Why Do Movies Move Us? The Psychology and Philosophy of Filmgoing

If films are fictional, why do they elicit emotional reactions in viewers? Why do movies make us laugh, cry, and scream? This course considers thirteen possible answers to these fascinating and challenging questions by closely and critically analyzing the emotional power of various fiction films, from Hollywood classics like Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times and Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window; to contemporary films by the renowned directors Steve McQueen and Greta Gerwig; to masterpieces of art cinema like The Passion of Joan of Arc and Daughters of the Dust. These films are considered by recourse to classical and contemporary film theory, alongside primary texts from the field of psychology. Students grasp how canonical and contemporary psychological concepts—from psychoanalysis to contemporary neuroscience—can help us consider our central inquiry. Moreover, by situating these concepts within relevant philosophical frameworks, students understand these theories derive from diverse, and continually contestable, worldviews regarding how humans relate to their cinematic environments. Assigned films and written texts help students develop the skills needed to write a final paper regarding a film of their choosing, so they may offer their own critical argument regarding why movies move us.