# Why do people like sad stuff?



## Notus Asphodelus (Jan 20, 2015)

The same way people enjoy intense sports. Why do they risk themselves? To go beyond physical limitation and to understand what their bodies are capable of. Now turn those things into emotions, you'll get philosophy.


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## aendern (Dec 28, 2013)

BenevolentBitterBleeding said:


> whereas pain/sadness/suffering is guaranteed at some point for every single person.


Naturally you have no proof for your claims, or?


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## BenevolentBitterBleeding (Mar 16, 2015)

emberfly said:


> Naturally you have no proof for your claims, or?


If you exclude those with no comprehension of _any_ feeling, can you(or anyone) imagine a scenario of someone(anyone) going through life and never once encountering it? i.e no pain. no sadness. no strife. no loss. no death etc... I cannot. 

Pain, loss and death will manifest in some form, physical or not. That is my fact(less) idea.

However, on the other side. It's easy for me to imagine many scenario's where someone will never come to know any form of happiness... and then just die.

I would honestly love to hear your thoughts on this. Because it has me wondering now, what if in the moment of death they found some kind of happiness...


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## devoid (Jan 3, 2011)

I wonder this about things like art sometimes... Why do people enjoy paintings of sad things, or books that are depressing? But then I realise that I do sometimes enjoy sad movies and sad music. There's something about sad music that really touches me, and can sometimes make me feel a sense of connection with life. Same with films.


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## Popinjay (Sep 19, 2011)

Sadness is real...you can feel it in your gut. Happiness is a temporary illusion, at best...a manic delusion, at worst. It's like the brief high you get from a pleasurable experience, whereas sadness stays with you and saves you from the loneliness of nothingness. This is why I don't like happy dogs (Golden Retrievers, Labradors, etc.).


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## BenevolentBitterBleeding (Mar 16, 2015)

Popinjay said:


> whereas sadness stays with you and saves you from the loneliness of nothingness.


What if _you are_ the loneliness of nothingness, and sadness is just saving you from your own peace?


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## the401 (Mar 1, 2015)

Ermenegildo said:


> There is an INTP who doesn't know how to search?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


could be a mistyped INFP

oh and my take on this is that sad emotions feel good so people want it.


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## electricky (Feb 18, 2011)

I am kind of understanding some of the appeal now, but now I wonder how widespread this appreciation of sadness is. Is this something that most humans actually like? Or is this really some semi-masochistic minority? I mean I can appreciate a sad movie or book or whatever because some sadness is unavoidable but thing is a lot of it in fiction is easily avoidable so it seems messed up to create it for nothing and I'm too busy eye rolling at the bad decisions made to get any sort of enrichment that sadness is supposed to have.


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## Toru Okada (May 10, 2011)

I like sad things because I'm sad on the inside


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## Popinjay (Sep 19, 2011)

BenevolentBitterBleeding said:


> What if _you are_ the loneliness of nothingness, and sadness is just saving you from your own peace?


Peace leaves you hanging in a moment in anxiety and despair...the soft contentment of sadness will always be there when everything/everyone deserts you.


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## Sourpuss (Aug 9, 2014)

Sadness and other negative emotions are pretty powerful. A powerful emotional experience, even a negative one, can be addicting. 

Why do people like scary stuff? Same reason.


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## MatchaBlizzard (Sep 20, 2011)

As many people have already said, sadness brings a sense of reality. It can also cause empathy and make us feel. If you make movies like _Schindler's List_, _Grave of the Fireflies_, _Letters from Iwo Jima_, _Angela's Ashes_, etc... happy movies then you miss the whole point. They are supposed to make you feel. You are supposed to cry with the characters and the situation. Sure, I like _Inglorious Bastards_, but _Saving Private Ryan_ is more on point when it comes to WWII. _Kingdom of Heaven_ isn't super-happy because the Crusades sucked balls. _Glory_ could be happier, but the Civil War and slavery sucked ass. _Hotel Rwanda_ can't be a laugh-filled thrill-ride... because it is about a *real life genocide*. Now, you may say, "That's all well and good, but I don't like those movies." Which is fine, but some people are inspired by sad movies to make real world changes. 

