Do you remember the first time you cried while watching a movie?
Come on, don’t be ashamed to admit it, I know I’m not. I’m not ashamed of my emotions and I am even less ashamed to show them.
People who cry over movies tend to have something that a lot of other people haven’t really cultivated. It’s called empathy.
It’s actually the ability to identify and understand another person’s situation, feelings, and motivations. It’s like putting yourself in someone else’s shoes or seeing things from somebody else’s point of view. (1)
Some people are born without empathy!
However, many people are born and live without the slightest touch of empathy. They can’t really feel for other people so it takes a special type of person to have empathy.
It takes a lot of strength to be empathic and this says a lot of things about you. Generally, it means that you are strong enough to withstand that pain, but you can feel it as well.
When you feel empathy it means that you are strong enough to be strong for others as well to the point that you are actually able to feel what they are feeling.
So don’t be ashamed if you actually care for another person (even if that person is a fictional character) or if you cry during a movie. (2)
According to research, around 92 % of people have cried during at least one movie. It gives me comfort to know that I am not the only person who has ever cried during watching Bambi, Braveheart or The Notebook.
Movies are designed in a way that impacts us on an emotional level and they more often succeed in this endeavor. So it’s not your fault if you cry during a movie.
When we watch movies with highly emotional content, oxytocin (a potent hormone that behaves as a neurotransmitter in the brain) is released in our body system.
“Oxytocin makes us more sensitive to social cues around us. In many situations, social cues motivate us to engage to help others, particularly if the other person seems to need our help. …
So, go see a movie and laugh and cry. It’s good for your brain, and just might motivate you to make positive changes in your life and in others’ lives as well,” said Paul J. Zak, a neuroeconomics at Claremont Graduate School.
Although you may cry yourself out during a movie, you realize that it’s just a movie and you easily recover after watching it.
This ability says something else about these people.
People who cry during a movie are equally strong and smart to separate fiction from reality.
You might as well shed a few tears if you have been where the character has been. These are the tears of memories that are painful.
Other tears can be simply a result of your overwhelming feeling from the artistic genius of a film. This is called Stendhal Syndrome and it means that a work of art moved you to the point that you are having physical and emotional symptoms as well.
Tears are a beautiful manifestation of the potency and range of our emotions. We produce tears during times of great pain and excessive joy as well.
There’s a reason many of us end up reaching for the tissues not only during profoundly sad movie scenes but also during the more triumphant and happy ones.
We wouldn’t experience tears in the first place if we were never meant to neglect our emotions or hold our feelings in. Crying is good for you, well most of the times. It can be very helpful for reducing stress, and it’s often providing a boost to our moods.
On the other hand, not crying increases stress which can eventually have a negative impact on our physical health. Without tears, we literally wouldn’t be able to see since they help us maintain our eyesight.
Tears prove vital lubrication for our eyelids and eyeballs so they grant us sight and strength in both a figurative and literal sense.
So if you feel like crying the next time you are watching a movie, don’t hold it back, and embrace it!
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.