Ever noticed how Hollywood portrays things to be so perfect constantly that often times we find ourselves stuck in between reality and fantasy? How can we blame ourselves though? We’ve been bombarded by this since childhood. Power Rangers, Superman, Batman, Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine…Happily Ever After. Has anyone ever wondered what happened to them AFTER happily ever after? Did Cinderella and Mr. Charming ever fight? Did his mom step into the picture and drive Cinderella insane? What about Jasmine? Is she really happy with Aladdin and his consistent carpet rides? Especially when he’s riding with some other princess?
As children, often we cannot differentiate between real and fake, and so it becomes something that is a part of us. Something we might not be able to get rid of till later. What about as adults? It may possibly be the same. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days…well she gets him back doesn’t she? But me (living in Reality-Wood)…if I lost him, oh honey he’d never come back. Sometimes I wish that maybe that cute sweet actor himself would get caught up in his fantasy role and maintain that loving perfection status, and treat the current girlfriend just right. Maybe then their marriage would last longer than say…three years? Then we wouldn’t have to stand in the supermarket lines and read the headlines of another billion-dollar divorce.
What is it about fantasy that attracts us so greatly? The change? Have we just become so consumed with the wrong priorities in our own lives that we look for any freedom that resembles nothing we live in at the moment? Maybe that’s just it. We need a break, a vacation. And that’s why when Hollywood decides to bring in some reality we reject it. You know those films that end unhappily? We leave the movie feeling so distraught and irritable and for days we wonder why it ended this way. And what about the way we feel when an actor or actress presented in the film is not a picture perfect hottie? We somehow manage to say, “Out of all the people out there, they had to choose them?”
Maybe that is what entertaining media is for: Providing us a break from daily reality. The problem is we’ve overdosed and suffer from a withdrawal when presented with reality. So how do we find a correct balance of both? How do we avoid getting carried away into the depths of that amazing film? Book? Dream? When we are in need of help at the bottom of the pit, don’t we yearn for that hero to lift us up? However, we often end up pulling up ourselves.
That may just be the technique necessary to balance between fantasy and reality: An extra dosage of realism (finding no hero, no happily ever after, no prince charming) and discovering that fantasy does not always come to your rescue—but you yourself do. You bring your own happily ever after. My mother never stops saying, “You are the controller of your own happiness. No one can make you happy or make you sad except you.” It took me years to believe my mother’s statement, but it has finally made sense.
Think about it. If you experience something, who is in control of how long it upsets you? The actual experience itself does not last too long—it is temporary, and so is your mood. However, two different masters control both of those things: Fate and yourself. Since you cannot control fate, why not control what you can, yourself?
