What's wrong with sentimentalism?

I would've included this if I'd thought of it earlier, but:


Pretty good illustration of the whole thing. Both how something can seem cloying/manipulative, but also the idea that making people feel something through artifice is inherently skillful.

It's a good illustration of the whole sentiment/sentimentality/emotion thing. It can be used, abused, manipulated and whether it works depends on the plot, the shooting and, in the case of the lamp, especially the music and the rain. To the extent that the piano chords tell us that the lamp is sad, we get teary. We feel sorry for the lamp that's cast out in the cold and wet.

The rational materialists among us say that it's just a lamp, a piece of metal. To others, the lamp is a symbol of life during the time someone had it.....anything that happened on that desk, including the time I knocked it off the desk while I was getting frisky with my deceased girlfriend just before I found out that I had cancer.

Whether it's emotion, memories or maudlin sentimentality, just depends. That's what makes one movie work the another seem cheesy.

Let me just say this about a film I just watched: What's Eating Gilbert Grape story was ripe for overt sentimentality and yet the film totally avoids that by having the characters speak and act in very humanistic and realistic ways, worts and all. It's a good example of how a film that has sentimental elements built into the overall story can still avoid going over the border line into sappy land.

The feminist version of Falling Down: "Ugh. Men! Let's just drive over cliff already!"

And how exactly did Clarence do that? By showing that things could always get worse, and for George to exist was simply a better option by default.
It had nothing to do with a spiritual journey or a newfound appreciation. It was pure blackmail.

Shadowlands is another good example of this I think. A lot of sentiment, zero schmaltz....

Yes, that's an excellent example of a movie that could've been done over sentimentally due to the story line but the movie never dips into that well. Good film.

What does FD have to do with T&L?

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and...
The Elephant Man
Pleasantville

Both are road trip films. Our protagonists find their traditional patriarchal roles have failed them. Both feature repeated acts of rebellion by our protag(s) as they seek their liberation. They act out in ways that make them a danger to the established order. Both stories end with the death of our protag(s).