Drawn to Pain: The Paradoxical Enjoyment of Negative Emotion in Art

Aristotle said we don’t like to look at painful things in life but get pleasure from seeing these things in art. This chapter examines what research tells us about why we willingly expose ourselves to sad music, paintings of suffering, horror movies, and tragic narratives. Studies show that the sadder we feel when experiencing these forms of art, the more we enjoy the experience and the more moved we feel. Thus, when we experience art with painful content, we experience positive as well as negative emotions. The positive emotions are made possible because of aesthetic distance. That is, we know that our emotions are caused by art, not “real life.” In addition, the experience of negative emotions promotes meaning making as we try to make something positive out of a painful experience. And meaning making is an important function of art.