The year is 1997 and Titanic has just released. People are rushing to the theaters to watch it, not caring that the movie, just like the real life incident it was based on, would end tragically. If anything, the tear jerking end became one of the most powerful scenes in the movie. People couldn’t stop gushing over it, even if it meant they were also gushing tears while doing it. In fact, the sad finale became such a huge phenomenon, that it actually landed up in the BBC’s list of “Movies that made men cry.”

Over the years, the movie has achieved cult status, going on to become only the second movie, after the Avatar, to earn over 2 billion dollars across the globe. And it is not just Titanic. Countless number of melancholic books, movies, and TV shows have gone on to become huge successes. Look at Anna Karenina, The Fault in our Stars, and the Broke-back Mountain to name a few. All of these made us fall in love with the characters and then cruelly killed them off by the end. And people continue to love them!

Logically speaking, watching or reading a tragedy defeats the purpose of entertainment. Why would someone, willingly, go through all the heartbreak, when they could have watched a light comedy or anything else to unwind?

Looking to once and for all, resolve this conundrum, I searched for answers. Not surprisingly, there were a number of people, as baffled as me, asking the same question: Why do we love tragedies?

The answer was weirder than one might expect. Watching emotional or depressing movies actually encourages the person to feel happy and close to their relatives and partners.

Wait… that can’t be true, can it?

Well it actually is! Silvia Knoblock-Westerwick, the lead author of a research paper published at the Ohio State University states, “People seem to use tragedies as a way to reflect on the important relationships in their own life, to count their blessings.”

Delving deeper into this issue, I came across an article on Greatist by Katie Koerner. She talks of how researchers have seen that the same hormone, Oxytocin, that incites the urge to cuddle or fight, also makes us feel empathy for others.

“Watching sad films prompts us to get reflective and feel grateful for the ways our lives and relationships are better than those of the characters on screen.”

No kidding. Every time I watched Titanic, I felt relieved not to be the one floating in sub-zero temperature water while my boyfriend is dying of hypothermia.

Sadly, all this googling didn’t convince me of my own happiness. I still maintain my stand that if I had to relax and enjoy myself, I would pick an Adam Sandler movie, rather than a Nicholas Sparks novel. There is only so much my poor heart can take after going through the daily drudgery of my own life. I don’t need fictitious characters trying to squeeze whatever amount of salty water there is in my tear ducts.

P.S If you would like to read further, I would suggest reading this article by Katie Koerner on Greatist: https://greatist.com/happiness/why-do-like-sad-movies