Nothing quite replicates the feeling of anticipation, of excitement as settling down in a theater, waiting for a movie to start. The red velvet of the seats bends, some providing warmth, others providing lenience and movement. The lights dim, the drink in the cup sizzles, the smell of popcorn and candy floods one’s senses, and for a moment, there is darkness. If a pin were to drop, it’d echo, until finally, the beginning sequence starts, lighting up every curve and divot on the viewer’s face.
How is it that theaters bring in such large audiences with the creation of streaming services? Why is it that one becomes so immersed in a moving picture, animated, stop motion, or real-life? The answer can come in many forms. To live vicariously through underdog athletes defeating the odds like in Remember the Titans or Miracle on Ice. To feel the buzz of music thrum through one’s body with the desire to dance and sing from movies like La La Land or The Greatest Showmen. Or just to laugh and mourn through heart-warming classics like The Notebook, and A Dog’s Purpose. While the response seems complicated and differing due to individual experiences, the answer lies in one word: connection.
Divided by race, gender, views, and background, humanity is sectored. All individuals lie within different audiences and allow themselves to be further divided by their wants, preferences, and biases. If one were to allow these divisions to take root, an obstruction would occur. The human desire to feel seen and be seen by those one can share a moment with, a truth with, is neglected.
However, through cinema, a connection is sparked. Between the viewer and the characters; between the viewer and the rest of the audience they find themselves in. There is a mutual understanding that while the setting is nonfiction and magical, and the stories may even be nonsensical, the characters are driven by human emotions.
Frustration drives Katherine Johnson from Hidden Figures, into a moment of vulnerability due to weeks of prejudice in an environment where she worked twice as hard as her white counterparts. Humility brings Cady Heron to snap her prom queen crown into multiple pieces at the end of Mean Girls, spreading the Prom Queen title as an apology to the girls she had hurt. Determination leads Marlin to cross the ocean in search of his son, in Finding Nemo, driven by family bonds, and the intense connection of a parent to a child.
Society places itself into these characters, connecting their values and wants to that of the characters. Society roots for the heroes, imagining themselves in their role, saving those who cannot save themselves. Simultaneously, people mourn the misunderstood villain, looking back on their own misdoings.
Humanity looks at films they’ve watched in their youth, technicolor classics like Wizard of Oz, and hand-animated marathons of Disney’s Renaissance Era and ties them to nostalgia. People flip between thrillers, horrors, and chick-flicks, every film fulfilling an innate desire to feel seen and heard. It is why movie theaters continue to fill even in the age of Netflix and Hulu, allowing individuals to immerse themselves in a world unlike or just like theirs.
Though genres transcend and everyone approaches movies with different backgrounds, what binds humanity to cinema is that sense of connection in mind and matter. So buy that movie ticket, sneak in candy and lean back on those red velvet chairs. Feel the emotions through the screen and realize the character upon the screen is not that much different than the individual sitting in the audience.