“I’d give my opening talk, turn on the projector and run for the exit. As soon as I heard the music at the beginning it would start me crying. Talk about Pavlovian response.”

There’s an article about “why we cry at the movies” in the Washington Post.

Then answers? 1) Empathy. Or maybe it’s a 2) a combination of conflicted emotions. And, finally, it might be a stronger #2: They 3) cause us to contemplate what it is about human life that’s important and meaningful. . . . Those thoughts are associated with a mixture of emotions that can be joyful but also nostalgic and wistful, tender and poignant. Tears aren’t just tears of sadness, they’re tears of searching for the meaning of our fleeting existence.”

Not ONE of these people mentioned that maybe it’s the music! I can’t believe it. Heck, I could cry to someone reading the phone book if it were put to the right tune and the singer moved me. I realize other things might also cause tears, but did the guy who ran this experiment show the people the movies without the soundtrack running? I’ll bet his results would have been different.

One of the people they quote even says this:

In other words, we strum a mental guitar chord that combines positive, major feelings with sadder minor tones. And the tears flow before we know it.

Hah!