IN BRIEF: In this post we address our choice of watching MOVIES and SPORTS, from a psychological and a philosophical standpoint.
We human beings have an unfathomable love towards art. Painting and Music are the basic forms. Movies bring the art and music together with the brilliant acting and storytelling to captivate us in its world.
It’s not the art which attaches us to the movies but the concept of viewing the world from an outside window. C. S. Lewis, in his An Experiment in criticism, says we “Seek an enlargement of our being. We want to be more than ourselves. Each of us by nature sees the whole world from one point of view with a perspective and a selectiveness peculiar to himself. We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own. We demand windows”.
It not only allows us to view from others perspective but also see our everyday things in a different light.
Movies
We experience a lot of things daily but fail to appreciate them. Movies helps us discover our inner feelings and give them a form. It portrays our weirdest dreams and lets us escape from reality. Dilwale Dulhania Lejayenge made us feel like it’s the real love. Border, Swades brought our inner patriot to the surface. Taare Zameen Par, Udaan moved us.
From horror movies to romantic comedies each one represent the amplified version of our emotions. This is the reason why we idealize our film heroes as real heroes and worship them.
Sports
Another activity which immerses us completely into is watching sports. Which sport one wants to watch is an individual choice but all of them give us the same effect, adrenaline rush and release of dopamine when our favourite team wins.
Wait! Isn’t it playing sports which causes that effect? Yes, indeed. The mirror Neurons in our brain are responsible for this behaviour. While watching sports we feel exactly how the people in it are feeling, this is the reason we are able to guess their moves and empathise with them.
Our brain releases testosterone, which is responsible for dominance and social interaction, while watching the sport and dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter reward system by our brain. This explains our excitement and pleasure while watching games.
What About An Amalgamation
Imagine what happens when movies and sports come together, Yeah! Chak de India. On the final note watching them as entertainment is okay and advisable but fighting because of them and worshipping the stars to the extreme is not at all cool.
