I understand empathy, but why do we feel empathy towards things that we know for sure aren’t real?
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Tacking on to the other answers here, it’s the same reason why you enjoy said movie in the first place despite knowing it’s fake. It’s called immersion. You trick yourself into believing it’s real because otherwise you wouldn’t bother watching it. That’s why people interrupting a movie is so annoying. Sure you’re missing lines and maybe those lines are important to the story, but really the obnoxious people are just reminding you that you aren’t ***in*** the movie. E.g. they break your immersion.
Immersion is a wonderful thing. Movies/books like ready player 1 or the matrix are sci fi adaptations of what humans’ attempts at increasing immersion will look like in the future. i.e. you won’t be able to distinguish reality from a movie because you’ll be living in it. Despite how dystopian that sounds, there is a part of the human brain that *wants* to experience that. It’s a form of escapism I suppose but people do it with things that aren’t necessarily fun/an escape, like horror movies or games. If you were to do a full multi sense 4D VR horror game some people might actually enjoy being chased by a murderer and not knowing it’s fake. The endorphin rush coming out of the experience is what makes it enjoyable.
Same goes for sadness. While fear releases adrenaline which people get a sort of “fear high” from, seeing other people’s sadness, while upsetting in the moment and emotionally draining, reminds you that your life is not that sad. So, just like coming out of a horror movie and being tense/on edge yet knowing you aren’t really in danger, coming out of a sad movie you realize you aren’t really unhappy. Same goes with sad music. If you’re sad and you listen to a sad song it reminds you you’re not the only person who has ever felt that way. The immersion into that feeling, while increasing your sadness, is actually a release of emotion.
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