Alchemists of Fiction - Part Three: See the Reality in Fiction

In the age we live in it’s difficult to get around the concept of seeing the reality in fiction. Those who might believe fiction to be a waste of time should not be scorned for their opinions. They’re entitled to it. But perhaps they didn’t know that fiction was originally a way to interpret reality – as we might know it. Fiction was used by insightful storytellers to criticise whatever they didn’t agree with, such as policies and government which is always a favourite amongst writers.

According to fictional writer, Alan Moore, he says that he deals in fiction and not in lies.
“Although I’ll admit that the distinction is a nice one and perhaps not easy for the layman to make; with fiction, with art, with writing, it’s important that even if you’re dealing with areas of complete outrageous fantasy that there is an emotional resonance. It is important that a story ring true upon a human level even if it never happened.” This is illustrated in the movie V for Vendetta, which he wrote as a comic in the 1980s, when the character Evey says that her father believed that fiction was a way of portraying reality.

Although the interpretation of reality is an aspect that still resides in fiction, another facet that still stays loyal to this genre is entertainment. For most folk, any fiction is entertaining. We want to be entertained. Storytelling has survived for thousands of years mainly because it entertains. And as a modern civilisation we thrive on it more than ever, which is why there is such a huge industry based on it. Businessmen call it the entertainment industry while theorists call it popular culture.

I’m playing the PC version of Tomb Raider: Legend at the moment and is the seventh installment of the series. There is an eighth out at the moment but I never got to play Legend so I had to give it a bash. The thing is that Lara Croft, the game’s protagonist, has firmly placed herself within the annals of pop culture. She snuggly fits between the likes of Batman and Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp. There are hundreds of unforgettable characters we can think of. Perhaps in your comments you can come up with some of your most memorable pop culture figures.

The reason why a video game character has made a mark on the people’s minds is that as civilisations rise and fall, more communicative mediums are created therefore allowing new cult figures to sprout.

Storytelling started through rock paintings and then it went to being told orally around bonfires. Two of the best recorded stories that were told around a fire were The Iliad and Odyssey by the Greek poet Homer. Then people started writing their stories on scribes, hence the bible and the Mahabharat, although many parts of the latter were actually told orally, one of them being the Ramayana by Valmiki. Audiences were delighted at stories told on stage as well. When the printing press was discovered, stories became longer and available to the rich folk. Then there was radio, cinema, television, video games and then the internet (this last medium incorporates three previously mentioned mediums as well as advertising). We all know the rest. But as these mediums evolved, so did the stories.

We can say there are three eras in the evolution of storytelling.

During the Primitive ages, the first era, rock paintings were told by people about the happenings of their own tribe, so it basically hit home. Fiction could have spawned during this era when the mythic gods that ruled the hunt and the crops. Then as civilisations grew and became more complex, especially with the advent of the city-state, stories of great national heroes and leaders were told and so began the second era. Minds were fixated on the likes of Odysseus, Marcus Aurelius, Cleopatra and Gilgamesh. People couldn’t get enough of the gods from Zeus to Odin, from Krishna to the Tuata-de-Danaan of the Celts. Then the Renaissance arrived, as well as the third era, and stories returned to its intimate beginnings. Stories were of ordinary people facing everyday challenges. Stories of love, adventure and discovery sprung up in theatres and later, in books. See the cycle? It returned to where the stories hit home.

Nowadays, they’re are still intimate and still relate to home although I must say with the knowledge humans have collected over the centuries, storytellers are able to tell a story about a normal person operating within broader, global spectrum. Storytellers now see the significance of the individual within the context of society. It’s almost as if the first two eras merged.

The third era started with people like Shakespeare and the style of telling one man’s story within boundaries of a global event is still being used today directors, video game creators and writers. Journalists, too, are getting in on the act, which is why there sensationalism has suddenly made itself the guideline to effective journalism. People want to be entertained. But at the same time they want to be informed, and be stimulated to think about certain events. This can also be the perfect formula for satire.

Alan Moore said that the bard was as feared as a magician by the ruling elite because he was able to manipulate and command words, which meant he was able to change the thinking and consciousness of people. Their satire would be able to make people laugh at the elite for decades, even centuries, even after they are dead, which is evident in that we still are attracted to classic literature, Marlowe’s plays and Shakespeare’s comedies. However, lately, we writers and artists have sold ourselves and look at what we do as providing entertainment to people. Meaning that art has lost its purpose of teaching people and helping them transform and instead have used the craft to fill pages and twenty minutes of air space to the satisfaction of our authorities, corporate giants and governments.

According to Moore, audiences tune into these TV shows and movies as a way of waiting to die. One of his statements that stuck in my mind since I heard it is that, “it is the job of the artist to give the audience what they need,” not what they want.

So pick up newspaper today. Perhaps you’ll be able to see the fiction in reality.