What is the main topic of the programme today?

M: Hello, I’m Rob, welcome to Easy to Go English. With me in the studio today is Louise. Hello there.
W: Hi Rob.
M: In today’s programme we’re discussing films that make us cry and why we actually enjoy watching something that makes us burst into tears—or in other words, to cry out loud. And we’ll also be looking at the language associated with crying. So, crying out loud, surely this is something that you have done, Louise?
W: I’m afraid yes, I’ve done that.
M: Is there a particular film that’s made you cry?
W: I think, Dancer in the Dark ... and how about you, Rob?
M: Well, being a man, obviously I would never cry... well, almost. There’s an old children’s film called The Railway Children. At the end when the children’s father returns from exile, his daughter runs down the station platform shouting " my daddy, my daddy! " That makes me misty-eyed.
W: You big softie!
M: OK, well, Louise, do you know the 85th Academy Awards—better known as The Oscars— were held recently and there was one major weepy that won several awards.
W: A weepy? You mean a film that makes us cry?
M: Yes. And that film was Les Miserables. I’ve seen it and it really is a tearjerker—it literally causes tears to roll down our cheeks! So why do we choose to see a film—or movie—that makes us get so emotional?
W: I suppose it’s the mark of a good film if it causes us to reveal our emotions. A really sad story, if it’s well acted and directed, can really make us cry. And a sob story—one where a character tries to get our sympathy for him or her—can have the same effect. But what is it about a film that can make us cry when we can’t cry in real life?
M: Well, according to psychologist Dr. Winston Leimon, we allow our emotions to be influenced when we watch a film. What word does he use to mean "influenced"?
W: Dr. Leimon says we have to have our emotions manipulated—influenced by a film. In real life we are told how we should feel.