The history of mankind is found in the stories we tell. Sometimes these stories are true, or true enough, while others are nothing more than the wanderings of our imaginations. However, our stories both functional and fictional serve an important purpose. When we retell the events of the past, we are safeguarding the future. Ensuring that the mistakes and the triumphs that have come before our particular moment in time are remembered so that they can be replicated or avoided as the case may be. Fiction though, has a more varied and unique use both in the pragmatic reality in which we live as well as in the collective unconscious that affects that reality.
“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
― G.K. Chesterton
Our world is full of a great many lessons and important bits of information that we should all take to heart and to mind; however, these truths are sometimes difficult to comprehend either in part or in whole. Now we could recount points of history that display these truths; however, this can often be dry and not always fully helpful in really exploring the nuance of a topic. Fiction allows us to unpack ideas and wrap them in a narrative that both helps to explain and guides the reader along the journey of comprehension. Furthermore, stories from history do not always show the bad guy losing and the good guy winning; sadly, we find the opposite more often than not. Thus, via the avenue of a story, we can discuss the reality of evil that exists while ensuring that it can be conquered. This is especially helpful for the young, who cannot yet grasp and should not yet be exposed to some of the true horrors of the world but who would benefit greatly by being in some way prepared for it. You need not show them explicit pictures of the monsters waiting to devour them, but you can teach them how they may be slain. And as for adults, well, we all need reminding from time to time that the monsters are mortal, don't we?
"You need the simplest version of the idea-the one that will grow naturally in the subject's mind. Subtle art.”
― Christopher Nolan, Inception: The Shooting Script
Fiction allows us to tell stories that exist outside the bounds of what we know or that has happened. It allows us also to tell make important points in a way that can circumvent the usual walls that we so often erect in our minds and hearts. Say you wish to debate a certain social or political topic. Now, you can do so in a straightforward way, waying the good the bad the true and the false; but you will likely encounter opposition in another person because they have already been inoculated against the idea by their own particular perspectives on the topic.
Say then, that instead of a straightforward approach, you come after your conversation partner from around the back or from the side. No longer are you confronting their own held beliefs and thus causing the defenses to rise into place, now you are sneaking in through another route. This can be done very effectively by telling a story that presents the issue you wish to discuss. In this way the reader sees the concepts you wish to discuss arise naturally out whatever situation the story presents and thus it feels very much like they have thought of these ideas on their own, thus bypassing their defenses entirely.
However, there is a problem here. Much of our modern story telling has pushed so hard on the idea of fiction as a medium for discussion or instruction that our movies, books, tv shows, etc. have become nothing more than ideological clubs with which the authors can beat people over the head. This has a few negative effects. First, the messaging and the meaning become so blatantly obvious that the whole endeavor of bypassing defenses is completely missed. If the story wears an ideological purpose on its face than the reader/viewer becomes immediately aware of it and you may as well post a Ted Talk instead. Second, when you write a story with the primary and myopic intention of making your point, the story itself will inevitably suffer. The characters will become cardboard cutouts, the scenery will become irrelevant, and the plot will morph into something that exists only to serve the premise. This ultimately ruins another major aspect of fictional storytelling that is -for most people- not a core feature of truthful history, entertainment.
"Live and work but do not forget to play, to have fun in life and really enjoy it.”
- Eileen Caddy, Millersville University
Though many may poopoo the idea of entertainment for its own sake, it is a rather important aspect of the human reality. We are creative, imaginative creatures by nature and when we starve that playful portion of ourselves, we will find life to be a truly dreadful and dreary thing to get through. When our stories are seen as nothing at all more than a means to perpetuate belief than those same stories fail at all ends. They will fail to be entertaining as no real effort was expended to make it so, and it will fail to perpetuate ideas because so few people will bother to engage with it. It will likely have the exact opposite affect intended as many will see the story as a blatant attempt to propagandize and will instead reject not only the story but any hint of the point the author wanted to make.
Stories, at least fictional ones, really need to be entertaining in one way or another. Whether they be harrowing journeys of adventure and danger, tear inducing tales of romance or loss, bombastic mythologies of great heroes, or even simple accounts of the lives of more ordinary people; these stories must take hold of our minds and hearts and drag us along from the first page to the last. It is our job as storytellers to use our words to fill our readers minds with the worlds we create in such a way as to push the real world out of that space, if only for a little while.
Fiction is important, it has real meaning that cannot be denied and we dare not ignore, or we will all be the lesser for the loss.
