It’s been a rough year for all of us, and we’ve all found ways to cope and bring ourselves joy throughout the last eight months. Some of us (okay, many of us) have taken up baking and have mastered the sourdough starter by now. A number of us (myself included) have adopted four-legged friends in the forms of cats and dogs. Others have picked up a new musical instrument or learned a new language. Still others have blown the dust off a long-neglected personal project. Many more of us haven’t added anything new to our plate but have just tried to survive – and that’s totally okay. And we’ve all watched many, many hours of movies.

Stephen King once wrote, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” So are movies – though, with the responsible among us staying home and not traveling or engaging in outside social activities – they don’t have to be that portable for now. Movies have the ability to transport us, especially now, when we’re largely confined to the same people in the same four walls in our real lives. More than ever, we have reason to be grateful movies exist.

So I asked Twitter to tell me why they’re thankful for movies.

As always, the answers didn’t disappoint with people sending in lovely and thoughtful responses.

For so many people, movies have allowed them to both explore the full spectrum of human emotion and to understand the perspective or culture of someone they’ve never met. Movies, in essence, are vehicles for us to become more fully-realized, empathetic people.

For others, movies have always been an escape, a safe place to go to during hard times. Movies have even saved a few people’s lives. (Warning: Some of the tweets in this section are raw and honest and may be tough to read for the more sensitive among us.)

Some have used movies as an opportunity to grow closer and more connected to a particular family member.

Still others appreciate movies for their technical achievements the creative talent behind them and find movies have leveled up their own skills as writers and creators. Some were even inspired to go into the filmmaking industry for themselves!

And last but not least, because sometimes: Spider-Man.

Get tickets to a new movie adventure here.

  • Roundup
  • VIDEOS