Stories with Emotional Resonance

There seem to be certain stories that get to me more than others. I've also noticed that my wife usually doesn't even like these movies and it started me wondering, 'What exactly is it that causes such strong emotions in me?'

It seems to me that each of us has a slightly different emotional resonance when it comes to movies, books and other types of stories. It seems that the story hits on all cylinders and builds every step of the way until it hits the perfect ending. It's like two tuning forks brought together, vibrating at the same frequency.

Most of the time that this has happened to me, I don't even know why it's happening. There are certain movies that just hit me just so and I really can't put my finger on what it is that gets me.

I've been studying it though, thinking that if I can figure out what my emotional resonance is, I can start applying that to my writing. It seems to me that if I know what my emotional triggers are, the more I get that into my work, the more real and emotional it's going to be. It's the tuning fork idea again, but in reverse; instead of the work registering with my resonance, I'll use my resonance to enhance the work.

Here's some of the works that I've noticed do this with me:

• Metropolis (Anime)

  This is probably an Anime title that not many people have heard of, but I borrowed it from a friend way back when and fell in love with it. I ran out and bought it right away and I just seemed connected to it. I don't know why (need to get it out again) but it just seemed like the perfect story to me. In many ways it reminded me of Cowboy Bebop in the way the music and visuals seemed to be disjointed, yet fit perfectly together in their own off center way. It's a story that leaves you feeling melancholy, yet hopeful at the end. And it's based on a Osamu Tezuka manga, which should give you a feel of the overall theme of the movie.

• Lost in Translation

  This is a movie that seems to be very hit or miss among a lot of people, but it was a very big hit with me. Everything seemed to click in this movie for me and it's slow pace really helped build the emotional conflicts with in the film, most of them internal. It may be the best film of subtle internal conflicts I've ever seen and the nature of those conflicts really seems to resonate with me. But it also ended up being not all depressing too; there's a hopeful note at the end but it's hard to explain exactly where it comes from. I'm still trying to figure that out.

• Moonlight Sonata & Untitled

  Do songs really belong? I think they do. Moonlight Sonata has always been a song that, if I'm in the right mood, can really grip me. It's actually not totally depressing of a song, but it certainly ends that way. Another song that gets me is Untitled by The Crash Test Dummies. Just perfectly, well, melancholy. I'm starting to see a pattern here...

• Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

  I actually have a hard time condoning the addition of this item because, one, it's gotten a lot of buzz recently and I don't usually like adding to buzz and, two, I just saw it yesterday and that doesn't seem like enough time to add it to a list like this. But it did it. Those last 20 frames totally sold me on this project and hit me like a hammer, you might say. That last second put the whole work in a totally different light and made everything fit together so perfectly. You start watching the whole thing as a kind of fun little comedic romp and then it just hits you with, well, you'll just have to watch it. I've been thinking about this since we finished watching yesterday and it's a great piece of story telling. It's able to wrap you up and get you to care about the characters without know knowing about it. Then, like any good story, it kicks you when you're down, after you've invested so much it stabs you in the back in the most beautifully perfect way possible. Not because it wants to, but because it has to. If it didn't, you would just feel empty afterwards. (exhibit A: I Am Legend)

This isn't an exhaustive list, but I've only started thinking about this recently. I might write more on this as I work my way towards NaNoWriMo because I'd really like to use this in my next story. I need to study the above films and see; what is it that does this with me? What are my triggers? How can I project this into my work.

Anyway, what stories resonate with you? What movies do you seem to "get" that others don't?