Being fed up with reality: Fantasy sells
Don’t all you people like to hear that something is “fantastic”? Or read a good fantasy novel? Maybe you like to believe in promises that clearly sound fantastic even if you know they might never get real? You are fed up with reality and it is a condition that became so common to people nobody questions it. Of course, many of us do not believe in fairytales and consider them to be products of pure imagination but we do believe in “fantastic offers” when salesman comes to us. The very word makes us want the product. When we say someone is a fantastic person we crave for the feeling which takes us out of reality when we interact with him. It is not about the contents anymore, it is about the state of mind.
The portion of reality we receive each day, through news, through every day experiences, is so big that it tires us and makes us crave for something more, something light that will take us off the ground and keep us there even for a single moment or short period. We are not tuned up and prepared to face this much reality on our own, so trips to fantasy are welcomed by most people.
Balance needs to be retained, and we nourish both of our worlds: fantasy and reality. The trouble is when someone gets too much involved into one of them or confuses them in his head. For an ordinary person, a nice dose of reality is needed every day but so is a dose of fantasy, or else he will snap up. We question why do some people just snap and hurt their loved ones without any warning but we do not see that his portion of reality is getting too much for him, his glass is overflowing with it so he just needed a trip to fantasy lands in which he will be a powerful figure, so powerful that he gives himself right to hurt others. The transition happens almost instantly because of his unawareness and lack of balance.
Fantasy has always been a good investment, and people do get rich by exploiting this human need. But it is not that they do something bad, they give people what they need and maintain the balance – it is not that kind of work seen in that movie “Lord of War” with Nicolas Cage. The method is similar but the effects are quite the opposite. In that movie, the main character Yuri Orlov is an arms dealer and sells weapons to poor countries even knowing that they will later use it to slaughter each other mercilessly, and it seems that he does that just for the purpose of getting rich and finds excuses like “if I don’t do it, somebody else will” and “even tobacco companies and car salesman sell things that kill more people a year then my weapons do”. But, it is not quite that simple, it is revealed that he does not do that for the money, but because it is a primary human need – to kill each other, and he is good at selling weapons so he cannot stop it. Understanding basic human needs is the crucial step to being a good salesman. And “fantasy salesmen” such as fantasy novel writers, merchandisers, commercialists, game developers do understand that need because they understand it within themselves! They may be less resistant to their products then most of their customers, but they know how to guide that urge to benefit themselves!
So, selling fantasy is not a bad thing since it does not hurt anyone and that it may even help to maintain the balance. And you might know that even in the most fantastic novels there is more truth and reality then in every day life, but it is hidden and that’s why it is worth it. Knowing the difference between fantasy and reality sure can come in handy - then you can operate on both and, if you wish, use it for your own benefit without feeling selfish.
