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The Line between Fiction and Reality
It seems that reality and fiction are two opposite or highly distinct terms. Regularly, people come across fantasy by reading comic books or movies and can easily differentiate them from their real life. People might say there is a noticeable wall between both terms. But in fact, the line between fiction and reality is so blurry that both terms submerge into each other at some points. Well, the above statement seems hard to believe, so let's get into some details to know the truth.
Reality Submerged in Fiction
In your childhood, have you ever wished for your favorite story to happen in real life? If yes, then there is good news that Disney's fictional stories are inspired by actual events or involve facts. For example, everyone admires the evergreen story of Cinderella from Disney and acknowledges it as a perfect fictional tale. The story of Cinderella includes many real facts. According to Duggal et al., Cinderella is the character of the struggle, optimism, and strength that is a fair depiction of feminism that females strive for in the real world (14).
Moreover, in the actual world, the relationship between stepmother and stepchildren goes not so well due to grudges against each other for seeking a father's love or inheritance. Cinderella's relation with her mother and sisters depicted the same reality as her family had grudges against her, and they mistreated her to satisfy their hatred. The story also represents gender stereotypes that exist in the actual world. Usually, people say that women have greed for money, so they want handsome and rich guys. The same prejudice was shown in the story of Cinderella when her sisters tried everything to prove themselves as shoe owners. This story and many other fictional stories of Disney have evolved from real facts or real-life beliefs. It demonstrates that fictions contain submerged realities.
Fiction Embedded in Reality
Do you believe that whatever you see in the news is a hundred percent reality? The most popular news agencies such as CNN and The Onion often came into trouble by promoting fake news and making them headlines (Berkowitz et al. 5). Most of the time, news agencies mix fiction with real information to provoke the public's emotions. The expressions of news anchors and the way of depicting the story make the people think that what they are saying is real, so they react to the news without confirming it. Featured news is a kind of soft report that contains most of the fictional aspects. Usually, featured news is portrayed in the form of a story with the perfect background and detailed information that, in reality, people may ignore. News agencies attract viewers and engage them emotionally by using featured aspects.
Where the Line Apart both Terms
Now the questions arise on how we can differentiate fiction and reality. There are so many factors that describe if the story has a factual basis or includes fictional aspects. The first factor is predictability. When people start watching a movie or a series, most of the time, in the middle of a story, they can predict the ending based on the synopsis. That is because the movie characters and stories are structured, and they have to end in a certain way to meet the expectations of viewers. But in reality, people are way more complicated than fictional characters. Human beings have their observation, perceptional process, and it is difficult to determine what the other person will do in a particular condition.
Moreover, fictional stories have very detailed depictions of every event, while people may ignore certain information in reality. For example, in a book, a writer will describe a fight scene with every tiny detail of everyone's expressions, tone of the speaker, or even the dress people wearing while arguing. But in actual fights, people can only remember the words or tone. Similarly, while reading a history story, there is always a moral or decisive statement at the end that describes the ending. But in the real world, even after ending, battles have long-term consequences, and it is hard to determine which war group was right as both opponents have their particular perspectives. Perfectionism is another aspect that tells if the story is real or imaginary. In every fictitious story, creators provide perfect characters, either portraying exceptionally charming looks, sound characteristics, or wealthy backgrounds. The excellent portrayal of characters attracts the readers as they relate those fictional characters with their ideal partners (Barnes and Jennifer 130). However, in reality, nobody is always perfect in appearance and personality. By keeping the above factor in mind, one can easily detect if the news or story has reality grounds or is merely based on imagination.
Conclusion
As a result, the line between reality and fiction is not very clear due to both terms' submergence. Journalism has made it complex to differentiate reality from fantasy. Similarly, fictional stories have deep roots in real events and facts. But some aspects such as perfectionism, predictability, and the level of details provided in the report tell the people if it's authentic or imaginary.
Work Cited:
Barnes, Jennifer L. "Imaginary engagement, real-world effects: Fiction, emotion, and social cognition." Review of General Psychology 22.2 (2018): 125-134.
Berkowitz, Dan, and David Asa Schwartz. "Miley, CNN and The Onion: When fake news becomes more real than real." Journalism Practice 10.1 (2016): 1-17.
Duggal, Jhanvi, and Parul Mishra. "Exploring ‘Shanderella’ through the glass slipper and abhijanashakuntalam." American Journal of Social and Humanitarian Research 1.2 (2020): 11-21.
