Benefits of Going to the Cinema and Watching Movies

When you think of cinema and movies, in general, the first idea that comes to mind is entertainment. Paying the ticket for a function in front of the big screen or sitting on the sofa to watch a film on television or on some internet platform are actions that seem to be naturally associated with fun and popcorn. What we often don’t think about or realize is that watching movies has a series of benefits that go far beyond having a good time.

1. Relax and reduce stress

The first benefit is the most obvious, and the one that is most related to the entertainment highlighted at the beginning: the cinema relaxes and reduces anxiety and stress. When we watch a movie, we “forget” the rest of the world for a while to focus only on what’s happening on the screen. Unlike reading, which is a more active process, enjoying the cinemas near me is a passive activity: it is much easier to relax, disconnect and give you a mental break. And reducing stress, of course, has multiple positive effects on mental and physical health as well.

2. Helps to see problems better

Like literature, cinemas near me contributes to improving the capacity for empathy. Whoever sees a film accompanies its protagonists and -in an imaginary way- puts themselves in their place: they experience emotions, desires, suffering, etc. “When we identify with a character that has our same problems, our empathy increases and we assimilate his personal evolution much better,” explains Jaime Burque in his article.

Therefore, history can leave lessons about the decision-making process and problem solving. On the other hand, it often happens that after seeing a movie, certain situations seem less worrying or dramatic than before seeing it. And it is not that something has changed from an objective point of view: what changed was the look of the observer, who, thanks to the simple fact of having relaxed, can see the world differently.

3. Allows catharsis

For Aristotle, catharsis was one of the moral ends of tragedy. It consists, according to the classic definition, in an emotional, spiritual, mental and bodily purification, which occurs when the viewer manages to unload their own passions by seeing them projected on the characters in the work. The same thing happens in the cinemas near me: one can feel hatred, anger, thirst for revenge, envy and other sensations and, somehow, get rid of them, without suffering their “real” consequences at all. That is, the ones he would suffer if instead of turning them into a movie he took them into his own life.

4. Develop creativity

Movies, explains Burque, “also give us very different visions of our reality and our mental schemes, which help us to enrich ourselves intellectually, to be more flexible or to gain perspective and imagination.” All these elements are key to motivate and develop creativity . In this way, movies can also have positive effects on other aspects of life, both at work and in other activities related to the artistic: writing, painting, music, etc.

5. It leads to reflection on difficult topics

For the same reasons mentioned in the previous point, the cinema adds another virtue: on many occasions, it leads the viewer to reflect on issues, problems and dilemmas that, if they had not seen the film, they would not have thought about. Or it may happen that a fictional story leads to questioning one’s own positions or opinions. It usually occurs in the cases of stories that address limit situations or moral dilemmas such as suicide, euthanasia, abortion, revenge or forgiveness. But this process of reconsidering one’s own points of view can also take place in matters of much less importance.

6. Send positive messages to children

Children’s films often play the role of the old fables, those that had – as the dictionary explains – a “didactic or critical intention frequently manifested in a final moral.” In the films, in general, the moral does not appear explicitly, but positive values ​​such as generosity, respect, companionship and friendship are transmitted in a clear and forceful way, which represent a real lesson for the little ones .