Familiarity

It is to my belief that the familar makes us feel safe. We take comfort in the knowledge of knowing what has happened before, and therefore will happen again. The unknown scares us. Ultimatley it seems we like being in control. The idea that something exterior is directing our existence is terrifying. And yet, we cannot always maintain this position of control. We find ourselves in situations that cannot be planned. I refer to my previous blog, in which I stated my indignance at not being in control. I believe, (and I am using myself as my only example for now) that people turn toward alterior familiar systems in order to make sense of what is happening the around them. I am thinking of popular culture. If one can link a situation they find themselves in to an existing piece of film, the situation immediantly becomes more acceptable as it has been recognised before. A line in a song may all of a sudden make sense of the context a person finds themself in, and because of which makes them feel better about the whole thing. Alternatively, film and music allows us to supress the uncomfortable world we find ourselves in and immerse ourselves in a beginning, a middle and an end that is preordained, that is not our existance and so therefore cannot affect us in a negative manner. When film and music becomes familiar to us, we can take comfort in it, it will always be there for us, never changing and maintaining the feeling it originally gave us.