In fact, Akira Kurosawa made a movie called _Tengoku to Jigoku_ (In America it is called _High and Low_) that did change things. "*High and Low* (1963) is a free adaptation of Ed McBain's (1959) novel _King's Ransom_, which is part of the author's _87th Precinct_ series. While the McBain novel provided the basic plot, Kurosawa deepened it with his own moral and social dimensions. The original Japanese title--_Tengoku to jigoku_--translated literally as "Heaven and Hell"--points to the growing class divide in Japanese society that accompanied its economic boom during the postwar era. As Steven Prince points out, Kurosawa used the kidnapping plot to draw attention to Japan's lax kidnapping laws and the increasing problem of kidnapping and child murders in the late Fifties and early Sixties. Partly because of the film's impact in Japan, the laws were changed a year later to allow life sentences for kidnapping for ransom." - High and Low

_Hotel Rwanda_ says that don't just sit by and watch a genocide happen in modern times... again! _Schindler's List_ says the Holocaust was terrible, never again. _Letters from Iwo Jima_ and its sister movie _Flags of Our Fathers_ say war is hell and nationalism is dubious using WWII as a backdrop. Stanley Kubrick's_ Paths of Glory_ says much the same using WWI (The Great War) and also questions old men sending young men to die for their causes. If movies like this weren't sad, people wouldn't remember them. I like sad movies, because they often have a point and they feel more real. Plays (movies precursors) often came in Comedy (you laugh and everybody/most people live) and Tragedy (you cry and everybody/main characters die... often in awful and ironic ways). Tragedies were usually aimed at making people think about life and what to do with it while they had it. 

That said I like funny movies too, I'm not a hater. :tongue:


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## DemonD (Jun 12, 2012)

Popinjay said:


> Sadness is real...you can feel it in your gut. Happiness is a temporary illusion, at best...a manic delusion, at worst. It's like the brief high you get from a pleasurable experience, whereas sadness stays with you and saves you from the loneliness of nothingness. This is why I don't like happy dogs (Golden Retrievers, Labradors, etc.).


I don't think you do happiness correctly.

Also, why are people using 'real' as if that's the greatest thing since pizza? Real is not an inherent positive.


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## Popinjay (Sep 19, 2011)

DemonD said:


> I don't think you do happiness correctly.
> 
> Also, why are people using 'real' as if that's the greatest thing since pizza? Real is not an inherent positive.


Happiness is a state of well-being and contentment. For instance, you get a promotion at work and you are happy. Then you find out you will be getting less money than expected and your new boss is a narcissist. Happiness lasts a moment...it's fleeting...but sadness sticks with you like a friend that will never leave your side. Also, despair and sadness are not the same thing. Despair is when you are in emotional pain. Sadness is being downcast.

Real is a subjective positive. I abhor fakeness...I like friends who are open and honest. The same goes for my emotions. I don't like the emotional golden retriever that is happiness...I like the emotional Doberman that has depth and character.

Obviously all of this is subjective. Some people are fake themselves and therefore have no problem with it (so a more fake emotion is not a bad thing). It's just inherent to my nature that this is the way I am. I'm not suggesting it's right for everyone. It's a bit romanticized.


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## Fern (Sep 2, 2012)

Sometimes you just need to feel your feelings deeply. 

And there are times you just need a catalyst!


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## DemonD (Jun 12, 2012)

Fern said:


> Sometimes you just need to feel your feelings deeply.
> 
> And there are times you just need a catalyst!


That makes no sense. Why would you ever "need" to feel sad, or deeply sad as is it seems?


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## Revolver Ocelot (Feb 25, 2015)

Context might have something to do with it. When I was going through high points in my life I listened to music some might describe as mellow or down. The reverse if I was going through down periods.

Music by the band Smash Mouth is so ridiculously peppy and upbeat I bet the guy who writes the music is depressed in real life.


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## Fern (Sep 2, 2012)

DemonD said:


> That makes no sense. Why would you ever "need" to feel sad, or deeply sad as is it seems?


Oh my God. Ever heard someone say they need a good cry? Well, that's what I'm talking about.

Good grief, you're contrary to the bone.


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## BenevolentBitterBleeding (Mar 16, 2015)

DemonD said:


> That makes no sense. Why would you ever "need" to feel sad, or deeply sad as is it seems?


Possibly to grieve someone or something? I'd certainly feel the need to feel deeply sadder over something important than to say, having dropped my last egg on the floor.


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## DemonD (Jun 12, 2012)

Fern said:


> Oh my God. Ever heard someone say they need a good cry? Well, that's what I'm talking about.
> 
> Good grief, you're contrary to the bone.


No, I've literally never heard anyone say that. That sounds insane.



