For me, it's Godzilla 1985...

July 23, 2011 5:48 AM

How do you make someone cry for science? A Smithsonian magazine talks about a 2-minute 45-second clip from The Champ, starring a young Rick(y) Schroeder.

Page 3 includes other films for other emotions, including surprise, fear and, most importantly, neutral.

posted by Katemonkey (30 comments total)

Saw it at the drive-in when I was 10 and cried my eyes out—much to the amusement of my big brother. Didn't cry again until I was 40. Now I tear up at cat food commercials.
posted by Knappster at 6:10 AM on July 23, 2011

From this article, I see that Norm McClaren would work well for a neutral mood. Just make sure you don't select wrong short, or you could end up with something that helps you gauge "amusement".
posted by pxe2000 at 7:02 AM on July 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

I cry for science every time I read or hear a "news report" on a "scientific breakthrough," which almost always involves cancer or obesity. Oh, wait, you meant something else....
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:35 AM on July 23, 2011

How do you make someone cry for science?

Send them to grad school.
posted by pemberkins at 8:22 AM on July 23, 2011 [24 favorites]

I watched the clip and laughed. Does that make me a sociopath?

I wish I could get so into a movie that I forget that it's a work of fiction. Jon Voight is still alive, and votes Republican.
posted by Thoughtcrime at 8:26 AM on July 23, 2011

Here is the 1995 paper by Gross and Levenson referenced in the Smithsonian article.
posted by IvoShandor at 8:35 AM on July 23, 2011

Fear: The Shining and Silence of the Lambs

It'd be nice if they explained which scenes. I'm assuming, though, that these would be a) the maze scene and b) the night-vision scene respectively, since they're the only scenes in each that I've ever found the least bit frightening. That'd be pretty interesting, too, since they're both remarkably similar in a lot of ways.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:47 AM on July 23, 2011

As a kid, Old Yeller and Shane made me cry.
posted by Sailormom at 8:53 AM on July 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you need to cry, or induce crying, and should The Champ be unavailable for any reason may I recommend My Dog Skip. *waterworks*
posted by pixlboi at 8:55 AM on July 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Onions do the trick for me.

Plucking nose-hairs works, too.
posted by pla at 8:57 AM on July 23, 2011

The last 30 seconds of The Plague Dogs.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 9:00 AM on July 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

I just timed myself: 0:30 seconds into this clip, I had tears in my eyes.

(I can't find the full scene online, unfortunately)
posted by Lucinda at 9:53 AM on July 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

(of course, those are tears of THAT WAS AWESOME)
posted by Lucinda at 9:55 AM on July 23, 2011

John Waters must be so pleased.
posted by Diablevert at 10:34 AM on July 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

Wait, did these folks never see THAT scene in "Sophie's Choice", or did that add too much horror to the mix?
posted by availablelight at 10:35 AM on July 23, 2011

Three words: Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Poeple walked out of that movie, and not because they were bored.
posted by longsleeves at 10:42 AM on July 23, 2011

If you need to cry, or induce crying, and should The Champ be unavailable for any reason may I recommend My Dog Skip. *waterworks*

For me, the last minutes of the AIDS-themed movie Philadelphia, where you see home movies of the subject as a really young boy. Aww man, I'm almost crying just *thinking* about it. Youtube delivers as always: the last 2 minutes of this 4 minute clip.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 10:47 AM on July 23, 2011

Clearly the researchers don't read The Perry Bible Fellowship.
posted by komilnefopa at 12:02 PM on July 23, 2011

I cry every time at the end of Rocky. Every damn time.
posted by Robin Kestrel at 1:38 PM on July 23, 2011

“In the old days, we used to be able to induce fear by giving people electric shocks,” Levenson says.

Please continue.
posted by Smedleyman at 2:56 PM on July 23, 2011

Futurama is consistently good at this:

Leela's Homeworld

Luck of the Fryish

Lethal Inspection

Jurassic Bark
posted by Rhaomi at 2:58 PM on July 23, 2011 [5 favorites]

+1 for Jurassic Bark. Every time I've seen that episode, that scene, I've cried. Even thinking about it makes me cry :'( Poor Seymour :'(
posted by owlrigh at 7:48 PM on July 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

This one gets me. Every. Single. Time.
posted by Xoebe at 8:37 PM on July 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Rhaomi, there's also The Sting.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:29 PM on July 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

the airport scene at the end of Love Actually
posted by compound eye at 4:35 AM on July 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

The scene at the end of Saving Private Ryan when Old Matt Damon is looking at the graves in Normandy, seeing the names of the men who sacrificed themselves for him, and then just begging his family to reassure him that he lived a worthwhile life.

Every single time. Half of me just tears up like some noble faucet, and the other half is cursing the name of Spielberg cause I fell for his heartstring-yanking yet again.

So that's, um, sadness and disgruntled shame albeit in a comic sense? Not sure. We're low on adjctives today.
posted by Spatch at 8:24 AM on July 24, 2011

The end of The Iron Giant. Like a baby.
posted by NortonDC at 3:34 PM on July 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

What counts as crying? I can make tears come out of my eyes any time I want.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:48 PM on July 24, 2011

The "Fake O" scene they mentioned in the second page made me laugh just thinking about it.
posted by mike3k at 6:14 PM on July 24, 2011

In my family this is the go-to scene for pure, unadulterated laughter.
posted by Lucinda at 5:21 AM on July 25, 2011