Why We Watch: An Essay on Film by Daniel Little

Frodo:I can’t do this, Sam.
Sam:I know… by rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But, in the end, it’s only a passing thing… a shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you; that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folks in those stories had lots of chances to turn back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something.
Frodo:What are we holding on to, Sam?
Sam:That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.
-The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

In times like these why do we go to the movies? When our pockets are empty and our houses foreclosed on, what good can come from a movie? Many will argue that nothing can be gotten from a movie, it is merely a story, an escape. Yet there has to be something deeper and bigger, there has to be a reason the film industry has stood the test of time, that a movie like The Dark Knight can have people returning to theaters twice, three times, or even four times. It is because film speaks to the soul when it is done right.
We watch movies because we remember how our hearts broke in Casablanca when Rick let Ilsa go, how badly we wanted her to stay, to not get on that plane. Yet we knew she would, we watched and wanted to scream out, to plead Rick's love to her and reclaim her. It isn't because this movie is pure escape, its because it resonates in our heart the need to know that love can conquer anything. Casablanca isn't pure popcorn fodder, but rather a masterwork, it is Picasso's Guernica or Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury.
We watch movies because we remember how badly we cheered for the freedom of the Von Trapp family in The Sound of Music or for the human triumph of Oskar Schindler. We remember the endless battle of McMurphy against the evil Nurse Ratched. We watch because film reminds what it means to be human, to feel, to live, to fight. It reminds there is some good in the world and it's worth fighting for. We watch to see Sam Gamgee carry Frodo Baggins up the side of Mt. Doom after spending nine, heart gripping hours with them.
Sure there are movies that show darkness, but we watch because they teach us. They teach us of the traps of Suburbia, the foulness of government oppression, and dangers of separation. We learn to acknowledge our prison's, and how to break through them. And, truth be told, they show us who we are on the inside, the deep dark part of us we show no one.
And yes, sometimes we watch them to escape. We escape into them as many escape into La Grande Jatte's sunday afternoon as painted by Georges Seurat. We watch with engaged fascination as street gangs dance and sing and fight, we watch as a female assassin gets revenge on the man she loves. We cannot help but be enraptured by worlds that need no cops, but have masked crusaders.
The world of film is a great expanse of imagination, it is a world of life and ingenuity. Sure there is a lot of garbage to sift through, but when you find a pearl it can speak volumes into you like a great song or a caring friend or a sensuous sonnet. Film is a language we can all speak. It unites us in times like these.