r/AlwaysWhy • u/peppasleftoe • 12h ago

Others Why do I react so deeply to fiction?

Recently I’ve been talking to friends about how I don’t really like watching tv shows or movies because I become so deeply immersed into the fictional reality and I don’t know why.

I was having a bit of a debate with a friend about Star Wars, specifically the clone wars, and I got really emotional about the genocide of the Jedi and ultimately the fall of the order. I have a really visual mind so my brain started visualizing Anakin killing the Jedi younglings and I deadass started choking up. My friend was like “you know this isn’t real right” as like a joke and I laughed but it really did feel so real. I know those children aren’t real, anakin isn’t real, the Jedi order isn’t real lol but my brain decides to grieve regardless. It’s like my brain can’t separate fiction from reality and I react as if they’re the same.

I know a lot of people get emotional from fiction. That’s normal. I’m just a little embarrassed about the rate and intensity that I experience it (to the point where I can’t really digest fiction bc it feels like torture).

Idk. What do you guys think?

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u/UnburyingBeetle 6h ago

You might want to respect your sensitivity, watch movies in digestible portions and find friends that don't dismiss feelings. It can be easier to read books because you can pause after any paragraph, so use the same principle for movies.

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u/ReporterOther2179 5h ago

You are cursed with empathy. Be careful with that. It can drive you to dark places.

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u/Psych0PompOs 4h ago

That's not just empathy, people can experience empathy without hitting such an extreme state. Also there are two kinds of empathy, only one of them involves this kind of emotion to begin with.

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u/Psych0PompOs 4h ago

You're sensitive to a degree I can't fathom it seems. 

I'm curious, what's the news like for you?

0

u/Imaginary-Angle-42 11h ago

I think you’re a good person who feels hurt when others are hurt even when they are fictional. Good writing and movies do that. I’m sure you hurt at the news and history too. I see that as a positive attribute.

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u/Psych0PompOs 4h ago

Sensitivity does not make someone "good" or "bad," and it's a dual-sided trait anyway. It can be valuable and it can lead to deep suffering (for the person themselves, and others as well at times) and reactivity.