Film - the power to your emotion machine

We all remember certain sections of film, for many reasons.  This may be because they remind you of a fond memory, because they make you angry or because they make you happy.  Everybody has their favourite moments in film and most people can give an example of their saddest moments in film. 

These are often the scenes that stay with us.  Jenny dying in 'Forrest Gump', The funeral scene in 'My Girl' or When E.T. says goodbye for the final time. 

These moments are powerful and stay with us because they touch something inside us. 

#filmforlearning

I like to use films with an emotional story line with children.  It often leads to deep and mature discussion, allowing the teacher to draw out emotive vocabulary from the children who are then inspired to write using this language whilst including the emotional content in their writing. 

I was thinking about the films that had an effect on me as I was growing up.  I was born in 1982 and I still love watching children's films today, so I thought I would compile a list of the 6 saddest moments in Children's films.  (I have 6 as I couldn't narrow any further to a 'top' 5)  

I tried not to include 6 death scenes in the list, although this is often the saddest point of any film.   Some of the obvious ones are not in there - Bambi's mother for example, but I have never seen that film (or Starwars!)  I would also like to feature 'Land Before Time' - When Lightfoot's mother dies and the death of Mufasa in 'Lion King' but again more death scenes, so they only get a notable mention. 

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The Never Ending Story (1985) 

I was only 3 years old in 1985 but spent many Saturday mornings watching this film  on VHS.

Possibly the most traumatising scene on the list, Artax is being led through 'The Swamp of Sadness' by Atreyu.  In this scene the horse becomes overwhelmed by the mud and Atreyu is calling him not to give up, as he pleads with him the scene blackens and when we next see Atreyu he is sitting next to the spot where we last saw Artax.  

Tear rating 4/5

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Up (2009) 

In this montage from the beginning of Pixar's up we see the marriage of Carl and Ellie and their subsequent life together - the highs, their hopes and their dreams.  

They dream of children, this dream is shattered, but they get through it and they plan an adventure.  An adventure that they never go on.  Such a beautiful montage, which expertly gives us an insight into their love and loss, without the need for a single word. 

Tear rating 5/5

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

I didn't watch this as a child, I was 14 in 1996, but I have seen it since. 

In this scene Quasimodo has left the cathedral in daylight, which he rarely does, as it is carnival time.

At the beginning of the scene you see that he feels accepted when he is crowned 'King of the Fools' - he begins to enjoy the accolade until the crowd turns on him, they call him ugly, they taunt him, laugh at him and physically abuse him. 

​Tear rating 3/5

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Toy Story 2 (2000) 

"When somebody loved me" is a song sang off screen by Jessie while a flashback montage plays, showing her story.   The audience sees that Jessie had an owner that loved her but as she got older Jessie became quickly forgotten and left under the sofa. The song draw to an end as we see Jessie, all alone in a dark, donations box watching her owner drive away. 

Tear rating 4/5

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Monsters Inc (2002) 

Sully and Mike have a grand adventure in the original Monsters Inc film.  Throughout, we see the protective bond grow between Boo and Sully, who she calls 'Kitty.'

In this scene we see him say goodbye and close the portal to his world forever. 

Tear rating 2/5

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How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) 

Stoick is the leader of the clan.  He is stubborn and cantankerous throughout the first 'How to train your dragon' film but we see him 'melt' in this film when he finds his true love and sees his son mature into a man. 

In this scene we see his friend Gobber delivering a rousing funereal speech, before Hiccup and his friends deliver flaming arrows to the ship taking Stoick to Valhalla. 

I watched this film with my 6 year old and we were both in tears when Stoick died, I have just asked Noah what the saddest part of any film he has seen is.  He said when "Dumbledore dies or when Stoick dies." When I asked him why this was sad, he said "because Stoick was the leader so more people are sad."  But "also he is killed by 'Toothless' - Hiccup's best friend so it makes it even worse for Hiccup."    I think he puts it rather well!  

I would be happy to hear your comments about the list.  Maybe you agree with the tear ratings or maybe you would like to add your own scene to the list, please do so using the comments below. 
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#filmforlearning
We can use scenes like this in the classroom to develop empathy.  

​We can ask children to tell us how characters are feeling and how they would feel in that position.  

Students can describe how characters are feeling using show not tell, describing the characters action in key scenes. 

Films with sad scenes on Literacy Shed. 

• The Piano
• Birthday Boy
• Replay 
• The Present 
• Mourning Dove
• Treasure
• Wing
• Day of the Dead

You will have to scroll down on some pages to find the specific video.

There may be others too which I will add later.