Everyone needs a little escape every now and then. It’s why we go on vacation. It’s why we read books. And it’s why we watch movies. But some movies are better at taking us away from our own drudgery than others. Some movies hit too close to home and make us reflect on our own lives. This type of film is useful, no doubt, but it’s not always what we’re in the mood for. And some movies take us away to discover new worlds we never could have imagined on our own. 

A teacher I had in high school gave us two names for each of these feelings: windows and mirrors. Windows let us see out into a world that was not our own. Mirrors reflected us back at ourselves. It’s useful terminology that can apply to every medium of art. Sci-fi films are usually windows, but sometimes they contain more mirrors than we expect.