I have found this interesting article online -
The Science Behind The Weepy Movie.From ‘Beaches’ to ‘Love Story’, everyone’s guilty of having had a good cry whilst watching a movie but what is it that makes us cry? Sky+HD and top psychologist, Professor Kim A. Bard, Ph.D, can now reveal the science behind the films that make us cry be it out of sadness, happiness, anger, fear or passion.
Kim also explains why watching movies in more detail in high definition will make us cry even more, and why ‘Beaches’ is officially the biggest tearjerker of all time.
Professor Bard, a psychologist at the Centre of the Study of Emotion at Portsmouth University who has written numerous articles on emotional and cognitive expression, analysed a selection of movies in both high definition and standard definition.
Through her analysis she identified four key triggers in movies that set our lips quivering and our eyes streaming. These include how often the characters wept, the overall sadness of the movie and the underlying positive message of the film, all moderated by the degree of happiness experienced.
She also reveals how, when used in the right combination, these elements can produce an intensive emotional experience, and that this is intensified even further when movies are watched in high definition.
From the elements highlighted by Professor Bard as being the key factors in movies that make us cry, the following equation was developed to reveal the ultimate weepy movies:
WEEPINESS = (TC x SI x II)
HH
Key:
TC = Tear Count
II = Inspirational Index
SI = Sadness Index
HH = Happy Highs
To read the full article:
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/movies/The ... -7688.html