Do you ever get those moments where you just need a good cry? I'm talking ugly sobbing but feeling-so-much-better-after-you-get-it-out kind of cry. Just like I need a good laugh from time to time and scroll through the stand up category of Netflix, I have my list of go-to movies for a good cry. Nothing has to be wrong — it just feels good to let some emotions out for no reason.
So I popped in my "Inside Out" DVD and the water works were embarrassingly uncontrollable.
I'm not usually an emotional person, so why do I cry during movies? (In my defense, you cannot possibly watch "Inside Out" without crying. If you do, you actually have no soul.)
Approximately 92 percent of people have cried during a movie.
Whoa. If this is so normal, why do so many of us consider crying to be an attribute associated with weakness? We are all human. We are all entitled to having human feelings. Crying proves we're human. Crying proves we have human feelings. What's so wrong with showing we care?
Nothing, my friends. Absolutely nothing. And I'm here to tell you that crying is actually a sign of strength.
Empathy is an amazing thing.
It makes us better. It helps us grow. Fiction increases people's empathetic capacity because it gives us the opportunity to see things from a different perspective. When we get the chance to walk in another person's shoes, we become more understanding and less judgmental.
As a huge movie enthusiast, my favorite thing about movies is that (the good ones at least) are designed to affect us on an emotional level. Good movies will have you thinking and feeling. When we see something with intense emotional content, the brain releases oxytocin, which is an important hormone that also acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. This is what influences us to be more selfless, empathetic, and loving. This is what helps us connect with other people.
Paul J. Zak, a Claremont Graduate School neuron-economist, is a world-renowned expert on oxytocin. He refers to it as the “moral molecule.”
Take the experiment one of his grad students conducted, for example: they showed participants a video from St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Half of the group saw a part of the video where a father talks about the terminal brain cancer of his young son, Ben. The other half of the group watched a part where Ben and his father visited the zoo. The part of the video where Ben’s cancer was discussed produced a much more emotional response among the group than the part where he and his father went to the zoo. Those who saw the more emotional portion of the video exhibited a 47 percent increase of oxytocin, which proved to alter their behavior — but in a positive way. After watching the video, everyone was asked to make a choice that involved giving money away. Those who watched the emotional portion were much more likely to give to charity than those who didn’t.
When we get emotional during movies, we are experiencing the release of oxytocin, which is good because it connects us to what the fictional character is experiencing, making us more empathetic and understanding.
Zak explains, "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 as hard as you want, because it’s good for your brain. It also might motivate you to make positive changes in your life and in others’ lives as well. While we might seem weak to the harsher side of society, just know that our compassion is what makes us emotionally stronger.
WORKS CITED:
Bebensee, Loren. "People Who Are Emotional During Movies Aren't Weak, They're Emotionally Strong." Relationship Surgery. N.p., 24 Aug. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.
