When we find ourselves crying at movies or when reading books and stories, it’s often at happy endings, not during the parts that are objectively sad. The reason, it turns out, is that the unconscious mind regulates when and how we express and experience painful affects, and it does so according to its assessments of danger and safety. When we arrive at a “happy ending”—for example, the endangered hero is rescued or redeemed—our minds allow us to experience feelings that were present before this ‘resolution,” but were too threatening to fully experience. Examples from film, from stories of PTSD, and even politics are cited and explored.
