ABSTRACT
Mary Beth Oliver (1993) created the Sad Film Scale in order to understand individuals’ seemingly unlikely enjoyment of sad films. Although some tear-jerkers end on an optimistic note, Oliver notes that many “conspicuously lack optimistic or cheerful conclusions” (p. 318). Given the hedonistic assumptions of mood management approaches (Zillmann & Bryant, 1985), these types of movies should be inversely related to enjoyment. This is not, in fact, the case, and Oliver set out to “untangle the paradox of the enjoyment of sad films or tear-jerkers” by looking at the distinction between direct responses (emotional reactions) to the films and meta-emotions. A meta-emotion is a response to an emotional reaction (Feagin, 1983). In other words, a person might experience positive affect following a sad movie if the sadness he or she experiences is perceived as gratifying. In contrast, if the meta-emotions associated with sadness are favorable, a tear-jerker that evokes no feelings of sadness should be perceived as less gratifying than those that arouse sad feelings.
