In literature or in the cinema, love stories fascinate us. But why are our brains so responsive to identifying us with stories of the heart?
Who hasn’t shed a tear in front of Titanic? Who hasn’t fantasized about the handsome Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind? Who hasn’t identified with Meryl Streep in Out of Africa or On the Road to Madison? Whether they end with a happy ending or end in tears, love stories on the big screen transport us, making us feel like we live more intensely.
A genre often despised, described as bluette, rosewater comedies, even station novels, these fictions full of feelings are nevertheless beginning to interest researchers. Curious to explain such a success, they work on the reasons for our excitement and set out to unravel what goes on in our brains when we are carried away by these fantasy tales..
A little chemistry, a lot of hormones!
For the most banal event to become an adventure, we just have to start telling it. Even if they do not always shine by their originality, stories (sentimental or not) have a power over our brain. Listening to them, it releases two hormones: that of stress, cortisol, and that of attachment, love and empathy, oxytocin.
A working narrative would thus take up a universal structure: a hero or an antihero launched on a quest strewn with obstacles to overcome, allowing the reader to become attached to him. And when the character suffers, we suffer with him! When he is happy, we are happy with him! It is this identification, this emotional stimulation that we seek over the pages of romance novels. Encounter, conflict, triumph of love …
We know that, in real life, a billionaire will not come to ask us to marry them… On the other hand, the intensity of the emotions, those that the we feel at the beginning of a romantic relationship, do exist and reactivate it by reading about it.
Romeo and Juliet syndrome!
The more impossible the story seems, the more it attracts us. Literature has made its honey from those cursed lovers who have defied their families, society and even the gods in the name of their love. Published in 1595, Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet has since inspired ballets, films, operas, paintings, comics …
Just like the medieval myth of Tristan and Yseult, or the legendary Orpheus and Eurydice from mythology Greek. In psychology, it is well known: the prohibition sharpens desire. We speak of the “Romeo and Juliet effect”, to designate the excess interest that we feel in an a priori prohibited relationship.
This “effect” was demonstrated in the 1970s by the American psychologist Richard Driscoll. For his research, he interviewed 140 young couples whose union did not win parental consent. He concluded that the disapproval of the ascendants only reinforced the ardor of the young men united in adversity.
Smiles and tears!
Love stories end badly, in general. And that’s good for the spectators! According to Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, professor of communication at Ohio State University, sad movies make us happier.
A conclusion she draws after showing the dramatic film Atonement (Reviens-moi in French version) to 361 students, invited to fill out questionnaires on their emotions and their level of happiness before and after their cinema session.
If they felt happier afterwards, it’s not out of sadism, says the researcher, but because this kind of fiction would make us think about our loved ones and all the positive things they bring to our lives. There’s nothing like a tragic love story to remember how lucky you are to have a lover within reach (and in heart) tomorrow.
Empathy comes from reading!
A not-so-lonely leisure time, reading romance novels also helps us develop our bonds. By putting ourselves in the shoes of a narrator, we develop our empathy and our emotional intelligence, says Canadian psychology professor Keith Oatley, in an article published in 2016.
One of his experiments involved making participants guess the mood of a person from a simple photo of their eyes. As a result, fans of fictional works were more able to detect emotions from the cliché than those who had no inclination for the genre.
“Fiction is a simulation of the social sphere. In the same way that some improve their piloting skills via a flight simulator, those who read novels can advance their social skills”, explains the researcher.
Couple therapy on sofa!
You like to watch a romantic comedy snuggled up against your other half. Well, you may be avoiding laborious sessions in a couple’s therapist’s office. According to a 2014 study of 174 newlywed duets from the universities of Rochester and Los Angeles, spouses who see these kinds of films together are less likely to separate.
Specifically: A couple who discuss five sentimental films each month would have the likelihood of divorce within the first three years of their marriage. But beware of excess! Rosewater movies can also make us too idealistic and way too demanding of our spouse.
According to a 2008 study by the University of Edinburgh (UK), fans of films like Love at First Sight in Notting Hill or Four Weddings and a Funeral have more difficulty than others in communicating with their partner.
So if you have a racing heart, upside down head and wandering mind, you are surely suffering from the unwanted effects of romantic comedy abuse! You might as well know …
Reference: https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2016/06/why-do-we-watch-horrible-romance-movies
