment I’m writing my bachelor thesis about films and the emotion of sadness/being moved. In my paper I seek to analyse the impact of a specific film scenario on the emotional state of the viewer. The scenario I want to analyse more closely deals with a character who leaves messages for the bereaved after his or her death (e.g. My Life Without Me by Isabel Coixet). These messages are presented through a certain medium (e.g. tape, letter, video). What thus interests me is why these messages after the death of a character are so effective in moving the spectator. In order to do this, it is useful to first assemble a corpus of films, which share a similar narrative motif. Therefore, I would like to ask for your help in finding some good examples.

Thanks, Valentina

[Theophane]

Hello, Valentina,

Maybe it's the revelation of who a person was, in retrospect, carries more emotional weight than the revelation of who a person is while still alive and available for comment. That, and inescapable human mortality, the reminder that death comes for us all. Death is hard to accept!

Regards, Peter

[Sy Borg]

It's mourning, Valentina. I'll never forget My Dog Skip ... the kid's grown up and moved on but his faithful little dog who's been with him through thick and thin continues to lie on his bed each day waiting for the boy to come hom; he was only thing that put a light in the wretched animal's life.

Yes yes, I know, it's only a dog ... but the poignancy of it made a mess of me (I like animals too). Damn, even writing that got me sniffly and I'm not a crier . However, the faithful doggie points us to the other side of tear-jerking.

It's not just mourning. Self-pitying caterwauling doesn't touch us like faithfulness, courage and dignity in the face of unbearable sorrow, like Pagliacci, pressing on even though his heart was breaking. Poignant, dignified suffering really cuts us up.

[Steve165]

I think poignant is a good word to use here. A sharp jag from the mind. Something that isn't trapped or diverted. A realisation that you now know something final that you didn't know before or the person communicating didn’t know before when they were making the message.

The specific case you are thinking about is highly personal of course and if we see someone else going through this we can empathise with their state of mind even if we have not had the same specific experience.

There is a lot of interest in the First World War at the moment and seeing old films of pre-war. These are not specific messages at all but there is a similar response.

[Schaps]

There are many examples in history and media other than cinema that evoke emotional responses due to messages left for the bereaved that may add value to the thesis. In some cases the messages are not clearly left for the bereaved but the text/ lyrics (in the case of songs) serve the same purpose. Examples are: 1. Captain Robert Falcon Scott's messages to the public and his colleagues' family when he knew that he and his comrades were going to perish in the antarctic. 2. Eva Cassidy's rendition of Fields of Gold -evoking a sad/poignant emotional response from her audience. She undoubtedly sang this song knowing that she was dying from malignant melanoma. 3. Eric Clapton's rendition of Tears in Heaven which he performed in association with his grief over the accidental death of his young son. All these evoke emotions in the audience because the audience is able to place the lyrics/messages in context of the events surrounding the compostion. That makes the messages more meaningful than they would have been in isolation.

[Steve165]

I think poignant is a good word to use here. A sharp jag from the mind. Something that isn't trapped or diverted. A realisation that you now know something final that you didn't know before or the person communicating didn’t know before when they were making the message.

The specific case you are thinking about is highly personal of course and if we see someone else going through this we can empathise with their state of mind even if we have not had the same specific experience.

There is a lot of interest in the First World War at the moment and seeing old films of pre-war. These are not specific messages at all but there is a similar response.

[Cloudborne]

"The protagonist of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a nine-year-old boy named Oskar Schell. Oskar Schell's father Thomas Schell dies in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, before the narrative begins. While looking through his father's closet, Oskar finds a key in a small envelope inside a vase; on the outside of the envelope the word "Black" is written in the top left corner. Curious, Oskar sets off on a mission to contact every person in New York City with the last name Black, in alphabetical order, in order to find the lock to the key his father left behind. The novel also has a separate narrative that eventually converges with the main story through a series of letters written by Oskar's grandfather to Oskar's father and by Oskar's grandmother to Oskar himself, based on real life events."

And

"Where the Day Takes You is a 1992 drama film directed by Marc Rocco. The film tells the story of teenage runaways trying to survive on the streets of Los Angeles. The film was nominated for the "Critics Award" at the Deauville Film Festival and won the Golden Space Needle Award at the Seattle International Film Festival. It marked the feature film debut of superstar Will Smith and featured an ensemble cast that includes Dermot Mulroney, Sean Astin, Balthazar Getty, Lara Flynn Boyle, Ricki Lake, James LeGros, Laura San Giacomo, David Arquette, and Christian Slater. The film was primarily shot on location in Los Angeles and Venice, California and included several songs by Melissa Etheridge."

It's mostly in the end of Where the Day Takes You, where you get that scenario you are looking for.

But these messages left for the bereaved aren't necessarily consciously done...so I don't know if they fit your criteria, but they do have great emotional impact upon the viewer.

*All quotes are from Wikipedia