Reality vs Fantasy. And the winner is ....?

Reality, the life we live. Fantasy, the way to escape our daily life. Which one,if either, is better? In fantasy we can do and be anything we want to be. Have whatever we want as it is created by us. Reality we can only do what we are limited to do and can only have whatever we are allowed, as it is dictated by other people and rules which we cannot govern. Sounds like a easy winner doesn't it? However perhaps it is not as simple as it sounds.

I, when not here, work at a cinema, a place designed for pure escapism. Each and every screen offers a different adventure for you to engross yourself in for an hour or so and leave reality at the door which you can then pick up again as soon as you leave. It is just one of many things people do to escape their reality. Other such things are reading books, playing games, daydreaming, listening to music or even going to the extreme form of escapism here, taking recreational drugs. We all have our own ways of escaping the humdrum of everyday life by delving into our preferred forms of fantasy but why do we seek it out? Is the fantasy that much better than reality?

Well lets look at the reality of the world shall we. The world can be a rather unpleasant place at the best of times. People are rude and unpleasant to each other as they are only out for themselves and their interests, which sadly is the way they have to be because 90% (this is not an exact figure here) of the population are at it and you really can not trust anyone. Crime is at an exceptionally high rate and it is perhaps no longer safe to leave your house what with all the muggers, drug dealers, murderers, rapists and pedophiles out there. It may in fact not be safe to stay in your house either because if you won't go to them they will come to you. Unemployment is at an all time high recently due to the recession meaning people are struggling to meet their bills or are living on the streets which in turn leads people to crime. Countries all over the world are torn apart by war as the struggle for power and dominance continue. Due to some of these wars some of these countries are struck by extreme poverty and in turn this can lead to wide spread disease and starvation due to lack of food and clean water keeping the mortality rate far too high.

These are just the extremes and not everyone is affected or even worried by these things. I for example do not live in a war torn country. I am not disease ridden (i hope). I am not struck by poverty, I'm not rich but i get by. I am not unemployed. I am not a criminal and i don't worry that i am going to be murdered, mugged or raped every time i go to work. My reality can still be depressing however and this is because of everyday dramas. Everyone has them, whether it be incinerating the dinner or being told you're the ugliest and most worthless person in the world. On the flip side of this perhaps you do not get enough drama and excitement in your life and you feel bored and like you're not going anywhere in life. All these things can make you wish that your life was different and this is where people see fantasy as the better alternative. You can escape into a world where things are just to your liking and it can make you forget about your problems for a little while and this is good everyone needs to relax and chill out otherwise we just would not function properly. However the problem with fantasy is sometimes people forget where the fantasy ends and reality begins and elements of the fantasy start to blur in with the reality.

This can happen in various strengths with the weakest being the annoying but harmless group. These people are so into whatever fantasy they are into that they talk and get really excited about it as if it's real, which can be annoying to those of us who do not appreciate the fantasy as much but its perfectly harmless as they can still tell the difference between reality and fantasy even if the line's a bit blurred. An example of this I have seen recently is with the film versions of the Twilight Saga, of which the second book to film adaptation New Moon is currently showing at the cinema in which i work. I see people coming in all hyper and excited ,as they're going to see a film they expect to like, getting even more hyper and excited (to the point of squealing sometimes) as soon as they see any promotional stuff for it be it a banner, standee or even the posters we are selling. It is perfectly harmless as they're not hurting anyone (well occasionally the odd eardrum when the squealing starts) but it can be rather annoying sometimes. I for one can not fathom this reaction to a picture of Robert Pattison but then again I am not embroiled in this fantasy and as such i can find it to be a tad annoying.

You can also get the complete opposite of this where people become so immersed in their fantasy that their reality disappears and they start to live their fantasy as their reality. This can be dangerous depending on the fantasy. If their fantasy is that they can fly then it can be dangerous for them as they will jump off a building and find that they can't actually and will end up doing themselves some harm. If their fantasy is being a cat then they will probably pose very little danger to themselves or anyone else, it will just be a bit strange. These kind of people usually suffer from a psychological disorder and can often be spotted easily and will be sectioned for their own or others safety.

You also have the middle group where the person can still tell the difference but tries to use the fantasy to improve their reality. An example of this could be if you're playing a video game where you spend the levels wielding a gun and shooting people you don't like. Most of us would leave it there however others will use an element from the fantasy of the game (such as the wielding of the gun) to affect their reality in the same way. It is in these cases that the fantasy can negatively affect reality and it brings me onto my next topic of what effects reality and fantasy can have on each other.

As i have mentioned before people turn to fantasy as a way to escape the reality of their everyday lives. Something to break the tedium or relieve the stress of the everyday slog. The worse the reality the stronger the fantasy needs to be to help us ignore the reality. This is fine and it makes sense. However sometimes not only do we use fantasy for escapism but sometimes we look into the fantasy for a solution of some kind. Now we all sometimes imagine what we would LIKE to do sometimes to resolve a situation but very few of us do it as is not the done thing. For example sometimes when your boss is getting on your back you may feel like killing them however you never do as its not socially acceptable and it is just the stress of the situation making you think this way. However some people will occasionally cross those lines and these ways people have been wanting to resolve the unpleasant aspects of the reality in the fantasy make their way into the reality.

Now i have made an observation that the levels of violence and the like has gone up over the years and part of me thinks that the type of violence that has risen has stemmed from people deciding that they way they would like to solve their issue (e.g kill the person that's annoying them) in their fantasy is the way they are going to do it making it a reality. And the more people who do this kind of thing, the more violence appears in the reality making other peoples realities worse and so they need a stronger form of fantasy to get away from it and when that spills over into reality that can make reality worse again meaning the fantasy has to be stronger to cancel it out once again. So my point is that the strength of one can affect the other and that they can affect each other negatively sometimes and this what i feel may have happened today. This is why some of the fantasy we create is so fantastical because due to some of us allowing the less fantastical forms of fantasy into our reality (extreme forms of violence for example) in the past which has made our reality worse overall that we find ourselves needing more to escape it and find ourselves willing to immerse ourselves in it more than we ever used to.

So which one is is better? Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Reality can be pretty rubbish and hard work sometimes but is necessary as its the world we live in and when it has good moments they are better and mean more as they are real. Fantasy is a great way to keep us from being bored when reality isn't great but it can occasionally get out of control when we forget that it isn't real. The choice is entirely yours on which you prefer