“Fiction affects reality”
Yes. But fiction is not reality and it doesn’t make us do anything.
Fiction affects our feelings. Regarding our emotions, our brains activate the same regions that respond to real events when we read fiction. That’s why we feel for the characters in stories.
That does not mean that fiction makes us do anything, and also, it doesn’t mean that the creators of fiction are somehow responsible for the mental health or morals of the audience. It’s always an individual’s responsibility to choose what fiction to consume, how to react to it (as in, what actions to take), and to make sure they have a healthy concept of reality.Fiction and its creators have in no way a responsibility to be some edifying moral influence in the audience’s life. Audiences have 100% of the responsibility to curate their fictional consumption wisely.
I agree, but that doesn’t mean you can do anything in fiction either. I’m sorry, but you can’t write a story that romanticizes rape or ultra-toxic or pedophile relationships, for example, on the pretext that it’s fiction. “it’s fiction” does not excuse everything.
We absolutely can write that, or anything else we want. Just like the writers of Hannibal or the Saw movies could, for example. It’s not real, and readers are supposed to have their own moral compass and decide upon watching/reading: “Oh wow, this is super fucked-up.” Fiction doesn’t exist to instil morals, and fiction doesn’t exist to only be harmless and pleasant. There is absolutely no “excuse” needed for writing whatever horrible shit the author wants. Thought-crimes do not exist.
Tell me, why “can’t” people write those things? “Because they’re immoral if they happen in real life,” is not an argument.
Discussion ¬