better living through youtube - the fuck yeahs, modified

Note:

Sherlock the computer had a full system crash and is currently engaged in a factory reinstall beside me. I am panicking. Currently I am using Adam, whose y key is missing, except not, because someone moved the key itself to u and I am so glad I never look at a keyboard when I type or this could end badly.

This is like, balance for the fact that for the first time in eight fucking months, I was able to write. I can feel it.

...and recovery just froze.

I wrote this earlier in a spirit of sharing. It's like a fucking prophecy. Posting anyway so as to review the fact my life? A farce.

Anyway

Okay, the thing is? I'm all about being emotionally manipulated by my media. I like breaking into unabashed, unashamed sobbing. Obviously when I'm not wearing a lot of eyeliner, but whatever, eyeliner cannot compete with sheer emotional gluttony, mkay?

Fuck yeah, feel good, sob eyes out, that's how it works.

Mulan's Decision, Mulan - and every time, I start choking up when she strides to the altar and just lose it when she unsheathes a sword for the first time and her reflection looks back at her. I have watched this movie more times than is healthy and it's always amazing.

Mulan, Finale, Mulan - all of China at her feet. If you do not at least choke up, you have no soul.

Okay, in my defense, this movie came out when Child was two years old. I swear to God I was connecting to both mothers like whoa.

Two Worlds, Tarzan - the first time I watched it, I cried literally from the moment Tarzan's birth mother pulled her husband into the boat, sobbed through her kickassness building a home, dawwed through Tarzan's adopted mother as she played with her son, was nearly hysterical by the time her baby died and then heard Tarzan crying, and then I had a dramacomedy breather before, y'know, she kicked some cat ass and I had to get a cold compress for my eyes.

...wow, that sounds disturbing. One, Phil Fucking Collins, two worlds one family, but also, Child was two and I was taking a eighteen hour semester while trying to subtly break up with my boyfriend by dint of hiding from him. I mean--you know, that's a terrible explanation. Forget you read that. Go look at Tarzan's awesome Moms; time spent much better.

(We won't discuss my reaction to the movie Trainspotting, as Child was not yet one and I ended up dry heaving in the bathroom and refused to watch another second. If you've seen it, you know what scene I'm talking about.)

Union, Norma Rae - almost no dialogue, just that constant, clattering noise and then slowly, gorgeously, silence says more than a thousand words.

Okay, but this:

Harry's Sacrifice, Armageddon - AJ's hysterical grief fucking destroys me.

Final ten minutes, Armageddon - for kind of everything. Just One. More. Minute. Harry doesn't know how to fail. And um, Harry's last moments. The guy seeing his kid running toward him. Honestly, like, the second hour? I'll get dehydrated.

Eowyn Versus Nazgul,, LOTR - okay, I don't actually sob, just choke up.

Still Looking For

Apollo 13, mission control scene. Though my second favorite is basically the entire sequence of events on the ground; the engineers standing around a table with the NASA equivalent of duct tape and hairpins to create air filters ETA: jamie found the scene, here; Ken Mattingly doggedly testing ways to run on minimal power over and over and over until they fix it, and every moment people surprised themselves with how much more they were than they thought they could be.

ETA: Okay, how could I forget Be a Man, Mulan - okay, the thing is, thereis nothing about that movie that is not awesome.

Sherlock's backup is either frozen or trying to kill me. Goddammit.

Comments

[scrollgirl]

Not a movie, but I was doing my 30 Days of Female Characters and decided to post about Beth March from Little Women. I had tears streaming down my face just thinking about her and Jo. Damn that Alcott woman!

I haven't seen Tarzan, but now it's on my to-watch list.

Armageddon always makes me cry.

[seperis]

That first eight minutes is just--perfect. And it's so--dammit, I can't even.

Oh Beth. God, yes.

[aurora]

Mulan is amazing!! It's actually the first movie I saw in the cinema more than once.

[forestgreen]

OMG! I blame you! I just spent the last hour watching Tarzan on Youtube. When the Department of Health comes to close my apartment I tell them you're the one responsible for its current state.

Now I'm going to watch Mulan.

[deird1]

Blast, now I'm going to have to watch Mulan again.

...and I will of course be choked up during those scenes. Is there any way to make it through that movie without tears welling up multiple times?

*loves Mulan*

[out_there]

Hee. Okay, clips of Mulan seem to be the perfect cure for trying to understand complex adaptive systems and how "decision games" are apparently the best way to impart complex knowledge (don't ask; I barely understand it myself).

I think Mulan came out when I was too old to effectively attach my emotional self to it (Lion King and LIttle Mermaid, those both got me in childhood and still drag an emotional reaction from me). And while I'm not usually a big fan of emotionally wrecking myself in a sobbing mess, it has a strong appeal when I'm sick or PMSing, which is why there are certain episodes of Buffy that have been rewatched to death.

[sami]

... Yeah, I teared up at the finale. And I love that song.

