If It's The Beaches

The climatic scene from The Champ, with Ricky Schroder crying over his father, is (scientifically) considered the saddest movie scene. It's the scene, used in a laboratory setting, that elicits the most sadness. Even more so than the scene in which Bambi's mom dies. Psychologists often use the clip from The Champ to get participants sad in order to study the effects of sadness (e.g., one study found that people are more likely to spend money when they are sad).

Researchers say it's a good scene because it produces one dominant emotion. Some suggestions for sad movie scenes were eliminated because they elicit a mixture of emotions like sadness AND anger. So I guess that's probably why my go-to heartbreaking scene from Steel Magnolias didn't make the cut. It's too complex. There's sadness, anger ("I just want to hit something!"), and it even makes you smile at the end ("Take a whack at Ouiser!"). That's right, it's too complex for you lab rats! (Also, I wouldn't be surprised if psychologists wouldn't want to use it because some male participants probably would be too stubborn to cry at Steel Magnolias. Because it's a girrrrl movie. Whereas, macho guys maybe allow themselves to cry when it comes to sports movies. Like Brian's Song. So maybe The Champ is universally crying-acceptable).

You might think that I will now discuss what movie scenes I think are the saddest. And while I do have a list of obvious contenders (i.e., movies where people die: Steel Magnolias, Beaches, Terms of Endearment, Boys on the Side...I've talked about these before) and not-necessarily-so-obvious contenders (i.e., scenes -- or moments in scenes -- that aren't necessarily sad, but they make me sad. Like in Almost Famous when William says to his sister's boyfriend -- as they're packing up to move away -- "take good care of her....man." And it's how he insecurely inserts the "man" at the end in order to sound cool. He's going to miss his sister and he's looking for approval from his sister and her boyfriend. And the boyfriend just rolls his eyes and laughs. That always breaks my heart a little), I'm not actually going to be discussing sad movie scenes for this post.

While the article did make me think about sad movies scenes, it then evolved into me thinking about sad songs. And while I was compiling a list in my head of sad songs, a sad song actually started playing on my itunes in the background (further proof that my itunes/ipod is sentient). And that's the point of this whole entry, to present this sad song. This sad song about not accepting that your significant other doesn't want to be with you anymore, and you're begging them to not end it, and that you promise you'll be someone that they want.

The Avett Brothers - If It's The Beaches


(The creator of this video took the 'beach' part of the song and ran with it...)

Don't say it's over, 'cause that's the worst news I could hear
I swear that I will do my best to be here just the way you like it
Even though it's hard to hide, push my feelings all aside
I will rearrange my plans and change for you
If I could go back, that's the first thing I would do
I swear that I would do my best to follow through
Come up with a master plan, a homerun hit, a winning stand
A guarantee, and not a promise, that I'll never let your love slip from my hands
If it's the beaches...if it's the beaches' sands you want, then you will have them
If it's the mountains' bending rivers, then you will have them
If it's a wish to run away, then I will grant it
Take whatever you think of, while I go gas up the truck
Pack the old love letters up, we will read them when we forget why we left here