Why Saw Is My Feelgood Movie
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- Saw franchise has been watched repeatedly by the author since childhood, from reading plot summaries at age 13 to viewing full films by 14, forming a long-standing personal relationship with the series
- Author describes watching Saw as 'a bit like meditation', using the intense discomfort of the films to practice enduring psychological distress and reaffirm a will to live
- Jigsaw’s 'live or die' philosophy resonates with the author's experience of suicidal ideation, framing survival as an active, difficult choice rather than a passive state
- Saw films are acknowledged as poorly made — with nonsensical plots, dubstep editing, and hammy acting — but valued precisely for their relentless, un-boring intensity
- Author identifies with the victims in the traps, imagining their own responses under pressure, and uses the extreme hypotheticals to re-anchor themselves in the value of life
Why it matters: For people struggling with mental health, pop culture can serve as an unexpected tool for emotional regulation and self-reflection. The author’s engagement with Saw turns a widely dismissed horror series into a functional, personal ritual that reinforces survival instinct — not through therapy-speak, but through visceral, repeated exposure to fictional suffering.
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