What was the last film you saw? How did you feel as you watched it? Did you find yourself indentifying with the central character, having a good cry or a laugh? Did you feel uplifted or a sense of relief?

In my recent interview on BBC Radio WM, I talked about having a good cry at the cinema when I watched Slumdog Millionaire and the cathartic release that a ‘feel-good’ movie or even a good-bad film can have for us. We Brits tend not to allow oursleves much opportunity to release our emotions and often the darkened atmosphere of the cinema auditorium or the provacy of your sofa is a good place to have a good old cry

And then today I stumbled across this interesting article in TheExaminer.com in which Debbie Mandel, writer for the ‘Self Help’ section talks about ‘Great movie therapy for recession woes.’

She talks about what she see as the theme of hope running through the recent Oscar nominated films and writes that ‘movies are also a form of inexpensive and quick therapy.’

An interesting idea…

Debbie writes: ‘Anonymously,
without the stigma of seeing a shrink, you get to watch the main
character wrestle with his or her problems, go through a dark tunnel of
the mind and then see the light to emerge as a hero.’

She suggests that we can learn and be inspired by how the hero does it, release suppressed emotions and also ’step back from the narrow context of your life to see the big picture: Life is a roller coaster ride, but it is grand…’

Now the healing power of stories is nothign new. Joseph Campbell studied common themes, characters in motifs in thousands of ancient myth and stories in order to distill his ideas about The Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey has been embraced by modern film studios and screen writers such as Christopher Vogler. I use the idea of The Hero’s Journey and archetypal narratives and characters in my own workshops and Online Programme in Writing for Personal Development and people always relate deeply to these ideas and find them extremely meaningful in terms of thinking about their own journeys and life-stories.

So what do you think about the idea of film – and perhaps certain kinds of films – as therapy? Quite apart from the value of ‘escaping’ our real lives for a little while, can films have a therapeutic effect?

Debbie Mandel believes that when you watch a flim that inspires you ‘the images and powerful dialogue get embedded in your memory for you to
recall whenever you need inspiration. Also, you can watch the movie
again for a form of  self-hypnosis.’

Film as self-hypnosis! Now that’s an interesting idea. One of my favourite films is Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I can quote Audrey Hepburn almost word for word in that. Perhaps it is slightly worrying to think that I may have been subconsciously programming my life for relationships with loveable but slightly wayward characters, walking around in various eccentric outfits, window-shopping to ward off ‘the mean reds’ …calms me down right away... dreaming on a fire escape whilst singing Moon River and..daaah-ling…did I tell you how divinely, utterly happy I am?‘ (Hang on a minute…? I may be describing my life here… Hahahahahaha...)

So what do you think? Are films therapy? Can films even be a kind of self-hypnosis? Answers in the voice of your favourite film character, please…