Are you a masochist for loving movies that make you cry? Not so, according to Focus Features and SilverLogic Labs, who investigated how movies elicit emotional responses from viewers around the world.
Focus submitted its new film A Monster Calls to help with the research. Watching a movie in theaters with an audience, it turns out, leads to an increased emotional response.
SilverLogic Labs analyzes emotions and audience responses related directly to scientific understandings.
“Watching A Monster Calls with other people, you collectively have this catharsis, this insight into the human condition” says Berkeley psychology professor Dacher Keltner, who described humans as a “hypersocial species.”
Hearing other people laugh, cry and respond to a film strengthens your connection. The more people you share a movie with, the higher the emotional impact.