People usually grimace when I tell them what I want to be when I grow up. Apparently, I’ve reached that age when I’m expected to say something intelligent such as becoming a lawyer or a doctor.  Becoming a filmmaker, evidently, doesn’t fall under the category of worthwhile vocations.

Art seems to be thought of as an irrational career, and maybe it is. It  may not be the most lucrative, and it may not save the lives the same way a doctor does, but it has a surprisingly strong grasp on the minds of people. It exposes us to a variety of opinions, helping to mold our own.

And art is not limited to only drawings and paintings.  Art is the stories we share with others.

Richard Walter, Professor and Screenwriting Chairman at UCLA, wrote that movies are “a life simulator enabling modern men and women to rehearse their emotions, to experience desperate, painful sensations in an environment of total safety.”

The stories that art reveals to us, the ones that we imagine they share, have an influence over us. Our minds are constantly flooded with a variety of worldviews from literature, television, and film.

We often run away from reality to find refuge in stories, harboring a nostalgia for places that we have never known.

During the spring of last year, my friend convinced me to go see an indie-Christian film that she had already seen three times.  I was reluctant, but didn’t let it show because she said she related to the protagonist in several ways. Yet, while watching the movie, I could not see the connections she made with her.

Their life circumstances were polar opposites, but after leaving the theater, I realized that my friend had shared the same emotions and reactions as the protagonist, only in different settings.  Though she had not lived through the same experiences that the main character had, she was still able to relate to the character because she was seeing the world through the eyes of the antagonist.

Invisible threads are tied between stories and people, those strings tugging at the heart and mind, evoking emotional connections.  They impact us in ways that we don’t even realize, impelling us to empathize with the protagonists and even, sometimes, the antagonist.

When a movie is able to transport the audience into the world of the story, forgetting their own surroundings, that is when it succeeds.  My friend had run away into the world of the characters, her own world dissolving around her.

This ability to make art is an uniquely human attribute.  And while that can be said for many things, art compels us to contemplate different ideas.  While one person can see only pain and heartache, another person can see bearuty in the very same piece.

The Oscars are coming around the corner, and while some may not scoff at the idea of Hollywood’s elite coming to recognize their accomplishments, it truly is something to anticipate.  It is not only an annual celebration of the cinema, but the ways that these stories have moved us beyond the point of rational tears. The ones that have taught us to emphasize, love, and persevere.