One thing you can bet on during the Oscars is the likelihood that someone is going to get weepy. Whether it’s a stirring rendition of a much-loved song, an unexpected win or the Death Montage in the middle of the show, tears will flow. The question I want to ask is, what is it about winning that makes us so emotional? What is it that allows us to remove that carefully constructed shield protecting our vulnerabilities from the outside world? Hollywood actors have these finely curated public personas, but all that falls apart once their name is called out and they receive a gold statue. While those outside of the rarified air of Hollywood stardom may never know what it’s really like to hear your name in the Nokia Theatre, as humans, we are still susceptible to such impromptu bouts of emotion due to the very basic fact that we experience stuff that stimulates the same neurological processes as Oscar winners.
The emotional response is due, in large part, to the stimulation of a part of our nervous system responsible for autonomic function – all the automatic process that we have no hand in controlling. I mean, sometimes we can control the tears that somehow leave our eyes but that initial emotional reaction is something built upon millennia of collective consciousness; a process so automatic that we have no idea when it’s coming on until it’s too late. Emotionally distressing situations are obviously intended to elicit feelings of devastation and loss, but winning, that’s a different story.
It seems that as humans, we react with very similar physiological responses to both winning and losing; gain and loss. There are countless examples of professional athletes, at the top of their profession, breaking down like babies at winning. An obvious example is Michael Jordan who is famous for his tongue as he is for the image of him hugging the NBA championship trophy to his chest, sweat dripping down and a look of tearful happiness on his face. He wasn’t just weeping a little, he was crying, as if someone close to him had died. This is perhaps the most extreme case of the win-cry but it can also occur when we receive warm fuzzy feelings from those who love us the most.
The idea that one would get emotional because someone says, “I Wuv U” is now considered unnecessarily schmaltzy thanks to countless Hollywood movies and banal television sitcoms who have turned what should be a heartfelt, honest gesture into so much recycled poop. Couples these days exist on a higher plane of romantic endeavour and don’t need such tepid phrases to reiterate what is already known. However the emotional responses I’m talking about can still be achieved when the correct situational conditions are met. I’m not talking about coming home to find a bed of roses, with more roses leading to other stuff like bath tubs and veal ravioli. I’m talking about those unexpectedly tender moments when the feeling of utter love is just begging to be set free and expressed with three simple words. It seems that such moments are more meaningful and lasting than any amount of rose petals and chocolates. And it’s these moments that provide the impetus for these spontaneous emotional outbursts – for both the giver and the receiver. The feeling of limitless joy spreads through us at an alarming rate and haphazardly starts pushing our tears out of our eyes. The crazy thing is we are powerless to stop it.
These examples are intended to provide a glimpse into the complex machinations of the human psyche where both gain and loss elicit the same physiological responses in our tear ducts. There is nothing gender-based in these responses either. I mean you can think that because women are more in touch with their emotions they are more likely to cry at stuff like this but last I checked men have tear ducts too, and these tear ducts can spring open like a sprinkler on a golf course at the right provocation. Of course music and movies have the same propensity for providing embarrassing moments (watch the film version of Les Miserables with someone who gets emotional about stuff. Just bring some extra tissues because you’ll need them). The point is that our emotions are inextricably linked to our physiology in many crazy ways and we are powerless in its salty grip.
The Musings of a Functional Lunatic - Ian Fonnie 