[Autumnleaf]

Maybe this is not true for you but it is for me. Some movies like Gladiator, mentioned in similar thread, and Braveheart make me tear up. On the other hand, I can handle some of the hardest and saddest things in life without shedding a tear. Can anyone else relate to this or offer explanations why it might be the way it is?

[MortalWombat]

I'm not sure. Possibly the detachment of feeling? I just realize that they're just movies; they're no big deal. I don't recall ever crying during a movie, which is "odd" for females. I watched My Sister's Keeper the other day. I didn't tear up at all; my best friend and a guy that was present, on the other hand, cried like babies. Things don't affect me that way much.

[True Rune]

Never cried to a movie.. I guess there are some moments where you're moved, but you don't need to cry to be moved.

[Geise]

Movies present highly operatic, specifically dramatized emotional situations that play on our imaginations. Real life does not; especially when you're not an emotionally driven being. The more prone to escapism your mind is, the more you might find emotional satisfaction in movies. Intellectual people need intellectual stimulus to tap into emotions. Just my personal opinion though.

[igeryu]

I've cried in a few movies...well, not cried, but I got teary.

Two times I recall were during the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The first was when the Ents took their 'Last March' against Isengard...That whole "wth, we're all going to die anyways, so lets help the rest of the world even though they treat us like crap" thing struck me. And the second one was the end of the third movie, when the Hobbits bowed to the king and queen, and the king responded, "...you bow to no one" and proceeded to bow to the little people.

Curious Case of Benjamin Button got me a little emotional, but I think its the whole father-daughter thing.

Other than that, I generally don't get teary during movies.

[AtheneNoctua]

I cry in a couple of movies but it's books that really do it for me. Captain Corelli's Mandolin makes me cry every time I read it.
I don't tend to cry at sad things in real life, my friends are often in floods of tears whereas I'm completely dry eyed and often end up feeling guilty

[Leg]

Not many movies touch my feelings, nor the kind of movies I like are really emotional (noir, legal, crime fiction, sci-fi) although some movies with good directors and great actors I appreciate for their performance and character rappresentation (De Niro, Al Pacino, Douglas, Brando) sometimes they arouse in me some emotion; but I think because of the actors' and director's skill... that in that shot are supposed to move people.

[Zodd]

It's also relatively easier for me to cry at a movie then about something what is real. Maybe because of what happens in the world is harder for me to relate to and it isn't harder for me getting more emotional over something that isn't real but could actually happen. There are things in real life that make me cry but not something like someone dying or people falling in love, that's just normal and I could be crying nonstop if I would cry about those things, people die and marry all the time, bound to happen to people close. Movies show more then just someone dying or falling in love, the good ones that is.

[shaunmikex]

Titanic.

Celine Dion's voice + Cameron's cinematography was too much.

Taxi Driver
What disparaged INTJ has never in the slightest related without the psychotic rage exhibited by Travis?

The Machinist
The way he slowly went mad...

[floramacivor]

It's the set-up and the music. I think if real life had a well-planned soundtrack, we'd cry more at real life.

[Synapse]

Well, movies are highly exaggerated accounts of life. Set up with soundtracks and cinematography, movies are designed to manipulate emotions significantly -- well, the good, powerful, evocative ones are supposed to at least. Their inescapable nature is also conductive to moving people -- life does not work often like an emotional barrage as subtle cues get lost, people don't pay attention, etc. Acting in movies, no matter how proficient the director is at making the movie look natural, is exaggerated: body language is heavily focused on and facial expressions (in the best actors) are heightened via the actor's natural aptitude and some clever camera manipulating. Thus, movies are perfect for making the viewer feel a certain way as they are so direct and laden with emotional content. The emotional intensity of movies is heightened also by the viewer's perception of the movie based on their life and experiences; this is why some people cry at movies that others feel are "campy". Some movies like this that I have personally "fell prey to" include "Homeward Bound", the middle of "A Beautiful Mind" where Nash goes insane, and "The Machinist". Thus, for me, emotional movies feature animals or people going crazy and/or being rejected by society for that craziness.

[LifeWellWasted]

When I cry during a movie it's usually because the theme of the movie elicits a certain memory for me. Usually loss. The Fountain, and What Dreams May Come were good for this. Real life is never as poetic or beautiful so I am never sent tumbling over the precipice of emotional instability while active in it.

