Circa24's Blog - Posts Tagged "sad-stories"
Why Sad Stories Sing to Us.
Fiction provides powerful frameworks to explore and understand the experiences and viewpoints of others in a way not possible in our daily lives. Although it does not provide factual knowledge, it immerses us in the minds and lives of characters, including ones you’d never encounter in reality. Thomas Harris’ Hannibal series, for example, dives into the mind of Hannibal Lecter. This character, who would terrify us in life, becomes someone we can understand as we see the world through his eyes, and in a macabre way, we empathize with him. Throughout Fiddler on the Roof, we watch Reb Tevya grapple with a changing world as he bends his cultural and moral compass, wondering when he will reach his breaking point and refuse that one last compromise.
Horror, like Predator, and dystopian novels, like The Handmaid’s Tale, provide a means of confronting our fears. Through them, we imagine and rehearse scenarios. Although exaggerated beyond anything we are likely to encounter, a well-written horror story lets us wonder about how we might react, not just in extreme situations but in the more moderate challenges that could confront us in our daily lives. The dark threat over our horizon may not be an invisible monster but a domineering boss or that unknown car that seems to follow us on the highway.
Books that explore humanity’s dark side let us experience the world from the perspectives of both the victims and oppressors. Some, such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin, have had the power to help change the world. The profound appeals of Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo tugged on the conscience of 19th-century society as they pled for social reforms.
Sad stories also provide an emotional release. They let us explore sadness and depression in a controlled, distant, selective, time-limited environment free from the ongoing repercussions of actual events. We can experience a catharsis and resolution, emerging unharmed and enriched by the experience. When we engage in the pain and sorrow of a heart-breaking novel, our lives brighten through the comparison. We realize that given a chance to trade places with characters, we would choose our own realities over theirs. Tragedies can also deepen our connections to our own pasts, sending our minds back to those difficult times that, in retrospect, were often the most fulfilling periods of our lives.
Horror, like Predator, and dystopian novels, like The Handmaid’s Tale, provide a means of confronting our fears. Through them, we imagine and rehearse scenarios. Although exaggerated beyond anything we are likely to encounter, a well-written horror story lets us wonder about how we might react, not just in extreme situations but in the more moderate challenges that could confront us in our daily lives. The dark threat over our horizon may not be an invisible monster but a domineering boss or that unknown car that seems to follow us on the highway.
Books that explore humanity’s dark side let us experience the world from the perspectives of both the victims and oppressors. Some, such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin, have had the power to help change the world. The profound appeals of Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo tugged on the conscience of 19th-century society as they pled for social reforms.
Sad stories also provide an emotional release. They let us explore sadness and depression in a controlled, distant, selective, time-limited environment free from the ongoing repercussions of actual events. We can experience a catharsis and resolution, emerging unharmed and enriched by the experience. When we engage in the pain and sorrow of a heart-breaking novel, our lives brighten through the comparison. We realize that given a chance to trade places with characters, we would choose our own realities over theirs. Tragedies can also deepen our connections to our own pasts, sending our minds back to those difficult times that, in retrospect, were often the most fulfilling periods of our lives.
