Why do we submit ourselves to sorrow? Life is hard enough, yet we remind ourselves that it can be harder. I’m speaking of movies that end badly. Not bad in the sense that they are poorly crafted; rather, they end on a sad note. The good guy does not prevail. Good does not defeat evil. The hero does not pull it out in the end.

I’ve just finished watching such a movie, and I’m left feeling a little depressed; more so by the fact that it was supposed to be based on a true story. I’ve taken a perfectly good day and flushed it down the toilet. What’s more, this is not the first time I’ve done it. I know what it’s like to finish a “depressing” movie, but I sit down and watch another one anyway – like an alcoholic who takes a drink knowing he’ll be hung over in the morning. I didn’t really have any fun in between though.

Not everything we do in life is because it is fun. Even so, where does this leave me with depressing movies? What do we get out of them? What brings us back for more? Am I just a closet masochist?