What Is A Hook?

I have (had) a friend in the film industry who did his PhD work on the Anxiety/release cycle in advertising, story telling, etc. His thesis is that the hook in movies and ads is often to tweak our anxiety about something and then give us a cathartic or moralistic release. Certainly applies to Aesop’s Fables, Grimm Fairy Tales, and most of the movies out there...it even works for comedies. Take your typical romantic comedy: Don’t we laugh cause we feel sorry for someone who is schlubby - maybe like us? Or more than us? In either case, our anxiety about not being sexually attractive enough is stimulated. It’s release if we think we’re more attractive than the schlubby guy, right away.

And when the sorta schlubby one gets the girl/guy - don’t we feel like there’s hope for us? I am sure most of this is subconscious in many cases. Food for thought.