To put the whole ‘people like consuming media about/roleplaying dark scenarios’ thing into perspective, have you ever done a fire drill?
We pretend that the building is on fire so that we know how to handle it in the event of a real fire. In other words, we roleplay. There are so many ways we roleplay to learn and process that are seen as completely normal; mock exams, wedding rehearsals, sports practice, performance warm ups, etc etc
It’s the same with acting out dark topics; we pretend we’re in a situation where we got hurt, or we lost a loved one, or we face our worst fears. We act them out, and we get a sense of how to cope with a similar situation and prepare ourselves as best we can to tackle it in the event that it occurs in real life
Likewise, it’s the same with engaging in media with dark topics; we get to experience the emotions that those scenarios would bring up, but we get to do that in a way that’s removed from any real danger or consequence. If the emotions get too intense, we can turn off the TV, or close the book, or leave the theatre, and then it’s over — we don’t have to engage with it ever again if we don’t want to, and the real world remains entirely unaffected. No harm has actually been done
Just like how running a fire drill doesn’t mean you want to commit arson or that you fantasise about burning buildings. Just like how running a fire drill doesn’t mean that the building is actually on fire or that people have actually gotten hurt. Just like how running a fire drill prepares you for an actual fire should one happen to occur