Thread 33613261

I feel like I've become entirely disillusioned with fiction as of late, and I really, really don't think I can enjoy it as much anymore. My brother recently asked me why I was always talking about fictional stories and internet discussions instead of what's been going on in my life, and I realized I've been living in a real world and spending my limited time in it by consuming fictional things. None of the characters are real, none of the events are real, none of the things in them are real. What happens in the story happened because the writer decided so. Whatever message or themes it's trying to say or portray, was said because the author wanted to say it. I've learned more about Gundam and Star Wars lore than I've learned about actual classics, sciences, or other things that are relevant in real world. I've missed sports events and parties, because I wanted to watch anime and discuss about it on 4chan with other people who watched it.

And the entire discourse around fiction feels even more artificial. I began to realize lot of people seem to talk about fiction like it was real, events that actually happened, and how characters behaved, etc. They talk about fictional people doing fictional things like it was real and actually important, and then go on to discuss their stories like they're reading actual world classics such as Moby Dick. It's ridiculous, and I feel like I've been living in Plato's cave of my own making.

And no, I'm not making a "I'm enlightened, you're stoopid for doing that" claim here. I Just myself feel like a retard, because I've been living in fictional worlds more than I've lived in the real world. I've been debating more about if shooting up fictional people in a story was more okay, than I've spent time reading anything about Ukraine or Gaza. None of these things ever mattered, and I feel like an idiot for ever valuing them as much as I did.

you can do that with nonfiction too
everything is varying degrees of scam, all the way down

>>33613261 (OP)
>I've learned more about Gundam and Star Wars lore than I've learned about actual classics
That's your choice of what to read

>>33613261 (OP)
>None of the characters are real, none of the events are real, none of the things in them are real. What happens in the story happened because the writer decided so. Whatever message or themes it's trying to say or portray, was said because the author wanted to say it
yea no shit you absolute philistine the way you evaluate fiction is whether the authors make em ups resonate with anyone else

there's a reason people talk about notes from underground or 1984 more than ullillillias legend of the ten elemental masters

The author is real.
You're listening to a person from another time and place tell you a story. It's not much different from sitting in a lecture hall in that sense. Maybe not shit like Gundam and Star Wars because that's created by committee. Find something soulful to read and better community to discuss ideas with.