Last week Rose Scholars had the pleasure of having Sara Schlemm, a PhD candidate in the English department at Cornell University, discuss her research on the difference between melancholy and sadness. One would think that they are the same, given that I knew melancholy was a state of sadness, perhaps deeper but associated with the same emotion. However, comparing its affects in literature and film, it was evident that there was a difference of portraying it to the audience and causing them to enter a mood rather than just feel a temporary emotion. Schlemm used the example of the novel and movie Vertigo as an example of how the protagonist entered a state of madness practically because his mind was constantly revolving around the murder that had occurred and the web of lies he had formed.

It makes one think about the affects that movies and propaganda have on an audience and if the creator of such items had that intention to begin with. There are commercials of neglected animals, child abuse, and addiction that can strike a chord in someone so deep that it truly can affect them for the rest of their life. Perhaps the outcome is not necessarily melancholic, but the bases for their actions resulted from this stage of deeper sadness, one that caused them to really think about their subject matter of interest.  Although one may think that someone who is sad is in a bad state in their life, that does not necessarily mean that the person is being harmed by their experience. There is certainly a level of growth that comes with thought process and really trying to understand why one feels the way they do and if they can possibly do something to alter that feeling not only in themselves but in others as well.

This talk was very interesting in that I love psychology I could relate melancholy to how it affects one mentally. It was inspiring to see a graduate student present their work and see their passion for it as well.