Movies and Emotion

[MmzHrrdb]

I was reading through the book "1000 Films to Change Your Life", which discusses the ten most common emotions people experience while watching movies and the films that arouse those emotions. I thought it would be interesting to make our own lists of the movies that elicit strong personal emotional responses, perhaps 5-10 for each category.

These are the ten categories:
JOY (Movies that cause happiness)
EXHILARATION (Movies that cause excitement)
ANGER (Movies that piss you off, whether it be in a positive or negative sense)
CONTEMPT (Movies that arouse disgust, whether it be in a positive or negative sense)
DESIRE (Movies that inspire lust and/or longing)
FEAR (Movies that frighten)
WONDER (Movies that create a feel of magic and/or awe)
SADNESS (Movies that make one feel general sorrow, whether it be in a positive or negative sense)
REGRET (Elegiac movies, or films that make us feel sorrow for what could have been)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT (Movies that engage the viewer on an abstract or intellectual level)

Anyway, here's some that I came up with:

JOY
Love and Death
Support Your Local Sheriff!
Nights of Cabiria (I could put this under Sadness or Regret, perhaps, but Joy is what I feel most strongly)
CQ
Muriel's Wedding
Bluebeard (So ridiculous and cheesy that it brightens my day. Richard Burton's outrage that his wife gave her breasts "Christian names" is hilarious.)
Valley of the Dolls (Bitchiness and backstabbing at its finest.)
Myra Breckinridge
A Woman is a Woman
There Will Be Blood (This is one of the great dark comedies.)

EXHILARATION
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raising Arizona
Suspiria
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
No Country for Old Men
Commando (This is the greatest expression of 80s macho death-dealing action.)
Foxy Brown (Even the opening credits, wher Pam Grier shows off her moves while sporting various fashions, is exciting.)
Goodfellas
Tombstone
Pulp Fiction (This had a huge impact on me when I saw it at the theatre back in the 90s. It's definitely one of my cinematic turning points.)

ANGER/CONTEMPT (I just combined the two, because I have trouble telling the difference.)
White Dog (Racial hatred inflicted on an innocent animal. It just ain't right.)
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (Unprincipled journalists and callous police drag down an innocent woman. It just ain't right.)
Powder (This movie has attained a mythical status as my most despised movie. I don't even know if I still hate it as much as I did when I saw it over 10 years ago.)
The Firm (1988) (I kinda want to bust some heads after watching the guys in this movie doing it. Some craziness is infectious.)
A Woman Under the Influence (All the yelling and raw emotion. I felt like I was there.)
Taxi Driver
I Spit On Your Grave (Do I feel disgusted with the acts on screen, or with myself for being fascinated by it all?)
Irreversible (Same as above.)
Hostel II (I found an approximation of how much cruelty I can actually stand in a movie.)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (Pretty, but annoying and repugnant. Watching this is like mixing pickles with ice cream.)

DESIRE
Vampyres
Cheeky (Yulia Mayarchuk!)
Contempt (My feelings of lust for Bardot reached the pinnacle with this movie. That scene where she says naughty words in French is glorious.)
Elevator to the Gallows (This movie creates the feeling of longing beautifully, and Jeanne Moreau is like a erotic apparition floating through each scene.)
She's 19 and Ready (The greatest of the West German sex comedies I saw on late night 80s cable.)
Supervixens
Viva Las Vegas (Viva Ann-Margret in shorts!)
Black Narcissus (Nuns losing their minds amongst striking visuals.)
Bandidas
ABBA: The Movie (The chicks are hot, and they can belt out a tune.)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Sans soleil
The Man Who Fell to Earth
W.R. - Mysteries of the Organism (Just weird.)
Week End
Salesman
The King of Kong (What an entertaining way to ponder Good vs. Evil)
I Am Curious (Yellow) + I Am Curious (Blue) (I'd like to combine the best parts from both into I Am Curious (Green))
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (Entertaining or depressing? Or both?)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (A fun way to ponder one's prejudices.)

