I have been fascinated with movies for as far back as I can remember. My favorite reward when I was a child was to get a trip to see a movie, back when it was only 50 cents! I see now that this was my best chance at escaping into someone else’s fantasy world. I loved the way they showed how we all have problems and how others dealt with them, a kind of group therapy.

After recently seeing a documentary about the life of Carl Laemmle, and how he escaped Thomas Edison’s east coast monopoly on movie making to found the International Motion Picture Company, the precursor to Universal Studios in 1909, I realized for the first time why our nation’s early immigrants flocked to nickelodeon movie houses. There were a few reasons. First, movie-watchers didn’t need to know how to read English. In fact, watching early movies probably helped them learn the language and more about American culture. This documentary also suggested that seeing those early movies helped immigrants feel like they belonged here.

Early “talkies” had simple themes like comedy, drama, romance, or action. They were shot in a film studio with two or three dedicated actors and a few songs. A short movie could be cheap and easy to make.

In the 1930s the movie industry triumphed by giving the public what it wanted most, a therapeutic diversion for the millions who needed to get away from their troubles for just an hour or two.

One of our most important human needs is to feel like we belong somewhere, in some group or community. That sense of belonging and camaraderie, so essential to the happiness of most of us, is what American movies sold, and very inexpensively. That is why they have always been so popular. As a recent immigrant, Carl Laemmle understood the public’s need for fitting in and therefore feeling less alone in a new country. He made movies that met the needs of the masses, foreign and domestic.

For me, movies have provided so many things I have needed through the years. Diversion, a sense of feeling a part of a group that understood me and my needs, creative escapism, and the joy of being a fly on the wall watching others figure out their lives. They have always made me feel less alone. When I think about it, I have learned so much from movies and documentaries. Once, decades ago, I said to my therapist, “Movies sometimes make me feel like I am entering someone else’s dream.” She told me then that the quality of film making had advanced so far, that they sometimes border on exactly that experience in our minds. And don’t get me started on the genius of screen writers! The writers make the movie for me!

Especially when they are about relationships…