Page 38 - NAMAH-Jan-2022

Namah Vol. 29, Issue 4, 15th January 2022

Or is it the escape that entices people? Why such a danger, but then living only in reality is
watch a social critique when you already also dangerous. It is bleak, our human nature
know what’s wrong with your society? is weak, what humans have done to Nature
Why watch a crime thriller that will make is sad. We have banished Pan to his island. If
you double-check your door and imagine children believe in Santa Claus, we ask them
footsteps in the dark? It is much more satisfying to grow up. As if growing up means throwing
to escape into a world that is far removed from away one’s belief in super-nature. It seems
the one we inhabit — a dream-world we can to me there is a fear around the occult. If one
conjure up with our own imagination or with believed in ghosts, they’d come to haunt us.
computer graphics. We relive the childhood Otherwise they would not exist.
fascination for magic and the unknowable,
for deep down we have a sense that reason Underlying these fantasy worlds are rules
is not king, that the laws of nature are not that we are familiar with in our real world.
binding. We are not limited by natural or In the fantasy stories the real world problems
social rules. We are free. We defy gravity. We are worked out; and worked out really fast;
can pass through walls. Things talk to us. We perhaps too fast. Fast-moving action films
can transmit thoughts. We are shapeshifters. such as Marvel movies and Star Wars can
Our landscapes change within seconds. be addictive. They make us impatient of
There is a great thrill in seeing the reason anything other than speed resolutions. Instant
trip, in being out of control, in exploring the gratification has its own set of problems. But
unknown. And while we baffle the reason, what makes us relate to these fantasy stories is
we also transcend it. that the foundation of these fantasy worlds is
the same as ours. It is a battle of good versus
evil. The good powers have siddhis of flying, of
trapping with cobwebs, of metamorphosing,
of controlling another’s mind and so on. The
bad powers have matching evil powers. And
so the battle goes on. Whether here or there.
Whether within or without. And this is how
we become heroes.

As we feel more and more limited in our real
But not everything is fantastic in the fantasy world, we choose the fantasy world to try out
realm. It can dissociate us from the real our powers. The real world offers no option
world. Video games have been designed for testing our heroism. So we test it in the
to keep us in these alternate worlds as long other world, by living vicariously through
as possible. People get addicted to living in a character we admire. The toy industry has
them. They form new relationships in these caught on with small versions of Batman,
cyberspaces. It is possible these can make Ironman, Superman, etc. There is such a
people stop caring about the real world and plethora of fancy books and accessories, one
their family and friends. We get addicted to wonders if it is the marketing that creates
speed and to instant gratification. There is love for fantasy in the first place for certain

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