Fainting, or syncope, happens in the movies more than in real life. In the movies, when a woman faints, it's often because she needs a minute to think about how to respond to something that just happened. A man will faint so that the audience will know he's a wimp. Fainting can be a simple shortcut in fiction.In real life, the reason people faint is simply because of not enough blood getting to your brain. The body passing out and falling to a horizontal position is also its own cure, although not without its own dangers. However, there are several reasons for a deficit of blood going to the brain, some of which are explored at Jstor. -via Damn Interesting