ABSTRACT
Emotions are often regarded as disturbances of people’s regular psychological life, where normally all is quiet. Popular cinema is one of the places where such disturbances are being routinely provided, and in line with this, stereotypical pictures of audience members show their wild gesticulations, grotesque facial expressions, and loud cursing. Actual habitual patrons know that, in contrast to the stereotype, their fellow cinema-goers and they themselves usually remain quiet, while it is true that they can go through intense emotions. 1 Maybe we can say that cinema “refines” emotions, compared to ones we have in response to exciting real-life events. According to psychologists Nico H. Frijda and Louise Sundararajan, refined emotion is characterized by an attitude of detachment and a reflexive awareness of one’s emotional experiences; aesthetic emotions, such as ones experienced when one reads poetry, are an example. Time is taken to forestall impulsive responses, giving the opportunity to savor a rich set of features of the event. Extensive reflection on emotional events carries their meaning beyond how they are immediately perceived. More remote meanings, such as insights about life in general, oneself, and one’s acts become accessible. 2
