Sad movie paradox

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The Sad Film Paradox deals with the seemingly contradicting incentive of watching sad films.

Mary Beth Oliver: Exploring the Paradox of the Enjoyment of Sad Films

Basics

The phenomenon was first named as such by Mary Beth Oliver in the 1990s. She described the phenomenon as a paradox because it contradicts the mood management theory. This is based on a hedonistic view of human beings and claims that when choosing media content, people primarily choose those that have a positive influence on their mood . At first glance it seems paradoxical that people consciously expose themselves to sad content that seems to have a negative impact on their mood. Zillman himself goes into this problem and puts forward the thesis that the process of transferring excitement makes going through a strongly negative story all the more attractive a tension-releasing outcome. Oliver problematizes this thesis and points out that not all sad films that are perceived as entertaining have a positive end and that in some studies the negative tension itself was perceived as entertaining.

Another way of explaining the phenomenon is using the concept of meta-emotions. A distinction is made here between direct emotional reactions (e.g. sadness) and meta-experiences, i.e. H. cognitive-reflective responses to the first direct emotional response (e.g., shame). Applying this concept to the sad film paradox, one can conclude from this that sad films are perceived as positive precisely when they evoke positive reactions on the meta level. Furthermore, assuming that positive meta-emotions are evoked by negative direct emotions in a person, the entertainment value should be directly proportional to the sadness. Films that do not live up to their claim to be sad are perceived as not entertaining.

To discuss the phenomenon under the theory described above, Oliver conducted three studies that built on each other. For this purpose, she developed the Sad-Film-Scala (also SFS), which consists of 15 questions that ask about the character trait empathy on the one hand, but also direct and metaemotions on the other.

Study 1

The first study shows that liking a self-selected medium strongly correlates with the feeling of sadness. Here women show stronger grief as well as a stronger liking for it.

In addition, a significant correlative connection between a high score on the SFS and liking for sad films was shown. Furthermore, people with a high SFS score showed greater liking for romances and dramas, but this may also be due to the gender-specific interests of the various groups. One item also seems to refute Zillman's thesis. A happy ending was perceived by the test persons as negative for the pleasure of a sad film.

Study 2

Study two served only to examine the validity and reliability of the SFS.

Study 3

The aim of the third study was to find out which predictions can be made from the SFS results about the liking of sad films. For this purpose, after the SFS was determined, the test subjects were shown a film and then evaluated which direct and which associated meta-emotions they experienced while watching. It was found that subjects with higher SFS scores also rated their liking for the film, their positive meta-emotions and their sadness higher. In addition, subjects with a low SFS score also showed less pleasure in sad content and a greater pleasure in happier content.

Conclusion

The findings of these studies suggest that feeling sad (at least when watching sad movies) is associated with a positive meta-reaction. There are significant differences between men and women, although it is not certain whether these are due to social norms (“Men should not show sadness”) or other reasons.

Features and examples of sad films

In order to explore the Sad Film Paradox, it is important to clarify what sad films are and what defines them. In common parlance, films are often described as sad, which move their viewers to tears (hence the term "tear jerker" for sad films) and cause them negative emotions such as sadness and melancholy . Furthermore, many films that are viewed as sad are characterized by a sad ending.

Ines Vogel emphasizes in her work that sad emotions in the audience are not sufficient as the sole definition criterion for sad films, since a film that one person sees as sad can be perceived by another person as cheesy or ridiculous. In addition, not only sad films can move their audience emotionally, but also films of other genres that contain individual sad scenes. From this derives the need to pay attention not only to the emotions that may evoke, but also to their content, when classifying films as sad.

Serious strokes of fate and loss through separation, parting or death, which the main character, whom the audience has come to love during the course of the film, has to endure, are characteristic of sad films. Furthermore, sad ones can be classified in the following content categories, which the examples in brackets are intended to illustrate.

  • Tragic end of a love due to death or other unfortunate circumstances ( "The English Patient" , " Titanic ").
  • The story of a friendship between two film characters (which can only develop during the film and) ends due to illness, accident or other misfortunes or only continues because a character does everything in its power and takes risks in order to maintain the friendship (" Brian's Song - Friends to the Dead" , " The best comes at last ").
  • The main character is restricted by a mental illness (" Rain Man "), physical illness (" Philadelphia ") or by a (war) injury (" Born on July 4th ").
  • The film tells the story of suffering of a (mostly female) main character in a world dominated by men (" The Color Purple ").
  • The main character suffers a great injustice, for example in which she is falsely and unjustly punished for a crime (" The Green Mile ").

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dolf Zillman: Mood Management: Using entertainment to full advantage . In: L. Donahew, HE Sypher, ET Higgins (Eds.): Communication, social cognition and affect . Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ 1988, pp. 147-171 .
  2. ↑ Dolf Zillman: The experimental exploration of gratifications from media entertainment. In: KE Rosengren, LA Wenner, P. Palmgreen (Eds.): Media gratifications research: Current perspectives . Sage, Beverly Hills 1985, pp. 225-239 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e "Exploring the Paradox of the Enjoyment of Sad Films", Oliver, Mary Beth, In: Human Communication Research, March 1993, Vol. 19 (3), pp. 315-342, Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd
  4. ↑ Mayer, JD, & Gaschke, YN (1988). The experience and meta-experience of mood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 102-111
  5. ↑ a b c Vogel, Ines .: The Sad-Film-Paradox: a theoretical and empirical contribution to the incentive of sad films . Shaker, Aachen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8322-6828-2 .