WONDER
Blue Velvet (Cinematic magic from the Dark Side.)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (A beautiful, sad, funny cartoon.)
Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?
A Clockwork Orange
Le Bonheur (Such a visually bright and fresh movie, but so sinister.)
Gate of Flesh
Fuego (The theme song alone is a marvel. This is a soap opera from beyond sanity.)
Blood Freak (This could go under Food For Thought as well. You will never be the same.)
Showgirls (Elizabth Berkley: THE LEGEND)
Pink Flamingos (This one will seperate the men from the boys. Or the crap-eating transvestites from the...?)

REGRET/SADNESS (I combined these, too.)
Soylent Green (Heston. Robinson. "I love you, Sol.")
Cool Hand Luke (Sometimes a man just can't figure out his place in the world.)
Chinatown
Casablanca
Two-Lane Blacktop (The joy of rootlessness and oblivion.)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Grey Gardens (How do people end up like this? Is it a bad thing?)
Bonnie and Clyde (It's all fun until you're turned into a lump of shredded flesh.)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

FEAR (This is a hard one, because I don't get scared so much as disturbed by movies. The following did manage to scare me to some extent.)
The Exorcist
The Wicker Man (1973) (OK, it didn't scare me, but it creeped me out.)
Event Horizon
Mommie Dearest (I was scared for the kid. But I laughed, too.)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Repulsion
The Descent

[MmzHrrdb]

Brilliant thread, Lord!

JOY (Movies that cause happiness)

"Un Chant D'Amour"
"The Lion King"
"Suspiria"
"Mulholland Drive"
"May"
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show"
"A Clockwork Orange"
"Kill Bill"
"The Lady Vanishes"
"Vincent"
"The Lair of the White Worm"
"The Simpsons Movie"
"Rear Window"
"The Bird With the Crystal Plumage"
"Guys and Balls"

EXHILARATION (Movies that cause excitement)

"Un Chant D'Amour"
"Suspiria"
"Requiem For a Dream"
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show"
"The Blair Witch Project"
"Kill Bill"
"Open Water"
"Session 9"
"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"
"Thriller"
"Charlie's Angels"
"The Lady Vanishes"
"Rear Window"
"Psycho"
"The Shawshank Redemption"
"The Lion King"
"Mulholland Drive"
"28 Days Later"
"Cube"
"The Last House on the Left"
"Wolf Creek"
"Carrie"
"Cannibal Holocaust"
"Rohtenburg"
"The Long Kiss Goodnight"
"Deliverance"
"The Bird With the Crystal Plumage"
"Black Sabbath"
"Deep Red"

ANGER (Movies that piss you off, whether it be in a positive or negative sense)

"Boys Beware"
"Open Water"
"Zack and Miri Make a Porno"
"Pineapple Express"
"Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me"
The majority of movies produced after 2006/2007

CONTEMPT (Movies that arouse disgust, whether it be in a positive or negative sense)

"Nekromantik"
"Boys Beware"
"Captivity"
"Freddy Got Fingered"
"Zack and Miri Make a Porno"
"Pineapple Express"
"Pirates of the Carribean"
"Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo"
"The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" (2005)
"City of the Living Dead"
"The Beyond"
"Zombi 2"
"Day of the Dead" (1985)
"The Wizard of Gore"
"Bee Movie"
"Hoodwinked"
"Doomsday"
"Epic Movie"
"The House on the Edge of the Park"
"Dead Man's Shoes"

DESIRE (Movies that inspire lust and/or longing)

"Un Chant D'Amour"
"Bonnie and Clyde" Warren Beatty
"Eyes Wide Shut"
"Brokeback Mountain"
"Locked Up"

FEAR (Movies that frighten)

"The Blair Witch Project"
"Session 9"
"The Exorcist"
"The Ring"
"The Amityville Horror"
"[Rec]"
"Open Water"
"Welcome to the Jungle"
"The Descent"
"Friday the 13th"
"The Shining"
"Cube"
"Pulse" (2001)
"The Sixth Sense"
"The Others"
"Picnic at Hanging Rock"

