Why Do We Like Movies?

Question: Why do people love to watch movies and TV shows and to get caught up in the feelings of complete strangers? Is it because of a lack of feelings and experiences of their own?

Answer: No. These are not someone else’s feelings. I feel the same emotions myself, and then identify with the heroes of the movie. People pay a lot of money to experience feelings that make them cry. For example, people fly to Germany to see an opera, etc. There is a Rabash article where he wrote that feelings a person isn’t currently experiencing, but has either experienced in the past, or they come to him in a state called “empathy” from the compassion that he feels for others, and although bitter feelings may be aroused in you, it is a pleasant bitterness that only enhances the sweetness. That is why we like to cry a little and dwell in sorrow a little because this further emphasizes the possibility of enjoyment and happiness.

Question: In the past, you said that movies were invented as an art of empathy. What about horror movies? Why should a person watch them?

Answer: These films nevertheless expand the limits of a person’s imagination and shake him a little. We have very few emotions in life. In our daily lives we are “frozen.”

Remark: There is a theory that if a little child watches action and horror movies, these experiences and impressions will be enough for him and he will not actualize them in life. There is another opinion that claims that this will influence children negatively and they will become violent.

My Comment: Certainly, they will get used to cruelty. Likewise, a bad example is contagious. I believe that this should not be allowed at all.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/13/17