What Is “Catharsis”?

When was the last time you cried while watching a movie? Do you still remember the specific scene? Many people suppress their emotions because of various events in life. Art can evoke the release of these feelings, also known as catharsis. Catharsis can be an overwhelming emotional experience. Films with cathartic power can move audiences to tears while also leaving them fully satisfied. What is catharsis?

The Literary Definition of Catharsis

Catharsis is a term widely used in art, with origins that can be traced back to art itself. What does catharsis mean? Let’s define catharsis and examine its origins.

What Is Catharsis?

Catharsis is the release and relief of strong or repressed emotions. The word “catharsis” comes from the Greek word “katharsis,” meaning “purification” or “cleansing.” In the field of psychology, the American Psychological Association defines catharsis as “the release of affects associated with traumatic events by bringing those events back into consciousness and re-experiencing them, affects that had previously been repressed.”

As it applies to film and art, emotional catharsis can be the result of the emotional effect of tragic drama. Heroes in cathartic films often undergo a cathartic release that leads to some form of restoration.

What makes up catharsis in a story?

• The buildup of emotion
• Relevant experiences
• Connection with characters
• Moving performances

The History of Emotional Catharsis

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle described catharsis as an emotional purification of fear and pity triggered by tragedy.

The term was later adopted by psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer. For them, catharsis was a therapeutic technique used to reduce psychological complexes by bringing them back into consciousness and allowing their expression.

Today, however, the word has become almost synonymous with art. People often describe emotionally evocative art as cathartic. Music, theater, novels, and films can all contain cathartic elements that relate to the audience’s psychology. Art can evoke emotional catharsis by connecting with the audience’s personal experiences.

Cathartic art often reflects our own experiences. It allows us to connect with the work and the artist on a deeper level. One of the best mediums for creating cathartic art is film.

What Is Catharsis in Film?

Various art forms can produce catharsis. Music, novels, and theater can be incredibly affecting. But film as a medium has particular qualities that can effectively elicit emotional responses from an audience.

The first such quality is the film’s ability to condense time. Through editing, a movie can show us weeks, months, or even years passing in a matter of seconds. When done effectively, a film can connect the audience with the characters in a short period of time.

When audiences connect with characters, everything the characters go through becomes more emotional. One of the best techniques to achieve this is the montage. A montage compresses time and events to create a narrative sequence. The montage in Pixar’s Up connects us to these characters, only for tragedy to befall them.

What’s extraordinary about this montage is how it stirs up so much emotion in the first ten minutes of the film. The reason is that the feelings of love and sorrow are part of the human experience. Humans have an innate connection to these two emotions. Filmmakers use both to heighten our feelings and then release them in incredibly cathartic moments.

Film is also an incredibly visual medium. It allows us to see characters experience their emotions. Theater is of course visual as well, but film uses the close-up. This lets us see the details of a character’s feelings, further triggering our own emotional responses.

In Good Will Hunting, there is a cathartic moment when Will releases his repressed emotions to his friend and psychologist. The film builds emotion by establishing Will’s abusive childhood and its effect on his life. Take a look at this example of catharsis and the outstanding performance and execution.

The audience is able to witness his cathartic moment up close through the filmmaking, creating a cathartic experience for both Will and the viewer.

Of course, for this scene to reach its emotional peak, we need to recognize everything that led up to it. Remember: the greater the buildup and repression, the greater the release.

The Value of Catharsis

When asked about Marvel movies, director Martin Scorsese famously compared them to theme parks, saying: “That’s not cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.” Whether you agree with Scorsese or not, there is something to be said about the different kinds of experiences that film can create.

Some films are purely escapist, allowing audiences to get away from reality for at least an hour or two. These kinds of movies have tremendous value. Even so, there is a clear distinction.

Other films, however, are a more internal experience. As Scorsese said, movies can convey emotional and psychological experiences. This is a defining feature of Scorsese’s directing style. What is the significance of catharsis? Why is it so important in film? Through catharsis, movies can forge an intimate connection with their audience.

Cathartic films often linger in our minds. They affect not only how we see the world, but very likely how we see ourselves. The value of catharsis in film is not measured by the size of the audience, but by how the film stays with viewers afterward.