If you hook me, I’m along for the ride. Just stay consistent.
Finales? Stay even the slightest bit consistent and I’m yours. BSG? I’ll defend it vociferously. Game of Thrones? I had no problem with it. I didn’t need it to slow down. I didn’t watch Lost but saw parts of the finale and it seemed cool to me. Voyager? I could have used MORE emotional manipulation.
But Return of the Jedi??? YUUUUCkkkKKKK. Too jarring a shift in tone. Ewoks…etc etc…
But once you hook me, I’m the worlds easiest mark. I cried right through Avengers Endgame. Hawkeyes family…Ant-Man in San Francisco…Christ, Tony meeting his dad, me getting the exact final shot i wanted…wAHHHHHHH
Shit, I’m afraid to go see 1917.
Pretty high up there. I’m cognizant of it in real time and sometimes resent it. I was watching a late night show a little while ago and some country act came on and sang about his dead dad and I lost it. Not only do I not like country, but my dad’s still alive!
I was cursing at them though the screen while bawling. Cheap ass emotionally manipulative bitches!
I’ve often wondered if I’m emotionally stunted or something, because I’m about a 2 or 3 on that scale. I can just about count on one hand the number of movies that have caused me to shed a tear.
I guess it depends on what we’re calling “emotional manipulation”. I can enjoy a good story. I can get excited over cool things happening on screen or feel the tension from a good drama. But I very rarely get weepy or sad over stuff on the screen and actually notice myself hardening against the attempt to force me into that state. Superheroes fighting stuff and making big booms? Exciting and fun. Superheroes having tear-jerky death scenes? Meh.
I expect the “feel a sad” aspect is what the OP is asking about so I’ll say a 2 or 3. It’s pretty rare but I’m not entirely made of stone (looking at you, “The Iron Giant”).
I’m a big ol’ mooshy 10, especially when it comes to animals or old people.
My most recent crying jag was while watching the new comedy Zoey’s Incredible Play List. Peter Gallagher plays the father who is suffering from some disease that leaves him in a catatonic state. Did I mention the show is a comedy? So I’m watching it and I “know” it’s just a show and I “know” Mr. Gallagher and his eyebrows are alive and well, yet every scene with him makes me start to blub. Then we get to the climactic scene where Zoey is talking to him, telling him how much she needs him and he stands up and bursts into song (True Colors) This is supposed to be uplifting and hopeful and I was a quivering sobbing mess :o
Yeah, it is all emotional manipulation, obviously, but I still remain resentful about being manipulated. I think what matters to me is whether there is great sadness in the story, without a great song-and-dance being made about it (Shadowlands, is my obvious example - sometimes I’ll tear up just thinking about it); whereas 1917 - nah. Laid on with a trowel.
My daughter is a sucker for dog movies. She watched “Eight Below” (the movie about the sled dogs left in Antarctica) and her husband told me that it turned out to be a seven kleenex movie. She has a teeshirt that says “I don’t care who dies in the movie, as long as the dog lives”
I’m probably a 2 or 3, I tend to over-analyze plot devices and common tropes, and recognize manipulation of the audience, whether it be music or whatever. The only recent movie I remember getting choked up over is Christopher Robin.
I’ve never cried at a film or TV. Not once. I’ve choked up and felt the emotional force but never any tears and the choking up happens very rarely to the point where I can’t remember the last time. So very close to a zero on the scale.
Lol, I had to laugh at that third item you listed since I rejoiced when that moment happened because
(a) that character was absolutely negligible in importance (except for exposition)
(b) that particular actor–who is gratuitously included in many of that director’s projects–is not very good at all.
So I was glad when he bit the dust. He had it coming.
I’d rate myself as below 5 most of the time. Exceptions: if it touches my one or two sore points; or for no particular reason. Example: I completely lost it when, in season 1 or 2 of Star Trek TNG
Tasha Yar was killed and they showed her video goodbye to her crewmates.(I’m spoilering it just in case, even though it was over 30 years ago). Anyway, I can’t think of a reason why I lost it, I guess saying goodbye posthumously to loved ones is one of my sore points.
Other than that, usually I’m just too aware of everything going on and how manipulative people are in general to allow myself to be sucked in. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.