Tearjerkers with Meaning: Chickflicks that pack a political punch!

I like to cry. There, I admit it. Sometimes there’s nothing better than the feeling of tears streaming down my cheeks, mascara running willy-nilly, gasping sobs, and the resulting sniffles. It’s a release of pent-up emotions, and, let’s face it, life is so hard, and it just isn’t healthy to keep it bottled up inside. To avoid facing the actual causes of my sadness- malaise, bad break-ups, seasonal affective disorder, or the end of a really good TV series- I sometimes resort to watching what is diminutively referred to in the world of film reviews as a “tearjerker.” These are the stories that pull at the heartstrings, making me cry for reasons I don’t even understand (when Big Bird is caged, painted blue, and made to sing by wandering gypsies, for example). It may be avoidance, but movies that affect me that way (call them “emotion pictures”) are a mainstay of my viewing pleasure.

This practice is not always condoned by society at large. Most people- and by people, I mean those who display sangfroid when cute animals die onscreen (you know who you are)- feel that purposely manipulating one’s feelings is irrational and girly, and group this genre of movies with the much maligned “chick flick.” While the label has been discussed and the gender politics of the classification beaten to death, the sub-genre of the “tearjerker” is yet to be appreciated for what it really is: a deceptive way to manipulate viewers into subconscious views on highly politicized subjects. I bet you didn’t see that coming, but it’s true! There is hidden depth, even propaganda in some of the weepiest films ever made. Here’s a list of my favorites and what lessons stayed with me…after the last tear was dry.

Titanic
The unhappy-ending to end them all (besides the fact that the main character lives to a very ripe old age and still has her pottery) taught audiences a very important lesson, well, two really, about boat safety. The first is that if a boat isn’t equipped with enough life-preservers or life boats for all the passengers, it really isn’t worth it no matter how hot the poor people in steerage are. And also, it’s important to learn about hypothermia and know how to prevent it, especially when traveling through the Arctic. I mean, could they not both fit on the big piece of wood? Honestly, I learned my lesson from that, which is, share your floating scraps when the boat goes down! Diamonds may be forever, but you could have spent your life with Leo.

Life is Beautiful
This film has the obviously morales of love overcoming most sinister hatred and parental sacrifice as the ultimate good. Under the surface, though, there’s the lesson that you need to trick children all the time to raise them properly. Their tiny little minds are unprepared to deal with the world, even one millions of times less dangerous and isolated and evil as the one depicted in the movie. I will definitely lie to my children for as long as I can get away with it. For example, when my daughter is 7 and asks where babies come from, I will not give her a detailed description and then show her pictures from medical textbooks…that could scar a kid! And I wouldn’t want that to happen to anyone else. Umm...okay, moving on…

Pretty Woman
I always cry when Julia Roberts tells Laura San Giacomo that she’s got “real potential” at the end of the movie. It’s uplifting, but such a blatant push of the movie’s overt theme that call
girls are people, too. After I cry about that, I realize that the storyline incorporates many aspects of shame about her career: George Costanza hits on her rudely, the hotel manager makes fun of her clothes, the shopkeepers make a "huge mistake," etc. However, there’s no shame on Richard Gere’s character for a) picking up a hooker, b) paying her, c) being of the Andy Garcia “looking-mad-but-actually not-being-able-to-act” school of acting. So this movie, between my tears, taught me that the double standard is so obscene that I actually think of him as a Price Charming character when he rides up in the limo, climbs the fire-escape (fear of heights be damned!), and kisses the princess. I bet she dumped him within a month. Because you know what they say, “once a hooker-picker-upper, always a hooker-picker-upper.”

Beaches
OMG. The tear-jerker to end all tear-jerkers. It’s one giant sobfest. The movie is literally designed to make me abysmally sad that my best friend in the world is dying and then tops off the sundae with a cute little girl caught in the middle. It has family drama, death, cheating, deceit, betrayal, and fun summer days on the Jersey shore. But it’s not a vacuous plot that only women can enjoy. It’s got a voice and that voice is basically yelling: “living will!” I won’t give anything else away, suffice it to say, the film was years ahead of its politically-divisive time.


Under the Same Moon
I watched this recent release last week, after serious prodding by numerous Mexican-American students peaked my interest. It’s about a mother and son separated by the border: she’s in L.A., working immigrant-style jobs, sending the money back to Mexico so her son can afford sweet kicks (that’s what the money illegal immigrants send back goes to buy, apparently, and piñatas, of course). But both of them are fed up with the situation…and the ethically-trying decisions that ensue are never-ending.
Should she marry the boring guy who has a green card just to be with her son? Should the coyote lady smuggle the son across the border?
Should Ugly Betty (America Ferrera, I mean) smuggle a random kid into Texas to pay for her brother’s college tuition (which also reminds us of the struggles of Americans to afford higher education!)?
Why does the weird friend date only chollo guys?
Is the relationship between the little boy and the drifter making anyone else uncomfortable? Can the boy forgive the father who abandoned him?
Do abandoning fathers always abandon more than once just to drive the point home?
Are white people really all superficial and self-centered? (Well, we know the answer to that is “Yes, most”). The combination of cute kid, immigration issues, unfair treatment of non-native English speakers, and maternal devotion were enough to ruin my night with crying. But also enough to remind me that the best film doesn’t just play with the mind of the viewer, it gives us something to think about in between the tears.

And with heavy heart (and Kleenex) I’m preparing to see “Wall-E” this week. The combination of adorable robot, inter-“species” mechanical love, and post-industrial dystopia…the possibilities for enlightenment (and attractive mascara stains down my face) are endless.

This entry was posted by Nicole, on Sunday, July 06, 2008. You can leave your response.