Emotional affect of movies & songs

I'm wondering if anyone else experiences this. Often when I'm watching a movie or TV show and I can relate to something in it, it seems to have a strong emotional affect on me. If it's something very negative that I relate to I can actually get quite upset and be depressed for quite awhile. The same goes for songs. If I hear a song that had strong meaning it gets me very emotional. I know it's common to have emotional reactions to movies and songs, but I'm talking really strong reactions.

Also a lot of times when I remember things I often associate songs with them. For example I can remember exactly what song was playing on a ride in a car about 15 years ago. There was nothing especially meaningful about the ride but I guess the song made a dent in my memory. I hope this makes sense to somebody.

APD Guy....

I don't want to seem like I am talking for anyone else, but I can tell you the guy I dated that showed many signs of APD was very touched by music or movies and especially books that had meaning, suffering....I would say that he was the most withdrawn but sensitive person I have ever met.

The only thing I can relate to this is when my friend passed away...it was like I understood pain so I related to people that were suffering. Songs so many times triggered those feelings, I am sure because of the sad lyrics most songs have. I find that I can't listen to music when I am struggling with depression or sadness. So maybe this isn't something just an APD feels..or maybe it is more intense for someone with APD.

With him, I noticed when we were dating that he was drawn more to suffering than to joy....I mean, like in conversation....he couldn't really be happy about anything...didn't smile a lot either...but he could talk about things involving anquish and pain. He wanted to help others, again I think it is because he could relate to what they were feeling and because he hates being where is...maybe helping others would help him. I knew he was kind and caring...just in a hell of a lot of pain himself.

SL

I also am often quite moved by art - music, movies, stories... and I have been since my early teens. I remember watching movies or television shows at home and having to try really hard not to let anyone in my family see how deeply I was relating emotionally to the characters.

I shed tears quite easily still. It's strange, because for sometime, especially in my 20s and early 30s, I usually felt quite numb to my own pain; aware of it but not able, it seemed, to express it. However, I could watch a movie with a strong emotional pull and be moved to sobbing. As if I could allow myself to feel for other people but when it came to myself I didn't want to feel anything.

I believe to some degree that I am simply a sensitive sort. I am creative and I believe my greatest gifts are along creative lines, so being sensitive to my surroundings is a gift and I embrace it more now than I used to. But I also believe I have a lot of unexpressed pain that is easily triggered by other people's stories.

I'm similar. I can relate to characters in movies or books much better than to people in real life. Possibly, because there is no threat of any interaction between me and them... From a distance I can get quite emotional about other people's stories.
Songs have a great effect on me, too. Not just the lyrics but also the music as such.
But, fortunately, I don't find that I am only ever drawn to stories of misery and pain. When a movie has a positive ending (ok, commercial romantic commedies don't do much for me, but there are good, realistic films which do not have totally dreary ends...), that can make me happy. I also like funny songwriters who chear me up.

trence wrote:I shed tears quite easily still. It's strange, because for sometime, especially in my 20s and early 30s, I usually felt quite numb to my own pain; aware of it but not able, it seemed, to express it. However, I could watch a movie with a strong emotional pull and be moved to sobbing. As if I could allow myself to feel for other people but when it came to myself I didn't want to feel anything.

This is pretty much the same thing that happens to me. For a long time I buried my own emotions and pain and couldn't cry when I should have. If I saw a character on screen going through something I went through then I could be brought to tears easily. I guess I'm still that way to a degree though I could never let myself cry in front of other people. It's strange, sometimes I'll watch something just to have some type of negative emotional reaction. It's like I need a catharsis.

josephine wrote:I can relate to characters in movies or books much better than to people in real life. Possibly, because there is no threat of any interaction between me and them... From a distance I can get quite emotional about other people's stories

I'm the same way. I probably come across as cold and uncaring when I have to interact with someone face to face. I empathize with people quite well, even face to face, but I'm just not good at showing it.

Still Learning wrote:With him, I noticed when we were dating that he was drawn more to suffering than to joy....I mean, like in conversation....he couldn't really be happy about anything...didn't smile a lot either...but he could talk about things involving anquish and pain

There may be times when I'm drawn more towards depressing things, but for the most part I enjoy upbeat stuff. I do like movies that have inspirational and upbeat themes (providing they are relatively realistic). I try to smile and appear happy and usually do a good job at it. Mostly I'm just acting and no one will ever know what lies behind the smile.

That applies to me as well. I can cry over a song, a movie, even about something in my environment. This is often because something is too beautiful to bear.

However, the effect can also be negative where movies and songs elicit sad, angry or depressed moods.

Movies that made me feel really bad: Lost in translation and About Schmidt. I was depressed for days after each and started doubting the meaning of life etc. Did anyone feel the same?

I can also use music to trigger fantasizing.

I liked Lost in Translation. I loved About Schmidt. It made me cry, but it didn’t trigger a depression. I don’t know why, maybe because the crying was cathartic, maybe because my appreciation of the film as a beautiful piece of art made me feel good.

I get depressed over bad films, though. There are films that make me angry, too. Not films, that show something which makes me angry, but films, whose message makes me angry. That anger also usually turns into depression at some point.

Oh, and a quirk of mine: I also get depressed when I watch historical epics on Sunday afternoons. There is something in that combination of stories of doom in overlength (think Visconti’s Ludwig) and the solitary boredom of Sunday afternoons which is not quite healthy…

This is funny! I find bad movies are just bad, i.e. they are not worth watching and a waste of time, and sometimes so bad they are funny.

Movies with bad messages can make me very angry as well, but usually that triggers a tirade of criticism and everybody around me makes a secret vow never to mention this movie again. LOL.

me i always feel sad for example in fantasy movies (lord of the rings, etc.), the "heroes" are always with friends and romantic pairs while the villains are always alone, selifsh, "scum", etc. and at the end the villain suffers an entremely horrifyng fate. I always empathize with the villain. And in movies where the happier man is the one with friends or romances i always feel jealous as well as very very alone. even cartoons impose this, that people with friends are the good guys and are happier and more dignified than people who are alone. The characters who are alone are usually humiliated deeply, condemned, then i always sympathize with the villain, i'd think, how cruel can those people (the protagonists) get.

But i like a lot of comedy shows especially sitcoms, they make me laugh a great deal, but some comedy movies are too harsh, the protagonists usually humiliate the "jerks" very deeply (like the way the women in Sex and the city reject the men, in extremely humiliating ways, or seinfeld where they make fun of peoples' body odor or other things) it shocks me and makes me imagine how cruel can people possibly be.

Then again... There is this "lone ranger" ideal in Western movies, where the hero only ever socializes with other people in order to save their town etc, and afterwards withdraws back into the desert with his only friend, his horse...
Doesn't that appeal to you?