So What Do We Do In a Depression?

A friend of mine brought an interesting debate to my attention recently. In times like these entertainment tends to do well, the question is do people want to see comedy or doom and gloom (things like the history of the Great Depression, TGD, of 1929)? I think the bigger question is why are we, as consumers of media, looking to these specific genres?

Firstly, I think people are looking to both comedy and doom and gloom. My gut feeling is that people are looking to comedy because we are all so damn depressed we want to be cheered up and taken out of our current situation even if only for an hour or two. Per Dr. Nancy Snyderman's Today Show segment on how happiness is infectious, people want to be happy and not heavy -hearted all day long...what better way to achieve that?

I also think people are looking to the doom and gloom (specifically information on TGD) because people are looking for hope. Not because people want to be more depressed but because people want to see the light at the end of the tunnel. People are looking for trends trying to see how others survived in an even worse climate. Lastly, there is the talk show effect at play, seeing people worse off somehow makes one feel better. That may not be the prettiest side of human nature, but I do believe it's there. For that reason I believe more people will be looking to this source/genre.