Why Do We Enjoy Movies So Damn Much? (Part One)

After a few calculations, it occurred to me that I have probably stayed awake for over 10,000 movies in my lifetime. I can't be sure, of course, because I haven't kept an official count, but I know the tally is way, way up there. 

Not so originally, it intensely kick-started when I saw Star Wars in a theater when I was six years old and realized my less-than-awesome life would never be filled with wookies, lightsabers, jawas and other amazing wonders. Thus, I was hooked on celluloid for life. 

I realize that 10,000 movies is lingering near (or, perhaps, waist-deep in) Obsessionville. I would call it certifiably crazy, but then, most people I know have seen thousands of films in their lifetime, as well. We can't all be insane. So, why do we watch so many movies? Why do we enjoy them so damn much?

Admittedly, the answer does not seem to be difficult. Quite simply, they entertain us... but I think it’s more than that, obviously. I think we need them. Like oxygen need them.

For starters, movies often enable us to run a full gamut of emotions in a relatively short time, which is extremely cathartic by the way. Each of us forms our own visceral connection with certain films. How odd is it that many people cry more watching a movie than they do in their everyday life?

I have often wondered why many of us are this way. The way I see it, maybe people prefer to suppress their emotions in front of other people in their day-to-day lives because they don't want to burden others or they simply don't want to appear to be a glorified psychological mess. I suppose that plays a vital role, but it's really a matter of biology.

According to PsychologyToday, movies make us cry because of oxytocin (the so-called love hormone released by the pituitary gland). It acts as a neurotransmitter to the human brain. The problem is, it isn't tuned just right, so we become incapable of recognizing the difference between actual human beings and flickering images of human beings on a screen. Either one is enough to trigger our oxytocin into high gear and jump-start our empathy. So, we may know on one level what we are watching is fake, but the feelings movies generate in us can seem quite real and powerful to us as if the events we are witnessing are happening to people in our everyday lives. 

Also, the reason we experience a hyper-heightened emotional reaction is that films are designed that way. They are crafted deliberately to manipulate us on a primal level. We are addicts. The more adrenaline courses through our veins during a horror movie, the more we crave it. The more laughter that escapes your lips, the more you want to see a comedy film again and again.

Even the makers of movies are addicts. Actors try to make you fall in love with them or break your heart. Emotional reactions are the currency that thespians use to measure how well they are doing their job. The more you smile in a comedy, the better the performance. The more you cry in a drama, the more you cared about their character and the more the actors affected you. 

And, of course, the director will do his part to make sure you never forget his film. Every trick is employed. The dying character speaks his last lines of sage wisdom and deep regrets. Then the orchestrated music slowly rises and our hearts swell. Cut to an image of a photograph or a character's beloved piece of jewelry (employed throughout the film) bathed in light and it triggers something in you, just as cherished items do in your own life. 

If you think about it, a really good film makes you feel like you just experienced real life at the highest degree.

As a result of that emotional connection we feel, movies will often inspire us to live our lives better or enjoy each moment more (at least for a little while). We will witness a hero endure tragedy or hardship and find a way to move on, knowing we must do the same in our own lives. (If Rocky can beat Mr. T, then surely I can finish these TPS reports by Friday.)

It's funny. We can listen to a million different inspirational speeches, but sooner or later one infiltrates us to our cores because we respond to that particular film or situation or character and we internalize it to match up to our own experiences. In that way, movies are a way for us to celebrate our own lives, in many cases... our own accomplishments and successes, even our failures and their subsequent consequences. In that manner, we relate to fictional characters and it temporarily lifts us from our burdens, secure in the knowledge that we aren't alone in our struggles. Our pain is universal.

But then, movies do a lot more than entertain and inspire us. They take us places we have never been before. A film is someone’s imagination come to life and we, as moviegoers, get to escape into that world for a short time (and escape this crummy world, as well).

Actually, it’s more like a collective imagination come alive, mainly the writer’s musings and the director’s vision, but there are so many creative people involved. The actors. The set and costume designers. The makeup artists. Special effects artists. Musicians. On an on. They each add their stamp to the final product to make it more intricate and to enrich our submersion into that wondrous alternate plane of existence.

I would also argue that movies contain substance, too, and appeal to us intellectually. They can be quite cerebral (perhaps not as often as they should, but still...). I believe at the crux of this window to imagination is a reflection of reality. Oftentimes that reflection is a more idealized or brutal form of reality, but either extreme is capable of fascinating our minds. No matter how fantastic a film is conceptually or visually, it still needs to be anchored to our experiences as human beings in order for us to process it intellectually. To that end, great films use elements of fiction to illustrate profound truths or illuminate a better understanding of our nature in the real world and that stimulates us.

In some cases, movies may seem more real to us than reality, as odd as that sounds. I suppose that’s where the oxytocin comes into play, but I think All About Eve director Joseph L. Mankiewicz underscored this notion well when he said: “The difference between life and the movies is that a script has to make sense, and life doesn't.”

That seems like a good time for me to fade to black, but not before a quick offering of a coming attraction. In my next blog, I will explore what valuable lessons and nuggets of wisdom movies have taught most of us.