Have you ever watched a film or a TV series and you get so engrossed in the characters, the world around them, and the story you are taken on a ride with, that, after it ends or even after a major event happens like one of the most lovable characters suddenly passing away for one reason or another, you come out of that experience as if your whole reality has been rocked by this fictional story? Even though you know that, for films or series based on fiction, those are not real people and they did not happen in real life, and yet, you feel affected as if you yourself have experienced that tragedy with them.
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Is it because of our capacity to empathize with other people that the more we delve into these worlds and the characters within them, and the events that happen in their lives, that we somehow place ourselves in their shoes and go through all the same experiences as if they were our own? These are really interesting ideas to explore and thankfully, Walter Hickey is one who has tried to explore that idea and wrote a book about it titled You Are What You Watch. Alissa Wilkinson of Vox interviews him to talk about all these things written in the book as an episode of the podcast The Gray Area. You may listen to the whole episode here.
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Source: neatorama