Carolyne Rivera - On Fairy Stories: Fiction is Real

Ever since I was little, I fell in love with the idea of storytelling and romanticizing everyday life to make it feel similar to stories I had watched and read. I love watching movies and reading fictional books and even creating fictional stories on my own and I obsess over them in a way that not a lot of people understand. Far too often I hear "You know it isn't real, right?" and I hate it because it is actually very real to me.

Tolkien, one of the greatest authors in history and creator of The Lord of the Rings, which is the also best movie trilogy of all time, agreed that fictional stories are for everyone and not just a surface-level form of entertainment for children. They provide a mode of escapism which allows a person to take a break from reality and see the world in a whole new light, but it can also be so much more. The emotions are real - whether they are good or bad, as well as the impacts and the lessons we learn from them and they are just as relevant to what we experience in reality. Tolkien concludes that engaging in fairy tale stories should not be belittled to childish ideas but it should be encouraged for adults as well because it is an expression of creativity that should be shared and celebrated. We can be encouraged by their victories and learn lessons from their defeats and be inspired by their fictional lives to make our own even better. The events in the story may not have happened and the characters may have never taken a breath, but even so, they are a reflection and extension of their creators and they can connect to people across the world and have very real impacts on their lives. 

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