We always fantasise about being someone
else. This desire is what gives birth to our creativity. Look at things that we
create and consume in the name of entertainment/information or more apt, Infotainment - gossip, stories, comics, movies,
paintings, photography, TV serials, reality shows, Movie star gossip shows,
social networking,...all of them share a common thread- they tell about someone’s
experiences.
The Far Ones:
These people may be real (news,
reality show, biographies) or imaginary (fiction)... past (history) or future
(Sci-fi)... good (Superman), bad (bad man) or plainly ugly (शक्ति-मैन ) or even our own past(nostalgia) or future self(day-dreaming). The experiences may be trivial (gossip, social
networking) or world changing (natural calamities, wars)... real (20-20)
or unreal (गुंडा); all of us have our own set of favourites. We
enjoy them, because we enjoy imagining ourselves to be in the shoes of that person, that James Bond, that कृष्ण, that कर्ण, that Federer, that sachin.
The Near Ones:
This is not limited to only famous
and public figures, it holds equally true about ‘normal’ people around us too;
we want to know as much as possible about what’s going on in the lives of our family,
friends, colleagues and neighbours. We want to be as close as possible to being
them. Hence the guilty pleasure in voyeurism, idle gossip, the gtalk and the
social media.
The Deplored Ones:
I always used to wonder, why do
we create and consume horror, gore and tragedies? The feelings they invoke (fear,
nausea and depression) are not exactly desired, what we love is not the feeling
they invoke; but consuming that experience, of being that guy frantically
running away from some slasher, being hung from tree and roasted alive, being Devdas
and drowning life in the bottle (well, this on not exactly depressing :P, but you
get the point)
The Revered One:
That’s probably why the highest entity we have
devised for our own little world- The God is epitome of this collective fantasy,
the one who sees everything and knows everything, in other words, one who lives
through everybody and everything.
regarding the far ones, I feel you are generalizing a little bit there. Not all the enjoyment is for vicarious pleasures.
ReplyDeleteFear (horror, gore etc) is a basic human instinct needed for survival. I think having conquered many immediate threats to survival (no wild animals around, safety measures etc) we need such inputs to maintain the instinct.
And well God, his explanation or negation has to be present in all religion. Even if he exists or not, he is an essential part of us.
1. I am not saying vicarious or not, I gave striking examples just to accentuate the point. All I am talking about, is the desire to get as close as possible to experiences other than those found in our regular life.
ReplyDelete2. Fear is absolutely necessary but not that we enjoy fear in our lives, right?
"Even if he exists or not, he is an essential part of us." - ie We expect the God- The Highest entity, to be part of everybody, which is epitome of our fantasy, beyond being a bird, the hollow-man, even the superman, our GOD is everybody, all of them plus u n me!
And I am not talking about Whether God exists or not. But about how irrespective of religion, we perceive the highest entity to be all knowing, all seeing, able to be part of everybody and everything, fulfilling what I said to be our innate fantasy.
yes we do not enjoy fear but we fear nonetheless. And yes sometimes we do enjoy fear, esp when it heightens arousal. Isn't that the reason for people having passions like miles high club etc.
ReplyDeleteregarding God I wanted to say, we need the concept of God, even if to reject him. You can accept, reject, denigrate him but you can not ignore him.
Well, here I think I should have defined the scope clearly, I am talking about one-one and one-many communication here, so our own experiences is not really a focus area.
ReplyDeleteAnd the tendency to enjoy true fear (in absence of any skills and safety measures) is truly rare what we enjoy is simulated fear in all those fancy rides and para-jumping and bungy-jumping, let somebody try jumping from 10th floor without harness or something just because he enjoys fear.
And regarding God, I fail to understand any connection whatsoever between your assertion that God can be denied but not ignored and my assertion that our perception of God is driven by our fascination with other's lives and experiences. I am NOT talking about ignoring or denying or accepting here. I am talking about how God as an entity is interpreted by all those who deny or accept it.