Saturday, January 31, 2009

Hope in Fiction

The Dark Knight ... Of Course

Just this morning as I cleared the hall in my apartment a little I had the Special Features disc playing from the Dark Knight and something hit me. Life is rife with challenges and I figured out this morning that movies, games and books inspire me to do better; to be better. There is a unrealised need in the world today for fiction to not just entertain but to teach us how to be better. We don't necessarily need to just read autobiographies but I believe that good fiction that's meant to inspire can do good.

There is a line to be drawn though because fiction can be escapicism. I used to get lost in things like this years ago but now that I'm older I realise that I can take what I learn into the real world. What is fiction if it just stays on the pages of a script or book? What's the point of writing if the themes and thoughts of the author are just merely to entertain? Entertainment can be more than that I believe. In fiction we can find hope to continue to press in our challenges in real life. Through fiction we can put shape to our thoughts, emotions & feelings that better help us understand who we are as people.