# Fifty Shades of Depression



## Cocoa (Feb 14, 2015)

Does anyone else get 'post movie depression?'

I recently saw the much anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey movie. Aside from obsessing about the movie, books, youtube posts, twitter feeds etc I feel depressed that I am single and lead a boring life that doesn't include a handsome powerful billionaire who finds me the most interesting thing in the world. 

I know that movies and TV are made as an escape from reality and we need only enjoy the stories and go about our lives but how? Does anyone else feel like their life just falls short of the amazing excitement you feel when watching these actors portray these other lives? 

This isn't the only movie this has happened with. Pretty much any movie or TV show where I end up envying the characters lives. And I know I could take steps to making my life better but what can I do that will match up to the feelings I get when watching this fiction. 

Does anyone else experience this? And how do you deal with it?

P.S. By the way, hello to everyone this is my first post to this site, I am new here.


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## Serpent (Aug 6, 2015)

I kinda get where you're coming from, but how is this relevant to cognitive functions? Unless you're suggesting this type of depression is influenced by a particular function.

EDIT - Nevermind, saw that this is your first post.


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

I count the letdown as part of life. We only get to "play" in other peoples' worlds. It is the price of imagination. 

BTW: Welcome!


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## CosmicYeti (Dec 15, 2014)

Hello and welcome!

Don't feel bad. Movies, no matter how impossible, are like a window to another reality. If what you see is what you need it's normal to feel 'landed' after the movie ends. But don't get caught up in it. Every life is interesting -probably in more than one ways. It doesn't matter how worthy of your feelings a movie or a life is, but how capable you are of those feelings. Maybe you zoom in on the movie but zoom out on your life and so the whole thing is in distortion.
If you are unhappy with your life don't turn to fiction in order to feel better (especially since you know you won't). Do something everyday that could be a scene from a movie! (within reason) Pretend you are the girl from 50 shades even if only you know about it. Do sth crazy everyday and you'll soon find out that excitement is not that far out of everyone's grasp.


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## leigha (Aug 14, 2014)

Welcome to the forum!

I understand the feeling. The relationship in Fifty Shades of Grey _really_ isn't anything to be jealous of, though (I'm willing to fight this down). 

But that aside from, here's my advice — sitting around and just dreaming about what you want to achieve without making any steps towards reaching those goals isn't going to do you any good. I know, because I struggle with that a lot too. It's easier to sit around and feel sad about where you are in your life than it is to find the motivation to improve it, but just remember that a lot of the relationships and characters in media just aren't very realistic. Sure, a handsome billionaire could show up at any moment to sweep you off your feet, or you could win the lottery, but chances are that isn't gonna happen. It's sad, but it's true. And it's true for almost everybody, not just you.

So find other ways to start loving your life! Don't just wait for excitement to come to you. Search for it. Go talk to random guys in coffee shops. Join a dating site. Hell, go freaking bungee jumping if that's what seems fun to you. I don't know. Just do. Hardly anyone's life ever lives up to their expectations of it, but they find an alternative that's somehow just as good, or even better. Find your alternative. Just don't let yourself get so caught up in your dreams that you forget to live.


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## George Jetson (Feb 14, 2015)

Never got to see the movie, and never will. A pathetic movie, driven by sex fantasies and some crap. I don't know why people go to that movie. Yesterday, I went to the movies, and every couple I've seen had purchased a ticket to Fifty Shades of Gray. I don't know why people go to a crappy movie, based on a crappy book. I also dislike how the movie is displayed in IMAX, RPX - Enhanced audio and vision. Why do you want freaking HD and HQ for a pathetic porno movie? I went to Kingsman, Secret Service - great movie.
Kingsman deserved the IMAX, RPX not a pathetic fantasy movie. 

View IMDB for ratings....


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## To_august (Oct 13, 2013)

Leaving Fifty Shades aside, have to say that I never experienced post-movie depressions (it had to be an exceptionally bad trashy film for me to have a depression after seeing it). Let's be realistic, it's fiction after all, and no one has it exactly the way it is shown on the screen, so there's nothing to be jealous about.

Of course I dream of being in different fantasy scenarios living another life, but it never comes in a negative way. Movies I like don't drain me, and don't make me feel bad about my life, but inspire me, infuse me with new thoughts and ideas, give food for though, encourage imagination and enrich reality. Thoughts _are_ my reality and fantasies are in no way less real to me than the material world and I'm free to shape it the way I want.

Welcome on Boardsroud:


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## pretense (Jan 2, 2013)

I saw a Ted Talks video where the speaker claimed there was plenty of evidence to support the notion that your level of happiness will remain relatively constant regardless of external conditions. Working on your inner world is the real key to becoming a happier person. 

Although that's a tough one to come to terms with. Hard to imagine not being happier than I am now if I was being whipped by a handsome wealthy guy...


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## Cocoa (Feb 14, 2015)

I think this happens because when I'm watching a movie like 50 shades I can focus on one story and it's structured someone wrote that script and make the movie the right amount of exciting with a beginning, middle and end. While life is messy, boring at times and unpredictable. When I watch a movie it's like hitting a reset button, I feel more confident my thoughts are more organized. When I leave the movie I feel better about life in the fact that I want what I just saw, whether it is the love story and relationship in 50 shades or if it's just adventure and excitement in general, but then I get depressed because life gets in the way. The facts that I have to work a boring 9 to 5 to pay for health insurance and bills etc. I think most people have a significant other or something like a hobby in their lives that makes the mundane a bit easier to endure. I am only 25, almost 26, I am just figuring out who and how I want to be in life. I guess the hardest pill to swallow is that all my dreaming that in the future life will be wonderful and exciting like the movies I admire but now I have to realize that is not so. It can hold wonderful moments but overall it is going to be just what it is. I'm fighting this fact, I refuse to believe that I will live out my days feeling empty and feeling a void as though there is more out there. Maybe there is but what is it and how do I find it? Do I go in the search of the great perhaps or realize now that it may be a fool's venture?


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## nichya (Jul 12, 2014)

George Jetson said:


> Never got to see the movie, and never will. A pathetic movie, driven by sex fantasies and some crap. I don't know why people go to that movie. Yesterday, I went to the movies, and every couple I've seen had purchased a ticket to Fifty Shades of Gray. I don't know why people go to a crappy movie, based on a crappy book. I also dislike how the movie is displayed in IMAX, RPX - Enhanced audio and vision. Why do you want freaking HD and HQ for a pathetic porno movie?


I thought that was the status quo ;D


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## Zee Bee (Aug 19, 2014)

Cocoa said:


> I recently saw the much anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey movie.
> Does anyone else experience this? And how do you deal with it?


Depends on the type of depression.
Are you depressed because this is the story of your life
or that your life is dull in comparasin?


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