Question: How much do you think the proliferation of fictional entertainment helps or hurts the modern world?
The fictional broadcast/entertainment age has only been with us for roughly 100 years. Since the advent of radio in the 1920s (followed by motion pictures, broadcast television, cable television, the computer, mobile devices and all their many iterations) the proliferation of fictional entertainment has grown exponentially. In recent years, it seems significant groups in society devote so much of their time to it that they have more of a base in fiction than they do in reality.
Fiction, of course, has good and bad points. In the case of movies, for example, the fiction consumers experience is highly manipulated. Movies are written by people experienced at organizing and crafting stories using formulas for establishing and building interest, retaining attention, and creating outcomes that result in emotional responses.
Scripts are written and re-written. Scenes are shot for dramatic effect. What seem like real worlds are invented and the actors within them say and do things that are beyond the scope of desired or expected “normal” behavior.
The variety of material is also growing exponentially. One interested in, for example, science fiction, can consumer science fiction 24 hours a day for years without expending its supply.
Is this (overall) a positive or negative? Does a steady dose of actors reading well crafted dialog make the consumer (or some significant group of consumers) generally unhappy with the their ability to speak and communicate? Does seeing people who look good or bad to the extreme generally effect the self image of those watching?
Generally speaking, How much do you think the proliferation of fictional entertainment helps or hurts the modern world?
Posted in JULY 2019 / Chuck Green is the principal of Logic Arts, a design and marketing firm, a contributor to numerous magazines and websites, and the author of books published by Random House, Peachpit Press, and Rockport Publishers. All rights reserved. Copyright 2007-2019 Chuck Green/Logic Arts Corporation. Contact.
Thoughts?