# Books/movies that make you cry--do you genuinely dislike this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 11, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054 "2009-05-11T16:58:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/41 "2009-05-12T04:43:30Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I kind envy you folks who say you feel catharsis after crying from a story. It can be handy, especially when you are trying to be tough and not point to what is really messing you up. _Readers Digest_ used to have one or two articles that were specifically aimed at providing catharsis (dead dogs and dying old folks, mostly) so I would grab an issue, head too my room, and, half an hour later, be rid of the negative emotions built up over weeks. > [@](#): > > But then, I’m bipolar so my emotions don’t always get off the train when the ride’s over. “Merely” depressive here, so a bit of release helped. Drugs help more, and I can’t remember the last time I did that. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/42 "2009-05-12T11:53:29Z")
I escape to books and movies to feel good, not to feel sad. Also, I don’t want to come away feeling angry and other negative emotions. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/43 "2009-05-12T12:17:14Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I’m a huge sap. I’m a big, tall guy who is described by his loving wife to strangers as “kind of scary looking”. But I’ll cry at sad bits in movies. Me too, except for the tall part. I’m a big sap especially when there are bad things happening in my life. I don’t sob but I tear up. I don’t like it very much. ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/44 "2009-05-12T13:48:56Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I kind envy you folks who say you feel catharsis after crying from a story. I never ever have had that experience. For me, if a movie/book/whatever makes me cry, generally speaking that means that I will feel shitty and depressed for at least a full day afterward. But then, I’m bipolar so my emotions don’t always get off the train when the ride’s over. This is me. I will carry the sadness around with me like a weight. I HATE _The Notebook_, which my FIL got me to watch, I HATE _A Prayer for Owen Meany_, or _Odd Thomas_. I have enough crap in my life. Give me some happiness ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/45 "2009-05-12T14:42:22Z")
Spider Robinson once told Heinlein that he never read the last few paragraphs of “The man Who Traveled In Elephants” without tears in his eyes. Heinlein’s reply was that that was his specific intention in writing the story, and Robinson’s statement let him know that he succeeded. I always have tears in my eyes at that point, too. (It’s not sad in any way, but it’ll bring tears, just the same!) ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/46 "2009-05-12T15:55:26Z")
It is certainly appropriate to dislike material that exists to evoke feelings of sadness. But I don’t get the anger I often hear about it, like it’s a cheat that the art is “emotionally manipulative.” That’s why people make art. If it wasn’t supposed to be emotionally manipulative, it wouldn’t exist. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/47 "2009-05-12T16:12:30Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > It is certainly appropriate to dislike material that exists to evoke feelings of sadness. But I don’t get the anger I often hear about it, like it’s a cheat that the art is “emotionally manipulative.” That’s why people make art. If it wasn’t supposed to be emotionally manipulative, it wouldn’t exist. Well, in my opinion, if it actually makes me cry/sad, then the fact that it’s good enough to do so makes me like it. If I roll my eyes, sigh, or even giggle and say, “God, I thought he’d never die” it often falls into the category of glurge, or terrible YA lit, or something. But then maybe I’m unusual in that things that make a lot of people cry often make me laugh… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/48 "2009-05-12T16:27:03Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > God, I HATED that book! It was quite possibly the most idiotic series of waking up sequences ever. First he woke up from the nightmare–but he was still in the clutches of the evil nurse! Then he woke up again–in the parent’s car! Then he woke up _again_–and they hadn’t even gone on the trip! Then he woke up _ **again** _…as a dog. Seriously?! You take the weakest, most cliched ‘twist’ ending in any story ever and use it FOUR TIMES? What the fuck? What were you possibly thinking? Were you thinking? Or did you just pick random pages from the file of M. Night Shyamalan rejects and mix them all together? And that story was actually interesting before that, too. They were…what, in the drywall or something? I was wondering how they could possibly escape. They don’t. They wake up over and over again. As dogs. Fuck! Are we thinking of the same book? I know there’s a book called Don’t Go to Sleep that has a bunch of dream sequences, but I don’t think My Hairiest Adventure had any dreams. The kids put on the tan stuff and it turns out they were dogs all along…(yes, I know way too much about this). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/49 "2009-05-12T16:41:42Z")
I actually cried in the middle of _My Dog Skip_. There’s a scene where the kid is all pissed at the dog and telling him to go away or something. I don’t even remember the plot point but I cried and cried. “Nooooooo, little boy! Don’t yell at the doggy! He loves you SO MUCH!!” You guys are making me cry. ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/50 "2009-05-12T16:43:17Z")
> [@Doody\_Pants](#): > > Can I take a guess? Because the only SK character death that made me flat out cry like a little girl was Wolf. True dat… ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/51 "2009-05-12T16:46:20Z")
> [@Doody\_Pants](#): > > Can I take a guess? Because the only SK character death that made me flat out cry like a little girl was Wolf. Oh, I think I cried for that as well. However, the specific Stephen King moment I had in mind was: In IT, when Eddie dies. It was so sudden, I was shocked and then I started bawling and couldn’t continue reading for like 45 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/52 "2009-05-13T01:29:31Z")
Certain Girls broke my heart. But I did just recently reread Good in Bed, and even though I knew what was to come, I still loved it. ---
**Author:** ![Bamboo\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Bamboo\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bamboo_Boy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/53 "2009-05-14T21:43:54Z")
Yes, I like the catharsis. ---
**Author:** ![Bamboo\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Bamboo\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bamboo_Boy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054/54 "2009-05-14T22:08:41Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I’ve never seen _Brokeback Mountain_, but just thinking about the final scene (as has been described to me) with Ennis holding that shirt and saying, “Jack, I swear” can make me come close to tearing up. Damn. Forgot about this damned movie. God, that was just so shattering and…just cosmically tragic and enraging. But a quiet, resigned, defeated, futile sort of rage. Ok, that movie I don’t ever want to see again. I’m glad I saw it, but I don’t want to live that pain and heartache again watching that kind of raw _utterly unnecessary_ suffering just tore me up inside. That was just too much and too real. I think it’s the only movie/book/song I feel like that about. The funny thing is I actually bought the DVD, I covetously want my own copy. I watched the extras but had already seen the feature and couldn’t bring myself to see it again. Yup, I’m looking right at it now. Sitting there collecting dust. Well, I guess I can tell myself I am supporting the director and the production in general for this very real and brave film, voting with my wallet like a good little Capitalist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-that-make-you-cry-do-you-genuinely-dislike-this/496054.md?page=2)