Why is emotion important to a story?

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I have heard people say that they want more emotion in a piece. Whether it's a drama or a doc or a piece on some aspect of a sport it seems that emotion is considered to somehow elevate it. By some mysterious magic it turns a pedestrian report into a story.

Why is this? Why do we want to see emotion? And does this mean some prurient and voyeuristic bit of tearfall or is it something else? Is it as simple as stories are incomplete without the tears and the joy? Seeing disparate emotion can be as dry as reading a textbook if there is no good reason for it. How does it move the story forward? There has to be a better reason than we like to see other people emoting.

One part of the brain that we share with other mammals is the limbic system, the mammalian brain and the home to emotion according to MacLean's Triune Brain Theory. We humans also have a very well developed and much vaunted Neo Cortex wherein the logic gets done with which we justify the purchase of shoes amongst other things.

In addition to these two is the Reptilian Brain, the R-Complex, an ancient organ which perches atop the spinal cord. It's a comparatively simple bureaucrat which handles balance, heartbeat, breathing and other parts of being alive which are vital but only become the focus of our conscious attention when they go wrong.

Each of these three brains constantly interacts with the world and with each other. It is their interaction with and susceptibility to story which is pertinent here. In order to be successful a story must satisfy the criteria of each of these brains in a proportion that reflects the nature of the story.

Could our neural anatomy be the reason that we want stories to be coherent; to be consistent with their own logical and emotional context? And is this where story gets its power?

Could it be that we need to explore the world of the story through the main character and to rehearse our own actions and decisions in the situations and activities into which they are cast by the author?

Are we convinced by a story in which we agree with the emotional and logical conclusion?

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