[Obs3ss3d]

I cried, almost throughout the entire movie [Seven pounds] when I first watched it. I watched it again and realised I was depressed, self destructive and suicidal at the time. Now the movie seems so contrived and over the top, not to mention unbelievable. Your emotional state does play a part in your reaction to certain films.

[Antares]

I cried by the end of Moulin Rouge. The death scene is just too sad. Movies, when well done, are just so poignant. More so than real life.

[AngryGroceries]

I feel like I'm not as into real life compared to being into a movie. Kinda strange.

[Imperator]

Originally Posted by igeryu To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I've cried in a few movies...well, not cried, but I got teary. Two times I recall were during the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The first was when the Ents took their 'Last March' against Isengard...That whole "wth, we're all going to die anyways, so lets help the rest of the world even though they treat us like crap" thing struck me. And the second one was the end of the third movie, when the Hobbits bowed to the king and queen, and the king responded, "...you bow to no one" and proceeded to bow to the little people.

You too?

I have no idea what it is with that scene. Wave of emotion ahoy! A little teary eyed, fluttering heart, and deep breaths.

I think it has something to do with the whole paying deference to the profound impact done by the "smallest" players thing.

[rhiesa]

The movie that made me cry more than any other is called 'Ten promises to my dog.'

It's not that fantastic of a movie really, no epic scenes, no touching soundtrack. Just ten or so years of a teenage girl and her love for a puppy that grows up and dies. I cried from five minutes into the movie until the closing credits.

[reijiro]

Originally Posted by igeryu To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I've cried in a few movies...well, not cried, but I got teary. Two times I recall were during the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The first was when the Ents took their 'Last March' against Isengard...That whole "wth, we're all going to die anyways, so lets help the rest of the world even though they treat us like crap" thing struck me. And the second one was the end of the third movie, when the Hobbits bowed to the king and queen, and the king responded, "...you bow to no one" and proceeded to bow to the little people. Curious Case of Benjamin Button got me a little emotional, but I think its the whole father-daughter thing. Other than that, I generally don't get teary during movies.

lol. LOTR made me weep pathetically as well. i don't go crying in real life. But movies hit me when I least expect it and I just... cry! (i cried when the intro of the movie came out, that last bowing scene as well, and that speech strider gave before rushing into mordor)

In Real life i'm a bit puzzled at how easily other people cry.

[floramacivor]

	Originally Posted by reijiro To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	lol. LOTR made me weep pathetically as well.

I didn't during the movie, but did in parts of the book.

[reijiro]

	Originally Posted by floramacivor To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I didn't during the movie, but did in parts of the book.

there's probably something about epic stories that reduce us all(?) to a shaking, sobbing mess.

[macavity]

Interesting thread. This is definitely true for me too, though I hadn't framed it in terms of personality type.

To the original poster:- do you have any evidence this is true for INTJs in general (and perhaps other types too), or is this simply a personal theory?

I suppose if there's any degree of emotional repression or awkwardness in normal life, then these feelings might come out more strongly through other outlets.

Incidentally, I also find I can get sadder thinking about close friends' problems than my own. TS Eliot has a few lines about this:

Now, we come to discover that the moments of agony (Whether, or not, due to misunderstanding, Having hopes for the wrong things or dreaded the wrong things, Is not the question) are likewise permanent With such permanence as time has. We appreciate this better In the agony of others, nearly experienced, Involving ourselves, than in our own. For our own past is covered by the currents of action, But the torment of others remains an experience Unqualified, unworn by subsequent attrition.

[igeryu]

	Originally Posted by Imperator To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	You too? I have no idea what it is with that scene. Wave of emotion ahoy! A little teary eyed, fluttering heart, and deep breaths. I think it has something to do with the whole paying deference to the profound impact done by the "smallest" players thing.

Yeah, its the whole thing about someone who is least expected to do anything well or 'big' ends up being the star. No one expected the whole world to be saved by a bunch of 'halflings', yet everyone owed them their lives...and that scene condenses all those ideas into one.

[blueback]

There's no point watching a movie that doesn't "get" you on some level. If I don't engage with a movie I turn it off and find something else to do, so I'm actually trying to open up.

On the other hand, if a real-life situation is intense, it is probably important enough to demand my full capabilities. That means I detach from it so that I can be calm and rational the whole time.

[AcuMan]

Life doesn't come with a soundtrack.

[rturius]

This is very true for me, and I find it becoming more prominent with age!