It is really too bad I deleted the LJ in which I would have documented this.

[dira]

So around January 2002 I went to see The Fellowship of the Ring with thelionforreal, who was at that point possibly already a part of the Popslash=>Lotrips migration. I had already been resisting seeing the movie for a month or more because--I realize this will not make any sense to anyone, okay, but there it is--I had come across a Theban Band manip of Aragorn and Boromir, and I had made it my desktop wallpaper, and Boromir was smiling a particularly happy smile, and I knew that he was going to die in the movie, and I knew that he would not smile that smile or be that happy, and I did not want to see it.

But eventually I went to see the movie, and sure enough he died, and I started crying--I started sobbing, and I did not stop for half an hour. If you are familiar with the movie, you will realize that this took me through the rest of the movie, the credits, and the three-block walk home from the movie theater. I still feel kind of bad about subjecting Missi to that; I'm sure she was even more baffled by it than I was.

Ever since then, I feel a little uncertain of what I mean, or what anyone else understands me to mean, when I say a book or a movie or something made me cry. Last night I finished reading The Persian Boy, and Alexander's death (this is even less of a spoiler than Boromir's death, okay) made tears drip from my eyes, and instead of just saying to anyone "The Persian Boy made me cry!" I found myself wondering what it meant when I said that and whether I would be somehow deceiving someone because I was not, for instance, prostrated with grief for at least half an hour.

So! A poll. (On Dreamwidth only. But you can be a part of this very important scientific undertaking with an OpenID login!)


In all questions and in all answers, "I" or "me" is me, Dira, and "You" is you, the poll-answerer.

Poll #5679 Towards a taxonomy of crying over stuff.

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 152

View Respondents

If I say a book/movie made me cry, what do you think I mean?

View Answers

I was very sad or otherwise very emotional.
26 (17.2%)

I was choked up.
36 (23.8%)

I had tears in my eyes.
82 (54.3%)

I had tears running down my face.
83 (55.0%)

I was actively crying and/or sobbing.
56 (37.1%)

I was recreating the Lord of the Rings incident from 2002.
21 (13.9%)

You make no particular assumptions about what I mean.
42 (27.8%)

Something else which you will explain in the comments.
1 (0.7%)

If you say a book/movie/etc. made you cry, what reaction are you describing?

View Answers

You were very sad or otherwise very emotional.
28 (18.4%)

You were choked up.
43 (28.3%)

You had tears in your eyes.
102 (67.1%)

You had tears running down your face.
106 (69.7%)

You were actively crying and/or sobbing.
67 (44.1%)

You started crying during the book/movie/etc. and then continued crying even after you finished or stopped engaging with the book/movie/etc., for an extended period of time, say half an hour for the sake of argument.
37 (24.3%)

You might say something made you cry without intending to describe any particular reaction.
10 (6.6%)

Something else which you will explain in the comments.
2 (1.3%)

Which of these emotional reactions have you actually had to a book/movie/etc.? You don't have to say what it was or when.

View Answers

You were very sad or otherwise very emotional.
124 (82.1%)

You were choked up.
123 (81.5%)

You had tears in your eyes.
137 (90.7%)

You had tears running down your face.
122 (80.8%)

You were actively crying and/or sobbing.
89 (58.9%)

You started crying during the book/movie/etc. and then continued crying even after you finished or stopped engaging with the book/movie/etc., for an extended period of time, say half an hour for the sake of argument.
61 (40.4%)

Something else which you will explain in the comments.
6 (4.0%)