The only real thing wrong with the movie is that the real Mulan was even more awesome.

[sami]

... also, there's something seriously soul-stirring about a proper male chorus.

[venetia_sassy]

I cannot watch Armageddon without crying. However, I am a total sap so there are quite a few movies I cannot watch without crying. My mother laughs at me but even she teared up at then end of Return of the King.

[kopernik]

My upbringing was so heavy on the stiff upper lip that if I tear up over a movie, my family tends to back away a little bit, fearful that I might be on the edge of a full emotional collapse. So it takes quite a bit to get to me, and it's notable when it does happen.

Apollo 13 is some kind of freaking miracle of a movie. How is it so suspenseful when I've seen it like SIXTY DAMN TIMES? Not to mention I knew how it was going to end before they filmed even one scene. Making an air filter is exciting! Minutes of dead air can make me cry! Also, I ship Ken Mattingly and John "Power Is Everything" Aaron, with the glasses. I ship it A LOT. More with every viewing. I don't care how wrong that is. After the movie ends, they go to a Holiday Inn with a lumpy mattress and a clanky air conditioner and work on lots more "procedures."

But the movie that even more consistently delivers a punch to my gut is Field of Dreams. I either lose it completely when Doc Graham can't go back or when Ray has a catch at the end, with the "No, Ray...it was you" from Shoeless Joe. Ugh, I can't stand it.

A League of Their Own is also tear-inducing sometimes, usually when the older ladies are exploring their Cooperstown exhibit. I don't even know what it is about baseball and me.

[aivilo_18]

Oh, god. Armageddon. I'm not outwardly emotional when it comes to movies, but that movie is one of a few that I can only watch alone because holding it in gives me a migraine.

However, when Harry sacrifices himself, I had a couple of seconds where I was all "that's probably a really smart move because now Grace can't be super pissed at Harry for totally boning AJ because saving the world sort of trumps that, y'know?"

This is why I only have, like, two friends who are willing to watch movies with me anymore.

[seperis]

Grace seems like she'd be okay with sharing, is what I'm saying. It's nice to know that your fiancee and father can work out their differences like men do.

[ladyvyola]

V for Vendetta. The crowd unmasking scene kills me every time.

I was on a flight from London to DC and it was one of the in-flight movies and I just left it on -- teared up three times. What is this "desentsitization" they speak of?

[bethcarielle]

Armageddon destroys me every time I watch it.

And now I really want to watch Mulan again. How is it I don't own it?

[jamie]

The air filter scene from Apollo 13.

[seperis]

YES THANK YOU I WANTED THAT!

[scy]

The scene where Boromir charges up that hill to rescue the Hobbits. The odds are overwhelming, you KNOW he is going to die (even if you haven't read the books) AND YET THERE HE GOES. Proving that he is A GOOD MAN.

[nianeyna]

ugh, THAT SCENE. I cry when he dies every. time. once someone on the internet said it was "cheesy" and I was like, "...I WILL FIGHT YOU. DON'T THINK I WON'T."

[scy]

I KNOW.

[nianeyna]

MULAN IS FUCKING AMAZING, the end.

also:

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

I totally watch Armageddon knowing I'm going to spend the last 15 minutes sobbing. And then I call my dad—to let him know that I love him. Just in case the world ends suddenly in fiery death, he knows.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

A totally reasonnable reaction. God, why am I watching again?

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

Oddly, it's the flight formation that really gets me full-out sobbing. The "one man left behind" formation. Ooof. Everytime, it just... breaks me.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

The Iron Giant. "Superman..."

Every. single. time.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I forgot that! *sighs*

[mardia.livejournal.com]

Oh thank God I'm not the only one that cries at the ending of Armageddon. I know this movie is ridiculous, I know that NASA uses it as a test for potential candidates by asking them to find all the errors in the movie (there are over 100, btw) but goddamn if AJ going hysterical with grief and loss doesn't get me every. single. time.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

AJ's reaction just kills me, every time.

[stellarluna35.livejournal.com]

I cry every single time I watch Armageddon. Even if I just catch the last 15 minutes on TNT, I still cry.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

It's magic, I swear. Just the music gets me teary.

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one emotionally effected by ... 'unusual' movies. I'm forbidden from watching The Last Samurai because it destroys me. I am unable to function for hours after I see it. Also, the charge of the Rohirrim in ROTK makes me sob like a baby. Any scene with great (read: in volume) human sacrifice will slay me.

But then, so does that long sweeping pan over the mountains as the beacons are lit.

[mikhale.livejournal.com]

YES. Finally. Someone who understands. MULAN. When she draws that sword and looks at her reflection. People don't understand that when she took up that sword and that armor of her father, she was doing it not because she wanted glory for herself but because she loved her father too much to even risk his survival.

And she KNEW that taking up the sword has an extremely high chance of her dying, getting horribly injured and losing everything she loved and bringing shame and dishonor on her family BUT SHE STILL GOES BECAUSE SHE WILL DO ANYTHING TO KEEP HER FATHER SAFE AND BECAUSE SHE IS FAH MULAN AND COULD HAVE PROBABLY TAKEN ALL OF THE HUNS AND STILL WON.

