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© Copyright 2000, Jim Loy
I actually cried during the movie, The Perfect Storm. It happens now and then. A friend of mine thinks that it is stupid to get emotionally involved in a movie. "This person is not going to die, he's an actor. It's a movie for God's sake." Well, I think he is missing something. I think there is something valuable to be gained by getting involved in some movies (not all), by caring what happens to this character, even by being this character. You can have strong emotions, and then think about your reactions, and maybe learn about yourself. You can have dangerous experiences from the relative safety of your chair. You can get some insight into fear, war, risk, loss. It's not real, but it's almost real. The strongest emotion that my friend can get from a movie is, "That's interesting."
It can be a workout. I try not to watch very many really sad movies.
Maybe not caring about the fictional character shows an inability to empathize, to mentally put yourself into someone else's shoes.