Meditations on Mass Media Consumption

I watched Amelie again tonight after discussing it with a respected consort this past week, which brought me to this conclusion:

I used to think that the relationships people built upon things such as books, movies and musical taste were very shallow. I thought that a shared affinity for media and cultural consumption-related items did not truly expose that which gave any real sign as to who a person was as an individual. I thought that it was impossible to honestly know--let alone to care about—someone on this narrow basis alone.
Now I feel, although one cannot entirely know someone solely by these preferences, it is a more valid way to begin to forge a bond with others than I originally gave it credit for.
Lying within our favorite books, the movies we watch time after time, songs that we can’t bear to take out of rotation; is proof that we feel profoundly. The love we have for these things is an emotionally conscious reaction to a depiction of existence seen through another human being (whomever created the movie, book, etc.)
Furthermore, in becoming aware that others feel moved by the same creations as us, we are sharing our humanity. A great film makes us cry because it reflects something that we have all felt. We are now seeing it with new eyes (those of the director and writers) but we still experience it with the same heart. In the same vein, a certain passage from our favorite author sticks with us as a guiding light, because it helps us find refuge from, or make sense out of, the confusion of living.
We identify that these artistic works (no matter how trivial or silly some of them may seem) can reach anyone, because they all spring from finding meaning in being human. The human experience (in many a shape-shifting form) is, extraordinarily, shared by every single one of us, and is therefore always worth bonding over.