I realize that scientists, etc. can attempt to explain away the spiritual by pointing out all the biochemical reasons that we fall in love, desire sex, etc. and I do not deny those things, but I have always maintained that it takes as much faith (if not more) to believe that this is the be all, end all of why these things exist as it does to believe in something greater than one’s self. Intellectually and spiritually I think there is something present that makes us different than the rest of the life that populates our planet.

I also believe culture, the positive reinforcement that certain things had on us as we grew up, etc. also plays into why we have the kind of fantasies, the kind of yearnings, etc. that we both share with others but that also make us unique beings.

I also think those things have a heavy influence over our individual ideas about entertainment and/or escapism. I am really not any different than you. Before I entered the blogging world I used the term escapism in place of entertainment as well…both terms have a positive connotation for me personally but I noticed once I started blogging that many people reacted the way my parents do to the idea of entertainment in that they don’t always see…or at least acknowledge…the value of it.

It may or may not be accurate, but I see myself as being in a sort of in-between place generationally. My parents are certainly part of that baby-boomer, work hard and you’ll get ahead, generation and I certainly have some of that in me. Today’s generation ’seems’ to be much more entertainment, I-need-a-distraction oriented. Now both of those are generalizations, but I feel like I fall in the middle. I like to think I believe the work hard and you’ll get ahead attitude and I think my work ethics speak more to my parent’s generation, but I also know the reality of today’s marketplace and people don’t have the job loyalty that they used to…and companies don’t have that kind of loyalty to employees. I also don’t fall in with the feeling that I need to be constantly entertained. I guess I just see a huge value in entertainment/escapism because, at least from a foundational perspective, I see that books and art have strongly influenced the authors and artists I admire today. I also consider myself a bit of a creative person and would like to ally myself with those folks (eventhough I am lazy/scared and don’t do much with my talents) and so I tend to get a bit defensive when anyone seems to want to take reading or art and brush them aside as unworthy endeavors.

As for science fiction, I just think it is a very unique genre because in the end it takes what is great about other forms of fiction and adds to it a real element: that space does exist and that there are wonderful mysteries to behold out there.

I am frustrated as well that I cannot jump in a rocketship and blast off to the stars, but that doesn’t inhibit my ability to dream of it and experience it in my imagination through reading, film, art, etc. One may be a poor substitute for the other, but I have had some damn good experiences with books, films, and art in my time that certainly don’t feel like sloppy seconds, if you get my meaning.

I’m sure I’ve gotten waaaay off topic here (not unusual for me). I certainly don’t know what causes us…at least some of us…to go all giddy with excitement about adventures in outer space and/or the worlds imagined in fantasy. I just don’t know. What I do know is that when I read or watch something like Lord of the Rings I feel a strong emotional attachment to a past that may only exist in the tenuous fictional connections Tolkien made with real folklore and mythology from the past. When I read science fiction I feel the rush of exploration and can toy around intellectually and emotionally with the ‘what if?’ idea. I do know that both kinds of emotional connection make me a better person, at least in my own eyes, because they make my life richer, give me a deeper appreciation for the beauty that is around me and for the talents of others, and make me want to share those experiences with others.

[Later]

I found this review in the NY Times that’s an excellent summation of the book.

The Literary Animal: Evolution and the Nature of Narrative, editors Jonathan Gottschall and David Sloan Wilson

It’s about an emerging field called Darwinian literary studies.

I guess there is a third approach. Some guys do go out and have more sexual encounters than fantasies. And some guys go out and work for NASA. And those are the modern alpha males. And all us other guys just live with out fantasies. I don’t like that approach, but it might be true.

I want to think that fantasy is a tool. It’s our holodeck where we simulate reality because we’re preparing to change our real lives. Just because we don’t succeed doesn’t mean we didn’t intend to change our lives if the opportunity came up.

If you like to fantasize about winning $200 million in the lottery is it because you just like the fantasy, or you’d really like to spend $200 million and the fantasies you have are preparing you even if the odds are against winning. It’s a subtle distinction.

Maybe fantasies keep us constantly prepared for change and that’s why we’re a species that adapts so well and so often.

Jim

Sexual fantasies in the realm of porn are about possibilities, but exist in reality. Not reality in the sense that they are likely or probable, but that they are possible.

Science fiction and fantasy dreams go into another realm - that of belief rather than reality. In this universe of dreaming, everything and anything is possible. The chains of reality are completely cast aside. And becasue we are free from those bonds, we can place ourselves into any character, and aspire to be as cool, as macho, as virtuous as they are. Or, in the alternative, to revel in the mean, nasty, devious characters that act out what we would never imagine.

Science fiction and fantasy stories allow is to go somewhere we’ll never go, be someone we’ll never be., and that is the draw.