WONDER (Movies that create a feel of magic and/or awe)

"The Lion King"
"Ed Wood"
"A Clockwork Orange"
"Mulholland Drive"
"Labyrinth"
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"
"The Wizard of Oz"
"Chicago"
"Gone With the Wind"
"Picnic at Hanging Rock"
"Dolls" (1987)
"Shortbus"

SADNESS (Movies that make one feel general sorrow, whether it be in a positive or negative sense)

"Requiem For a Dream"
"Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me"
"The Butterfly Effect"
"The Lion King"
"Titanic"
"Million Dollar Baby"
"28 Days Later"
"Ed Wood"
"May"
"The Little Mermaid"
"The Descent"
"The Virgin Suicides"

REGRET (Elegiac movies, or films that make us feel sorrow for what could have been)

"Inland Empire"
"Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me"
"Doomsday"
"Nosferatu: Phantom Der Nacht"
"8½"

FOOD FOR THOUGHT (Movies that engage the viewer on an abstract or intellectual level)

"Session 9"
"Fitna"
"Pink Floyd The Wall"
"The Killing of America"
"Bowling For Collumbine"
"Mulholland Drive"
"Once Were Warriors"
"The Mothman Prophecies"

[MmzHrrdb]

Aladdin makes me hungry.

[AFlickering]

a complex (as in, not categorisable in this way) emotional response is a prerequisite for my liking a movie

[MmzHrrdb]

a complex (as in, not categorisable in this way) emotional response is a prerequisite for my liking a movie

I bet most movies could be at least partially categorized in this way. There have to be some movies that just make you feel happy or sad, at least on the most basic level. Or you could just put a lot of these emotionally complex movies under Food For Thought. Using such categories helps me at least establish a starting point for how I feel about a movie, even if there are more complex ones.

"This movie makes me feel happy." leads to "Why does it make feel happy?" which leads to "Because of this, this, and this." which then leads to "Should that make me happy?" and so on...

[AFlickering]

i seriously think most of my favourite movies would fit into most/all of the categories on your list and many more. thing is i don't think there's a clean distinction between most of these emotions, i'm not sure exhillaration is possible without a certain level of fear (and in my case, emotional complexity in general), i'm not sure regret/sadness can exist without longing and the ghosts of joy, or if there's any aspect of us that isn't somehow coloured by lust, etcetc. i don't believe that these absolute categorisations of emotion are based on anything except pretty simplistic interpretations of very complicated functions, and i'm not sure they mean anything to me. i mean, i don't think a movie that solely makes me happy could exist, 'cause i'm at my 'happiest' when something's giving me a new and nameless emotional response - even that sentence is sticky and paradoxical as hell. the only criticism that actually means anything to me talks about movies in far less absolute, less general terms.

[Quicky]

I kind of agree with AFlickering here. regret/sadness is a lack of joy, and thus means a longing for joy, exhilaration can be joy in the longing for fear, etc...

But regardless of this, I made a list of my own with my highest ranked movies in each of the emotion categories. I tried to keep every movie listed only once.

JOY (Movies that cause happiness)

• Shawshank Redemption (1994)
• Black (2005)
• Ratatouille (2007)
• Amelie (2001) ... how can you not feel happy after seeing this?
• Life is Beautiful (1997)

EXHILARATION (Movies that cause excitement)

• Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King (2003) ... the battle at Minas Tirith, nothing that raises my adrenaline more than this
• Gladiator (2000)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
• Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

ANGER & CONTEMPT (Movies that piss you off and/or cause disgust)

• Schindler's List (1993)
• Hate (1995)
• Hotel Rwanda (2004) ... how could we just stand by and watch?
• City of God (2003)
• Lilya 4-Ever (2002)

DESIRE (Movies that inspire lust and/or longing)

• American Beauty (1999)
• Lost in Translation (2003) ... don't we all long for some love in this alienating world?
• In the Mood for Love (2000)
• The Piano Teacher (2001)
• Before Sunrise (1995)

