What E-Motion Picture Magic Is, and Is not
Basically, E-Motion Picture Magic is a way to use the act of
consciously watching movies in combination with therapeutic
or consciousness-raising exercises for personal healing and
transformation.
Some of the existing literature about utilizing movies ther-
apeutically focuses on professional therapy; others are written
primarily as a self-help guide. The most popular of those self-
help books treat the subject in a lighthearted manner. As a ther-
apist, I believe the movie experience used in a very specific
waycan have great healing benefits for those who are willing
to apply themselves. I also believe that this process can be fun.
As to working with a therapist or not, I strongly urge those
with serious psychological problems to seek professional help.
I also believe that for many people the transformative power of
movies can be used for personal growth without the aid of a
therapist, so long as they follow certain guidelines and learn to
watch films with conscious awareness— a term that will be
explored in depth later in this book. Conscious awareness is
central to E-Motion Picture Magic: it is both a principal means
and one of the end results of that process.
E-Motion Picture Magic is not watching movies to escape
our problems. It is the very opposite. It is not just popping
videos into the deck hoping that somehow, through a kind of
osmosis, certain life lessons will be absorbed. Much of the
healing work in E-Motion Picture Magic is accomplished
either before the opening fade-in or after the end credits roll on
the screen.
Therapists may use this approach with their clients, but the
therapist needs to be aware that the movie experience should
not be used as a therapeutic modality by itself. E-Motion
Picture Magic includes and in fact rests upon traditional psy-
chotherapeutic methods. Methods from the therapist’s thera-
peutic “tool box” other than the one described in this book can
be combined with the conscious movie experience.
“Take your life in your
own hands and what
happens? A terrible thing:
no one to blame.”
Erica JongIntroduction 5