If you’ve ever watched a telenovela, you know that the salient feature of this fine art form is its emotional volatility. Wonderful things happen to people, and then in the very next moment terrible things happen to the same people.
In fact, there seems to be a karmic connection between the two. If someone experiences a fortunate or joyous event, you can be sure that heartbreak or tragedy is lurking right around the corner.
We experience such things in our real life, but it isn’t nearly as much fun. It’s much more enjoyable to have the vicarious experience of someone else’s emotional thunderstorms.
I guess it’s sort of like what happens with computer games. Many people love playing wargames on a computer, but wouldn’t want to be in that battle for real.
Which leads to a question: Why is it so much fun to watch telenovelas? Perhaps they are simply wargames for the soul.