characters’ process of letting go and learn to move into the
present moment where we can take action with clarity.
For these film stories to be effective, they do not need to
match our specific life circumstances. Our mind translates the
allegoric messages from the movie into the appropriate guid-
ance for our situation. The transformative power of symbols
and metaphors has long been utilized in psychotherapy. Depth
psychotherapy assumes that the unconscious communicates its
content primarily in symbols. Other therapeutic approaches,
like hypnotherapy for example, developed methods that impact
the unconscious through metaphors and allegoric teaching tales
because it is believed that they address the unconscious and
bypass the conscious mind. Imagery that is stimulated through
the symbolism seen in films increases feelings that otherwise
have not been experienced in this way. With certain movies this
process engages insight and creative problem solving by cir-
cumventing obsessive thought patterns.
Effects of the Cinematic Medium Itself
Movies affect us not only through the story they are telling.
They also elicit emotions by stimulating our senses: sight
through visual images and hearing through music and other
sounds. Directors use visual effects, spatial relations, timing,
sound effects, and music to prompt the emotions of the audi-
ence in a particular direction, thus widening the range of their
perception.
If you are intrigued by the emotional effect of movies
through sensory input, try an experiment that psychophysiol-
ogy researchers have performed in a more precise fashion.
Rent a movie that has affected you emotionally in the past. It
might have made you feel joyful, openhearted, inspired, scared,
or sad. As you watch the movie, notice which scenes affect you
strongly. If one of these scenes has minimal or no dialog but
intense music, stop and rewind the tape to the beginning of the
sequence, take a ten minute break, and watch it again, this time
“It may be much easier to
understand how to resolve
a movie character’s
dilemma than your opwn
situation. Then you can
evaluate how those solu-
tions might aply to your
challenge.”
Cathie Glenn
SturdevantHow Movies Support Healing and Transformation 29