Emotional during movies.

Some films are designed to be like that, they are termed "tearjerkers":

www.merriam-webster.com/.../tearjerker

Yes. Many of the films mentioned have brought a tear when younger. Now I'm into World Cinema a hell of a lot. Mainly Russian and Japanese. They speak to me on a lot of levels and have wondered if it appeals to my AS traits. There is no one more able to mess with my head more than Ingmar Bergman though. I think he portrays quite clearly the angst of the world in a very subtle, intelligent way (without being in your face like Hollywood will). His Autumn Sonata made me blart terribly- It was scary as it came out from nowhere.

I don't often watch films but I do get emotional when watching dramas on TV.  I find it more so in latter years and I thing the reason that I'm more emotional in latter years is because I'm going through the menopause.  Sometimes, though, it's because I can personally relate to the storyline and it's brought back a sad memory for me:  being bullied as a child, being abused as a child, my cat dying, my mum dying.

Watership Down absolutely traumatised me! I had nightmares for years (well into my late teens) 

As a child, I never used to cry at anything film or TV-related. I remember shortly after E.T. came out on VHS, my parents hired it from our local Blockbuster (showing my age here), and my mum cried at the end, which I thought really weird.

However, in the last half dozen years or so (probably since the death of our cats), pretty much anything will set me off now. Anything with animals is guaranteed to make me blub, which kind of makes sense, but TV shows such as Long Lost Family, or even episodes of Location, Location, Location where people end up finding their perfect home, leave me sobbing like an idiot and I don't really know why. And don't even get me started on Bake Off... 

I don't really understand why happy things make me cry as well as sad things, because, inside, it feels the same to me although the context is completely different.

Watership Down brings a tear to my eye. When Hazel passes at the end of the film is satisfying but sad.

The next Richard Adams film was far darker, and way more sad.

The Plague Dogs. The end is soul crushing.

"There is. There. Can't you see it? Our island..."

Aw!

Grave of the Fireflies. Pure Kryptonite.

I cri evrytiem

Yeah, sometimes, even when sober.

Some films (or books) are guaranteed to cause me problems.

Good cry: Braveheart. The film is meh but that final voiceover at the end, with the beautiful soft Scottish accent

Uncontrolled tears for half the film: Immortal Beloved. It hit me the first time I watched it, now the sadness in the story kicks in after it's barely got going.

Bad cry: Dancer in the Dark. Angry tears, to the extent that just thinking of the film can opens the ducts. Don't watch this one, it's a beautifully made cinematic masterpiece that mentally destroys people that watch it.

I often get emotionally upset while watching TV. Especially when the subject is relevant to me.

Last night on Film 4, I watched the movie,  In Bruge.

The plot in brief is that a couple of hitmen are sent to Bruge by their gangster boss to wait for further orders.  After a lot of twists and turns in the plot, the two assassins and their boss are killed.

The real star of the film is the city of Bruge itself.

My connection is that a visited Bruge several times on holiday in 2015/6 and enjoyed my stay.

In the film, the gangster boss mentions that he also enjoyed his holiday in Bruge as a seven year old.  He now sends his assassins for a final holiday,  then orders the older assassin to kill his young partner.

Oh, yes! If you are not moved by that scene (Even slightly), you have no emotions!

I'm tearing up slightly just thinking about it.

Yes, the earliest time I can remember doing that was when I watched the original Dumbo movie as a child. There's a scene where Dumbo's mum (who has been locked up for trying to protect him earlier) reaches down with her trunk and rocks him gently back and forth. I cried so loudly and long that my mum took me out of the cinema. (It still sets me off.)

I have great difficulty with movies - they are scientifically designed to provoke an emotional response and I over-identify with certain types of characters so they tap directly into my emotions and mess about with them.     For this reason, there's types of films that I will not go to the cinema to see because I will lose all control and be blubbing at all the wrong points in the film.

I find animations are much more likely to trigger me because every part can be 100% controlled - live action is always 'best take' so they have less control.     

I over-identify with innocent characters like David in A.I. and the young Dory in Finding Dory.

I do! Inside Out is definitely emotional (absolutely heartbreaking when Bing Bong disappears). I also sobbed like a baby at Marley and Me. Anything with animals is guaranteed to make me emotional!

Although it's something that I was dimly aware of earlier, the last counsellor that I saw encouraged something similar as a way to help me with my alexithymia (although she didn't name it as such). She'd worked with autistic people earlier in her career, and I realised very quickly that she truly understood how profound and innate my problems with emotional communication were, rather than attributing them to repression or lack of engagement with the counselling, as had happened with previous counsellors. (this was a complete fluke, by the way; it was neither formally intended as autism-specific counselling, nor was she the counsellor I'd originally been assigned - my diagnosis wasn't even confirmed at this time).

As well as being very good at reading the physical manifestations of emotions which I was oblivious to, reflecting them back to me, and helping me to recognise them myself, she suggested finding concrete examples wherever I could as prototypes for comparative analysis - similar in principle to the "social stories" that are sometimes used as an aid to learning social skills. Even then, it didn't click straight away that this was probably what had been going on all my life when little, flickering drawings on celluloid made me feel more powerful emotions than real life often seemed to.

I have to admit, I was a bit sceptical at first, in part because I was reluctant to think of myself as being so emotionally immature that I might need such a thing. However, I think it has definitely helped me, particularly for managing anxiety, depression, and their causes, which very often had to become alarmingly severe before I even noticed them, let alone acted to do anything about them.

Trogluddite said:

I think that being alexithymic is a big part of it for me. I often know that I have an emotion going on somewhere in the background of my mind, but just can't figure out which emotion it is until I see a concrete example of it right in front of my eyes - then everything clicks into place, and it all comes flooding out.

That's a very interesting thought, which strikes me as very probably what's going on for at least some of us on this thread.

Yes, this has happened to me quite a lot, and often with the most unexpected things and at unexpected times. It happens much less with TV and movies because I haven't indulged in either of those things for many years, but it can happen when I'm reading books or browsing some of my favourite internet cartoons.

I think that being alexithymic is a big part of it for me. I often know that I have an emotion going on somewhere in the background of my mind, but just can't figure out which emotion it is until I see a concrete example of it right in front of my eyes - then everything clicks into place, and it all comes flooding out. Many years ago, when I had a very high stress job that burned me out to the point of becoming a complete recluse in my private life, it was almost an everyday occurrence that watching the SImpsons while eating my tea would suddenly make me realise how lonely I was coming back from work to an empty house.

It's also very, very ingrained in me not to show my emotions. I was strictly brought up (by my Father mostly) with the "boys don't cry" and "I'll give you something to cry about" ethos. I can still recall being absolutely mortified at bursting into tears in front of everyone when we'd gone on a visit to family friends and we watched "Tarka the Otter" (animals do it for me big time!). Even now, after receiving loads of therapy for my depression etc., I habitually fight tooth and nail not to show negative emotions in front of other people, even when I know it would be a perfectly normal reaction and I'm among people who wouldn't judge me for it. Sometimes that little kick from seeing something on screen can be the straw that breaks the camel's back, though.

Yes I find myself emotional at some movies and adverts and some TV programmes too. 

Sometimes the odd thing gets me, anything involving mistreatment or Ill health of babies or children on tv or in film makes me get all tearful!