Can Fiction Change Reality

“There is no Frigate like a Book, to take us Lands away nor any coursers like a Page of prancing Poetry” Emily Dickson 

In books and television shows among others, we are carried away down the occurrence of stories into a world of imagination. These things employ the use of one of the most basic literary device; Imagery, thus, painting pictures within our minds and shaping our perception of things. 

So in reading a book or watching a movie we don’t try to retrace the steps of the characters, but rather we walk a mile or better still, a chapter in their shoes. Thus, employing a different point of view. 

Scholars and scientists are finally starting to gain quantifiable evidence showing what many writers and readers have always known; that stories have the unique ability to change a persons point of view.

 

Scholars are also discovering some evidence that stories shape culture, and that much of what we know and believe about life, comes not from facts but rather fiction.

We could even say that novels whether it be fiction and/or factual, may have shape some of the brightest minds ever.

All these among others.

Scholars even say that Darwin’s theory of evolution is highly embedded in the things he read and loved. His theory illustrates intelligence, swiftness and adaptability to change; and these are all common characteristics within a hero; have you realized that? 

So there may be a possibility, that the stories we read and the movies we watch, may and do have an influence in the way we see and live our lives. For instance, The Hunger Games could give us a totally new approach thinking about capitalism.  

But despite all these strange and mysterious things we pick up from books and movies there are new stories to venture in everyday, new tales that promise to influence and impact change, stories that the individual you may write yourself.

So I guess the truth is; stories can not change the reality in which we live in, but it has the potential of changing the way we reason and the way we choose to interact with the things around us. How? Well, that is based on your personal preference to how you see things and understand reality.