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Why do you as a person care for/about fiction/fantasy? In other words, why do you watch/read/have emotions about it? This is a genuine question, not a rhetorical one. I personally think of it as a possibility sort of thing, but then again others don't view it that way. I personally think that anyone who likes it is imagining it as being real in some obscure way or another; imagining themselves in the characters situations. Please post your opinions below.

This is almost robotically phrased. Do you NOT experience emotion at fiction?

Every time Boromir dies, I break a table.

Spoiler alert, mate!

Anyway, there isn't one answer to OPs question. There are as many reasons for human emotion as there are humans who experience them. Some could likely be grouped into buckets like "similarity to personal experience" or "imagining the characters are real," and it all comes back to some sort of empathy.

But breaking it down - actually, really breaking it down to root causes - would require things like data and tests. Unless you're familiar with such research, our opinions don't mean much.

Originally posted by Bardock42
Spoiler alert, mate!

Well, for all our illiterate and/or cave dwelling forum members for whom that was spoiled, my bad.

If ON were here, he'd probably tell us that psychologically there's no difference between how the brain processes something that's fictional and something that's "real." Idk if that's true, but it sounds true.

The willing suspension of disbelief allows people to immerse themselves in fiction, no matter how fantastic the setting if written well enough. When fully immersed in something it becomes real, to the individual. Or something gay like that.

Originally posted by Omega Vision
If ON were here, he'd probably tell us that psychologically there's no difference between how the brain processes something that's fictional and something that's "real." Idk if that's true, but it sounds true.



It does sound true.

Allowing yourself to feel empathy for fiction allows for a greater and more tangible and rewarding experience. It allows us to immerse ourselves into the story and thus get more from it than would otherwise be possible. It even makes things like themes and tones and morals gotten from the piece more immediate and noticeable.

Originally posted by Megatom
Why do you as a person care for/about fiction/fantasy? In other words, why do you watch/read/have emotions about it? This is a genuine question, not a rhetorical one. I personally think of it as a possibility sort of thing, but then again others don't view it that way. I personally think that anyone who likes it is imagining it as being real in some obscure way or another; imagining themselves in the characters situations. Please post your opinions below. Vicarious living. We're blunted for life real life so we get our emotional highs through the not real stuff.

Does how realistic the fiction is affect how much you care about/get emotionally involved in it? There seem to be a lot of realistic fiction shows/movies these days (of course this depends on how you define realistic).

We want it to appear like reality so it's easier to submerge in to the illusion. It's why "unrealistic" is so often used as a criticism (except when it's the point). A fantastical funland that looks like real life? Why... it's like I'm really there...

I like fiction because it's usually "greater than" reality. There's always something that a person wants in life that takes some imagination and you can get it in fiction.

Originally posted by Megatom
Does how realistic the fiction is affect how much you care about/get emotionally involved in it? There seem to be a lot of realistic fiction shows/movies these days (of course this depends on how you define realistic).
It can. But I nearly cried at the shoe melting scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and there was nothing realistic about that.

It's not a question of how realistic something is. It's about how well done it is.

I just saw that movie for the first time recently. That was a funny scene.

I agree. I laughed.

Born to play.