ABSTRACT
Kama muta is the emotion characteristically evoked by ‘sentimental’ literature and melodrama. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin repeatedly evokes kama muta to motivate readers to support abolition. John Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flat evokes kama muta that makes the reader feel compassionate empathy for his characters. Today, the vulnerability, self-sacrifice, and loyal courage of action heroes and even robots evokes kama muta in viewers. Poetry, especially autobiographical poems read in poetry lounges, creates sudden connections that evoke kama muta. Much of the glurge on the Internet, especially in social media, is shared and liked precisely because it evokes kama muta. Digital media enable people to select off-the-shelf media on demand in order to experience kama muta or any other emotion they want to feel. A core appeal of some visual arts, dance, theater, ballet, opera is kama muta: the emotion motivates the artist and attracts audiences.
