vicarious pleasure meaning

[dumbfounded]

I was seeing a hunting movie usually shot while hunting animals. My friend was also with me and he said," they are ruthless and doing vicarious pleasure"
What does vicarious pleasure mean?

 

[Susan Y]

"Vicarious" is defined in the WR dictionary, dumbfounded - search in the box at the top of the page.

I'm not sure your friend used the expression correctly - we say we are taking vicarious pleasure in something when we are not involved in the pleasurable activity ourselves. So people watching (or perhaps shooting) a movie about hunting could be said to be taking vicarious pleasure in the hunting. You could also say that the makers of the film intended to give vicarious pleasure to the viewers.