FEAR (Movies that frighten)

• Psycho (1960)
• [Rec] (2007) ... the one and only time that I actually considered shutting a movie off because I was so terrified
• The Orphanage (2007)
• What Lies Beneath (2000)
• Das Experiment (2001)

WONDER (Movies that create a feel of magic and/or awe)

• The Fountain (2006)
• The Fall (2008) ... the fantasy world created by the little girl and the man is a world full of magic and awe-inspiring imagery
• Blade Runner (1982)
• Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
• Contact (1997)

SADNESS & REGRET (Movies that make one feel sorrow)

• The Pianist (2002)
• Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• Into the Wild (2007) ... Chris/Alex was searching for a path in his life, so am I
• Million Dollar Baby (2004)
• Talk to Her (2002)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT (Movies that engage the viewer on an abstract or intellectual level)

• The Matrix (1999) ... this movie inspired me in so many philosophical and religious ways
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• Requiem for a Dream (2000)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
• A Clockwork Orange (1971)

[prowler]

aflicker, the thread doesn't require you to only feel these basic emotions when watching a film, it asks you to deconstruct you complex emotions and estimate which bring you the most joy, fear etc... obviously that's within a more complex setting

[MmzHrrdb]

i seriously think most of my favourite movies would fit into most/all of the categories on your list and many more. thing is i don't think there's a clean distinction between most of these emotions, i'm not sure exhillaration is possible without a certain level of fear (and in my case, emotional complexity in general), i'm not sure regret/sadness can exist without longing and the ghosts of joy, or if there's any aspect of us that isn't somehow coloured by lust, etcetc. i don't believe that these absolute categorisations of emotion are based on anything except pretty simplistic interpretations of very complicated functions, and i'm not sure they mean anything to me. i mean, i don't think a movie that solely makes me happy could exist, 'cause i'm at my 'happiest' when something's giving me a new and nameless emotional response - even that sentence is sticky and paradoxical as hell. the only criticism that actually means anything to me talks about movies in far less absolute, less general terms.

I understand what you are saying, but this wasn't really intended to be a deep analysis. I mean, my favorite movie, Raising Arizona, makes me feel some degree of joy, sadness, exhilaration and even wonder, perhaps. But I can differentiate between the emotions and I could point out when each occured during the film. Exhilaration is the strongest emotion I feel during Raising Arizona, with joy not far behind. No matter how complexly a movie makes you feel, there is likely a core emotion that sets off all the other ones. Anyway, I had no intention of reducing anyone's complexity with this exercise. I was just hoping to have some fun with psychology, I guess.

This reminds of a conversation I had with this girl in high school once. I asked her, "So, what kind of person do you think you are?"
She responded, "I'm just me."
I then asked her, "Do you like apples?"
"Yes", she said.
"Well, then you're a person who likes apples" I replied.
She looked puzzled.

[Pickpocket]

i seriously think most of my favourite movies would fit into most/all of the categories on your list and many more. thing is i don't think there's a clean distinction between most of these emotions, i'm not sure exhillaration is possible without a certain level of fear (and in my case, emotional complexity in general), i'm not sure regret/sadness can exist without longing and the ghosts of joy, or if there's any aspect of us that isn't somehow coloured by lust, etcetc. i don't believe that these absolute categorisations of emotion are based on anything except pretty simplistic interpretations of very complicated functions, and i'm not sure they mean anything to me. i mean, i don't think a movie that solely makes me happy could exist, 'cause i'm at my 'happiest' when something's giving me a new and nameless emotional response - even that sentence is sticky and paradoxical as hell. the only criticism that actually means anything to me talks about movies in far less absolute, less general terms.

This reminds of a conversation I had with this girl in high school once. I asked her, "So, what kind of person do you think you are?"
She responded, "I'm just me."
I then asked her, "Do you like apples?"
"Yes", she said.
"Well, then you're a person who likes apples" I replied.
She looked puzzled.

Can you teach me how to pick up women?