What comes to your mind when you think of a break from your routine? What do you think of when you want to relax?
Of course, several ideas such as hanging out with somebody, spending time alone, eating or drinking something delicious, going out for a walk, listening to music, reading a newspaper or a magazine, reading a book (or listening to an audiobook), and seeing a film or binge-watching your favorite series/drama comes to mind.
Of the latter, whether you prefer a visual medium or an auditory medium, you’re consuming fiction. You might be watching a movie, a series, a television serial, a documentary, an anime, a cartoon, or anything. You might be reading a novel, a short story, a comic, a magazine, a newspaper, or anything. You might be listening to an audiobook, music, or anything.
When you read or listen to any story, you imagine the central character or the protagonist and various other characters driving forward the plot. You gasp at all the right places, smile at happy moments, cry at all the sad moments, and feel your adrenaline jump at action sequences whether you’re reading or watching, or listening. Often, you might want to reread or rewatch the same content. You find it so enjoyable!
Have you ever wondered why we love and enjoy fiction?
What is it about fiction that is so enthralling?
Why do we feel closer to fictional characters?
Let us go through the answers to these questions.
Companionship
First and foremost – Fellowship
When people read a story, watch a movie, or listen to music, they feel certain closeness. It’s like they’re not alone. You could feel close to a character, to an author, to an actor, to a particular beat or lyrics, and so on. Sometimes, we feel closer to fictional characters or settings than real people and settings.
When people get lonely, bored, or exhausted, they see a film or read a story or listen to songs that make them feel like a part of that world, which brings us to the next point.
An Escape From Reality
Reality means a lot of things for people. For some people, the reality is boring. For some others, the reality is too cruel. For other people, reality feels mundane, and so on.
When you are immersed in the beautiful world of music, anime, a series, or drama, etc., your mind takes a break from reality. For instance, there are tensions between Ukraine and Russia in the present, and people are talking about another global war. An individual might be dealing with personal issues. Someone else simply wants a break from the “boring reality”. These people immerse themselves in the various fictional universes offered via different mediums so they can experience another world – a whole new different world. They could imagine themselves in different shoes of the characters and see things differently, which brings us to the next point.
A New Perspective
Often, we see the world from our perspective. Things happen in our lives, and we see it from no one else’s but our perspective. Fiction gives us a portal to think about different perspectives. It tells us, for instance, that while one person thinks a morally grey person did the right thing, another person will disagree and claim that the said person was wrong.
Fiction takes us to various places and through different situations we have never seen before, which brings us to the next point.
A Fresh Outlook
Fiction can take you across time, cities, countries, and universes, and back. Fiction can take you inside the mind of a character or two. This isn’t something that you can do in real life – exploring the mind of another person or traveling long distances / across time quickly and back.
You start to learn about and appreciate somebody whose thoughts, values, behavior, and background are so different from yours. The settings of the universe needn’t be all new and strange either, which takes us to the next point.
Familiarity
Nostalgia plays a huge part as well. We often view the past in rose-covered lenses. When something becomes relatable or reminds you of the past, you become attached to that. Your old school, college, and old friends are just a few things that can bring up nostalgia and familiarity. This is why so many series and drama’s have school or college settings. Whether you have a new outlook or feel nostalgic, looking through the eyes of the fictional character gives you empathy. That’s the next point.
Empathy
First, let us have the definition of empathy. It means the identification of the thoughts and feelings of another living being.
When you look through the shoes of another person and read their thoughts, you understand their motivations for doing whatever they did. You find out the whys, whats, whens, wheres, and hows. This is what makes grey characters interesting. Someone is a hero, and someone is a villain. But grey characters are morally grey people like us. They’re more realistic and relatable.
Representation
There’s nothing that can make you happy than seeing your culture or your tribe represented in a work of fiction! Indians in Hollywood, Indians in anime, and so on. You get the idea. When you see your culture being represented and can relate to the scene or the story even better, your heart feels light, and a grin flashes across your face.
A Topic For Discussion
Suppose you find yourself in a social event. There's nothing to talk about, and it is getting awkward. But then you remember a recent series that you stumbled upon or a new song that you instantly liked. You tell that to the awkward guy next to you, and they share their favorite novel with you.
Two people meet and find it awkward. Then, one of them talks about a movie they recently saw. Another person talks about music. Likewise, they start conversing about singers, artists, actors, authors, musicians, art, craft, music, literature, and so on.
People love discussing fiction! Be it a series, a television serial, a cartoon, an anime, a movie, a novel, a story, or any piece of fiction. People can't help but talk about it. You like a piece of fiction, and before you know it, you're talking about it. It works as an ice breaker and removes awkwardness!
Creative pursuits
Trust me – fiction makes you creative. How? Because you imagine the scenes or the characters in your head. You visualize scenes and mentally interact with situations and characters. That is how people write fanfiction, create fanarts and headcanons, write fan theories and fanons, and develop lots of ideas related to a specific character or a group of characters.
Fanfiction, headcanons, and fanons are fan theories and alternative realities people write about the characters. Fanarts are works of art people create to represent a fictional character. Most major fandoms have lots of fan fiction, fan art, headcanons, fanons, and fan theories – even cartoons!
You derive inspiration to create new pieces of work, however small or insignificant it may seem. That inspiration is what makes you write. The feel of your fingers on the keyboard or your hand on the paper as your thoughts flow into your fingers when you’re writing fiction is unexplainable.
Entertainment and Relaxation
Now coming to one of the most obvious reasons we delve into fiction – being entertained and feeling relaxed. Nothing beats the excitement of opening your laptop or turning on your T.V. to watch the latest episode of your favorite series or a movie; or opening your favorite book to read it. Nothing beats the anticipation of the next episode or the next book/comic, or the sequel. When you engage in your favorite content, you feel like all's right with the world. You tend to relax and get entertained.
It's akin to traveling. You explore new places and return refreshed. Fiction is also a way of travel. Only that it takes you farther than physical travel!!
Note that I have written "character" throughout the article in place of "person". This is because human beings are not the only sentient beings that appear in fiction. In fiction, we come across various animals, birds, plants, trees, dwarves, elves, goblins, giants, trolls, werewolves, dragons, etc.
Imagination can create, sustain, and develop things beyond your expectations.
There you go! Ten Reasons Fiction appeals to you so much!! Thank you very much for reading! Don't forget to like and share this article, subscribe, and check out my content!