Cinema
Neither ET nor Bambi: scientists find the saddest movie moment of all time
This study is still cited by many as the one that pinpointed the scene that has viewers reaching for the tissues.
Is there a study to determine the saddest movie of all time? Well, there is certainly something like that, yes — but don’t expect to find Titanic or Coco on the list, as the research in question was conducted years before those classics were released. But let’s look at it nonetheless.
What’s the saddest movie moment ever?
In 1995, psychologists James J. Gross and Robert W. Levenson of the University of California presented the results of their study. They evaluated more than 250 films and video clips, editing them into segments of several minutes each and then showing them to around 500 viewers. The goal? To study their emotional responses.
The scientists discovered that the subjects reacted with particular sorrow to The Champ, a film released in 1979 starring John Voigh and Faye Dunaway. The movie tells the story of a former boxing champion living with his young son while leading a life marked by excess, alcohol, and scandal. Despite his attempts to reform his habits, nothing works until his wife returns, prompting him to rebuild his life and resume his professional career. Why was it so moving? Keep reading...
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Sadder than the death of Bambi’s mother
The idea behind the study was to present short films that evoked a single emotion — fear, sadness, anger, surprise, and so on. For example, the funniest clip was a scene from When Harry Met Sally in which an orgasm was faked. In contrast, the two-minute and 51-second segment from The Champ elicited more sadness than the death of Bambi’s mother. It is the sequence in which Schroder cries over his father’s corpse. “I still feel sad when the kid cries,” Gross commented. “It’s perfect for our purposes — the theme of irrevocable loss, all compressed into those two or three minutes,” added Levenson.
“I find it very sad; many people do,” commented Jared Minkel from Duke University. “The Champ seems very effective in provoking pure states of sadness that are associated with cognitive and behavioral changes.”
What’s your saddest movie moment of all time? Tell us in the comments section.
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