The psychological reasons Hispanic women see the most movies

Most people enjoy reading a good book or watching a movie, immersing themselves in an alternate reality for a brief amount of time. Hispanic women, however, are flocking to watch movies in droves, according to new research, and experts suggest the reason is much deeper than just a love of entertainment.

According to an exclusive study by market research C4 for The Warp, the most avid movie-goers in the country are Hispanic women over the age of 25. Not only were Hispanic women the demographic most likely to attend movies with their families, they were more likely to attend movies without them, a fact that remained true no matter what movie genre was in question.

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“Hispanic women are making it clear with their entertainment dollars that they are important part of the movie-going audience and essential to a film’s box office success,” Kristen Simmons, chief innovation officer at C4 R&D, told TheWrap.

As may as 20 percent of Hispanic women have seen all the major movie titles, and were just as likely to watch male-oriented movies as were Hispanic men. One of the most appealing genres, however, appeared to be superhero films, and experts suggest this has to do with psychological sympathy regarding two different personalities. Hispanics feel they can relate to superheroes because they themselves identify as two different people: Hispanics and Americans.

“That bi-cultural identity is the basis for the cultural resonance of superheroes,” Kate Perkins, an analyst for brand consultancy TruthCo, told TheWrap, adding, “The foregrounding and backgrounding of two identities that are equally important.”

But is there more to the Hispanic women/movie phenomenon? The data indicates family has much to do with why Hispanic women go to the movies. As a family-oriented culture, the movies are seen as a way to spend quality time together, and family features were cited as the most popular type of movie attended by those in the study.

Escapism

Another theory suggested by experts as to why Hispanic women are attending the movies so much has to do with escapism. According to the CRC Health Group, escapism is when a individual turns to an alternate, false reality to escape what is going on around them. Almost all people have participated in escapism, and it is considered healthy most of the time. Escapism is just a form of imagination, but like most things, it is the motivation behind it that determines whether the practice is good or bad.

Hispanics in the United States suffer the traditional stresses associated with being a minority. They face discrimination and barriers to health and economic improvement due to language and cultural stigmas. Hispanic women have some of the highest rates of depression, according to the Office of Minority Health, and it is theorized that movies may give these women a means of “escaping” for a brief amount of time.

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There is nothing wrong with escapism as long as it doesn’t start to interfere with regular daily life. Escapism becomes a problem when an individual starts giving up other things–like a job or friends–in order to spend more time involved with their alternate reality.

What does it all mean?

It must be noted the recent study results do not confirm or disprove any theories about Hispanic women and their psychological motivation. More large-scale research is needed before such conclusions can be drawn, as well as comparison studies to rule out the possibility movie-watching is a cultural phenomenon. Experts did not look at Hispanic women elsewhere in the world, so it is unknown if immigration stress really has as much of an impact as suggested.