BenevolentBitterBleeding said:


> Possibly to grieve someone or something? I'd certainly feel the need to feel deeply sadder over something important than to say, having dropped my last egg on the floor.


If you're grieving you're already in a bad place. Mission accomplished! 

Why would you ever add to that?


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## DemonD (Jun 12, 2012)

BenevolentBitterBleeding said:


> I think that what you're asking is something very specific and my answers are trying to answer that question by asking you to look at it from different angles. i.e there is a mind/body/x connection and I don't know which one comes first like the chicken and egg.
> 
> If you consciously choose to feel "x", is that because your body has already built up the chemicals to make you feel that way? Or have you already unconsciously decided to feel that way and so you decide to, or your body listens and produces? I don't know the answer to that as I haven't the proof nor the skill to do any tests like that. What I do know is that when you feel it, it just comes naturally. You might however, decide at some point that enough is enough and that feeling "this" way is no longer beneficial and is stupid so you decide to stop. When you choose to do that your mind is still operating and your body is still producing, so do you have any choice?
> 
> ...


I see. I don necessarily agree, but I think I understand what you're getting at.


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## Beetle (Oct 2, 2014)

Dunno. Sometimes I wanna show I don't lack emotion, haha.

Once in college, my best friend/roomate and other best friend were at our apartment drinking and just having a good time when I was like "wanna watch a sad movie?" (Back story: A year prior to this we all drank and watched Lilo and Stitch and we all cried but were all trying to hide it from each other, so we wanted to do that again.)

Roomie got an evil smile across his face and was like "Oh I know a good one." 

Grave of the Fireflies. Grave of the fucking Fireflies.

I didn't cry in that movie. I lost all emotion for like a whole week instead. I think we were pretty shocked and didn't expect it to be that sad that it completely stole our emotions.


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## General Lee Awesome (Sep 28, 2014)

I dont


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## 0+n*1 (Sep 20, 2013)

It's also worth noting that this sad stuff is more bittersweet than painful since I suppose excruciating pain would be avoided. Everyone has a different pain threshold, so maybe their sad stuff is very painful for you and for them is just a stroll in the park.

Despite that, I think "sad stuff" (in my case, music) helps me connect with myself in a special way. It helps me reassess situations, look at them from a different perspective. It helps me know what I should change in my life to improve or reminds me of the things that are important or that I value the most. "Sad stuff" acts as a catalyst. A safe place to express those emotions. A healthier place even. It's cathartic. It sounds counterintuitive, that "sad stuff" will get you lower and that won't help you in any way, but who says this "sad stuff" is getting me lower instead of picking me up. As I said, what counts as "sad stuff" is ambiguous and subjective. You could say you like melancholic music and pining over better things and you could classify that as "sad stuff", but then you catch yourself bearing so much pain that it's burning and you want to escape from it and suddenly you think you don't want to be sad. When seen from a high view, it's a little inconsistent. Do you like sad stuff or not? Or do you like a specific kind of sad stuff?


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## occasus_z (Jan 30, 2015)

Novelty and emotional outlet. Either one of the two or both, depending on the circumstances of the person that "likes sad stuff."


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## Notus Asphodelus (Jan 20, 2015)

I dwell in melancholy with the same reason why someone would drop a piece of Mentos in a bottle of Coca-Cola. It serves as a reactant towards my surrounding. I need it in order for me to be creative. Happiness doesn't have the gripping strength to squeeze the life out of you. Rarely you would see people die of happiness. Melancholy makes me feel what I would otherwise have no empathy for.


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## AmalyaIvy (Mar 12, 2015)

I'm not sure "like" is the correct word but people connects more to sadness, perhaps even share it. 

Beneath the sadness there is pain and suffering. These are the stronger emotions. Happiness is subjective. We all have individual views on happiness but sadness is universal. There isn't a person on earth who has not felt this emotion. I guess it creates an understanding among us. Therefore we unite in sadness. We want to share and be a part of another person's pain because we know exactly how the other person feels. 

So ironically in sadness we all connect with each other and find the humanity in us.


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## randomness11 (Mar 22, 2015)

One explantation that people like sad things could be that we feel we have overcome the sadness and that could make someone feel more powerful.


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## Stelmaria (Sep 30, 2011)

Perhaps because films that portray sadness tend to have a lot more emotional depth to them, than superficial feel good films, or action films etc.


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## ScarlettHayden (Jun 8, 2012)

Because it validates their own conscious or subconscious emotions and makes them feel better (strangely enough). It's the mirroring effect.


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