Guy doesn’t like his life, his life changes get into some conflict, then guy likes his life. Most movies are almost exactly set up that way. Star Wars: A New Hope, Harry Potter, and the Philosopher’s Stone, and The Matrix, all very famous movies, all follow the trend of the average “hero’s journey”. Many people don’t like movies for that same reason, that those movies are all the same. But the hero’s journey isn’t the part that people are attracted to. As Martin Scorsese puts it, it’s the theme park aspect. People want to have a lightsaber. People want to be put into the matrix. It’s the effect that movies have on people. '
Avatar. A 2.79 billion profit in the box office, and by far the best visual effects that anyone had seen in a movie at the time. It has the theme park quality to it where people want to go to that world. It’s called the Avatar Effect. Moviegoers were said to be depressed and experienced suicidal thoughts because they could not visit the fictional planet. A fan states, ”Watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed grey. It just seems so meaningless. I still don't really see any reason to keep doing things at all. I live in a dying world.”
The want of escaping our reality also extends to merchandise. The Etsy bumper sticker is a great example. Titled ‘Beam Me Up, Scotty. No Intelligent Life Down Here.‘ The bumper sticker comes from a Star Trek reference of where the characters teleport or beam up by calling a buddy named Scotty.
Movies don’t need to have this huge effect on people where they feel suicidal. It could simply just show people a new perspective on certain characters, ideologies, places, really anything. My personal experience with how movies changed me was a very hated Marvel movie. First, Iron Man 3 was the end of the Iron Man Trilogy. It focuses on Tony Stark (Iron Man) fighting a terrorist called The Mandarin. The main reason why people don’t like the movie is because of the antagonistic twist, and how throughout the entire second act, Iron Man doesn’t suit up. It was the first superhero movie that changed my personal idea of a superhero. It puts Iron Man back into his engineering roots whereas in the previous movies they incorporated, but not to this scale. You see Iron Man both in and out of his element using simpleton tools instead of his futuristic technology, to defeat the enemy.
The effect that movies have on some modern folk are the creations of entertainment fan accounts. Social media is an easy way to find those who are similar to you in the case of interests. Fan accounts are perfect for the search of others who felt the same way you felt about your favorite things. TV shows are also featured in many fan accounts. I can think of about a dozen shows off the top of my head that have fan accounts. It’s safe to guess that almost all modern shows tailored to teens and/ or young adults have at least one fan account praising them.
There are very diverse emotions the entertainment business has on us, whether that comes from movies, television, the actors in them. It all has a huge effect on everyone. But it is the goal of making entertainment. It takes you away from reality, letting you forget about your problems, and watching fictional characters deal with theirs. It’s the therapy session that most people do at the end of their day. At the end of the day, the movie has filled its purpose of entertaining people.