Tuesday, 08 April 2025, 20:00 (CET)
Filmstudio Glückauf, Rüttenscheider Str. 2, 45128 Essen

The rise of cinema in the early 20th century saw the emergence of a new masculine icon: the tearless hero. Beginning only in the 1970s, male tears slowly trickled back onto the silver screen, eventually becoming a crucial factor for commercial and critical success in films ranging from Midnight Cowboy and Rambo to Lord of the Rings. Around the same time, social scientists note a further decrease in male crying offscreen, with the cinema becoming the last resort for a good manly weep.

In our presentation, we invite the audience to take a historical look at sad movie scenes to encounter the world of male tears, those on the screen and in the cinema seat. Under what circumstances can a hard-boiled hero shed tears without spoiling the box office? How have filmmakers throughout history approached the problem of representing male emotions? And why are real men not crying at their weddings but instead while watching Pixar or superhero movies?

SPEAKERS
Martin Behnke, Screenwriter
Stefan Höhne, Cultural Historian at KWI

ORGANIZATION
Danilo Scholz, KWI
Armin Flender, KWI

TICKETS
Tickets can be purchased online here, at the box office or via telephone at 0201 43 93 66 33. Entrance: 5,- € | reduced 3,- € 

ORGANIZER
Organized by the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) in the CineScience-series “Schund und Vergnügen”.

FURTHER INFORMATION
Event on the KWI website