Lights, Camera, Empathy: How Films Shape Who We Are

Your brain doesn’t just watch movies—it feels them. That’s why a great film can change how you see the world. It’s not just a film; it’s an empathy machine.

On Sunday night, Sean Baker won an unprecedented four Oscars. In his third acceptance speech, he hit a nerve for me.

“In a time in which our world can feel very divided, [going to the movie theatre] is more important than ever: It’s a communal experience you simply don’t get at home.”

I’m a life-long movie lover currently living an hour away from the nearest cinema, so the sentiment was both something I agreed with in my bones and made me sad for something I’m missing. Going to a movie is a shared experience. I look back fondly on visits with Chris, Ciaron, Matthew, Shannon, and many others. After the credits (and we watched all of the credits even before Marvel made it a requirement) we’d discuss what we’d just seen. And what we’d just felt.

Some of my other friends who will remain nameless (David Rendall and Jeffrey Stevenson) watch a movie like Transformers 2 and say, “It was fun. Movies are supposed to be fun. 9 out of 10!” The experience of watching Transformers 2 in the cinema with my wife was so bad, my unborn child forced herself into the world the next day, three weeks early.

Movies can be fun. I get it. But the best ones do more than just entertain—they change how we see the world. A good film can drop you into someone else’s life, make you feel things you never expected, and leave you thinking about a story long after the credits roll. That’s the power of cinema: it lets us step into someone else’s shoes without ever leaving our seat. And science backs this up. Watching movies doesn’t just make us feel something in the moment; it actually rewires our brains to be more empathetic.

Empathy is feeling what someone else is feeling, even if their experience is completely different from your own. But how does a screen full of flashing lights that are fun for Jeff and Dave make the rest of us feel something real? Ever found yourself tensing up in a suspenseful scene? Crying over a character’s heartbreak? That’s because your brain doesn’t just watch movies—it lives them. Neuroscientists have found that watching a film activates mirror neurons, the brain cells that kick into gear both when you do something and when you see someone else do it. In other words, when you watch a character struggle, your brain reacts as if you are struggling. It’s the same reason we physically flinch when we see someone else get hurt. The best film makers take advantage of this by placing their cameras in the right place, choose music that heightens emotions, and make the right cuts for the mood of the scene. And the worst film makers don’t.

Your brain doesn’t just stop at mirroring emotions—it also releases chemicals that enhance the experience. Emotional stories trigger oxytocin, the hormone that makes us feel connected to others. Intense moments release cortisol to keep us locked into a scene. When a character finally succeeds, dopamine gives us a rush of satisfaction. Together, these neurochemical reactions explain why a well-told story can make us cry over an emotional dinner table admission in A Real Pain or feel outrage over injustice in The Brutalist.

Jim Coan of the University of Virginia said that while watching a movie we “immerse ourselves in the perspective of another person. And in doing that, we start to subtly accrue those perspectives into our own universe … and that’s how empathy is generated.” Roger Ebert said movies are a “machine that generates empathy”.

Films can take us places we’d never go otherwise. Great movies are invitations. They let us step into lives we’ll never live, struggles we might not understand, and experiences we might not have first-hand. Anora helps us understand the lives of sex workers. I’m Still Here makes us confront the realities of living in a dictatorship. Sing Sing puts us inside a prison and shows the variety of people there. These aren’t just movies; they’re empathy-building machines. They remind us that behind every statistic, every news headline, every distant (or increasingly close) issue, there are real people with real emotions.

Studies have shown that people who watch emotionally engaging films are more likely to donate to charity, help a stranger, or express compassion right after. One experiment found that kids who watched films about kindness showed more prosocial behaviour afterward. Adults who watched dramas were more likely to volunteer compared to those who watched comedies. Films give our empathy muscles a workout. Some movies do more than just make us feel something—they change minds.

Jamil Zaki co-led research on the effect of watching the film, Just Mercy. People watching the movie were more empathetic toward ex-prisoners and more likely to support criminal justice reform. Zaki said,

“When people experience detailed personal narratives it opens their mind and heart to the people telling those narratives and to the groups from which those people come from.”

If movies can make us more empathetic, how do we harness that power? Therapists sometimes use films to help people process emotions. If a child struggles with feeling alone, Flow can give them hope. If someone is struggling with finding their way in life, Memoir of a Snail might hit home.

As powerful as movies are, they’re not a cure-all. As my mum and Ari Kohen keep telling me, books do all of this better. As a former bookshop owner, I don’t disagree. Books allow you to crawl inside the heads of the characters. They allow for reflection throughout the narrative. They force us to engage our imagination.

Also, not everyone responds the same way to a film. Your background, experiences, and beliefs shape how much a story resonates with you. Feeling moved isn’t enough if it doesn’t lead to real-world behaviour. And with so many stories competing for our attention, there’s a risk of burnout or becoming numb to issues that should matter. The solution? Pair movies with real-life action. Discuss with friends, look into volunteering, or start or join some activism related to what you’ve just felt.

We live in a world where it’s easy to stay inside our own bubbles—our living rooms and our heads. Films challenge us to leave those bubbles. They make us feel things. They remind us that we’re all connected. So next time you watch a movie, don’t just sit back—lean in. Think about what it’s teaching you. What perspectives is it showing? What emotions is it drawing out? The more we step into others’ stories, the more we grow. And ideally, get to a cinema where there are other humans going through the experience with you. Expand your empathy.

Last week, Elon Musk told Joe Rogan, “the fundamental weakness of Western civilisation is empathy”. And that’s the final word on why empathy is so important.

~ Matt