...

Sorry. I just couldn't tamp that down. But, SEP, she went into it knowing she would probably die. BUT SHE WILL WENT. T.T TEARS. God, she is awesome.

Don't even get me started on the whole China bowing down to her. I have to emotionally fortify myself for that before I can discuss it without tears.

On a heart-wrenching note, find a copy of Reign of Assassins. Watch it and then tell me how you went into shock due to lachrymal dehydration.

[unrund.livejournal.com]

Yes, this! *points up and goes back to watching and sobbing*

[loriel-eris.livejournal.com]

I'm all about being emotionally manipulated by my media.

God. Yes. This. There are many points where I have been significantly upset over the years. But the two that utterly slayed me and had me crying so hard that I literally could not see (and this was in a crowded cinema...)?

Armageddon, exactly the same as everyone else.

Titanic. No! Don't mock! I was upset that Jack died (true love thwarted!), but that wasn't the devastation. I'm pretty sure I started crying when arrogant-jerk-who-was-involved-with-the-building-of-the-ship (but not Spy!Daddy (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001255/)) was showing people around the ship and was all "We don't need to have enough lifeboats for everyone, because this ship will never sink. (And besides, we've got enough for important people.)" (Pretty sure the latter was implied rather than stated.) And I just broke at this point because as everyone knows, The Ship Sinks and I was all, but... but... but... all those people are going to die and how can you be so godddamned stupid and arrogant and... and... and... AAAAARGH! And from this point on I'm just a hopeless wreck because everyone is going to die because one man/a group of people were such arrogant bastards and such completely and utterly examples of humanity. And god, the hopelessness and helplessness of it all. And just.... God.

So. Erm. Yes. It may be more than 10 years since I've actually seen it. It can apparently still get me...

Also. The point on Apollo 13 where the guy comes in a says this is what they have available to them. This is all you have to solve it. I get all goosepimply at that exact point and then all adoring with the rest of the scene.

[ladyoflisquill.livejournal.com]

God I haven't seen Mulan in years and this just brought it all back in one sweeping wave of emotion.

[deejay.livejournal.com]

Guaranteed sob moments (every single damned time viewed):

Apollo 13: "Something broke on your daddy's spaceship and he's gonna have to turn around before he even gets to the moon." "Was it the door?"

LOTR (TROTK): The lighting of the Beacons of Gondor.

Dumbo: "Baby Mine" song.

Toy Story 2: "When She Loved Me" song.

Toy Story 3: Everything from the incinerator scene to the end credits.

Re:

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

WHO DOESN'T CRY AT PIXAR FILMS. WALL*E. Up. Seriously. You'd have to be inhuman.

[jazzy-peaches.livejournal.com]

OMG I LOVE MULAN I still have my VHS copy, lol. And I used to listen to the soundtrack over and over, oh man. And one summer when I was directing a theater workshop for kids, we taught their warmup dance to "Be a Man" and by the end of the summer, they had like, organized themselves so that the oldest girls were yelling, "BE A MAN!" while everyone else was singing the chorus.

I love Apollo 13 also! I remember seeing it in the theater as a kid and just being awestruck. When I was in high school our physics teacher had us watch it and write down 10 problems they encountered in the movie and explain the physics they used to solve them.

[incapricious.livejournal.com]

My computer is named Sherlock too! I hope your Sherlock recovers soon.

I think I must have seen Mulan but I have no memory of it. I guess I need to watch it again!

[incapricious.livejournal.com]

Also, the movie that makes me cry the most is... Eight Below. Because of the dogs. Oh my god, the dogs. I mean the movie is about dogs, but... I sob though pretty much the entire movie.

[thearchpoet.livejournal.com]

West Wing Season 1 Episode 7.

At the end of the episode there is a hurricane headed towards the coast gaurd position out in the Atlantic and Bartlet tries to get them on the radio. The only person on the other end is a young man left on his own in a tugboat...

I tear up. EVERY TIME.

[sphynxle.livejournal.com]

Just like everyone else in this post, I am so glad I am not the only one who gets choked up and manipulated by random media.

My guilty bawl my eyes out Disney movie? Pocahontas. That finale scene just sends me over the edge every SINGLE. TIME. Forget the historical inaccuracies and such, just the thought that she was sending the man she loved away to "home" and knowing in her heart he was probably going to die on the way there. The fact it has no words just makes it so much better.

Excuse me while I bawl.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Mulan ALWAYS MAKES ME CRY. I blame this on being seventeen and a camp counselor at the time, which was one of the most stressful periods of my life. I watched Mulan on all five of my days off (because I didn't have a car and could only bum a ride to Hanover and they only have one theater there with two screens and the other screen was playing H20). What gets me is "when will my reflection show who I am inside?" My god I'm such a sap.