Waiter! There's A Reality In My Fantasy!

There's a noticeable uptick in fantasy films adopting "realistic" elements to make the story and characters more "believable". Who's to blame for this trend? Who knows. The question is do we want our "movies" to imitate more of life?

I don't know about you but I certainly don't go to the movies expecting to see things that are possible in real life unless it's a documentary (and who really goes to see those at the movies on a regular basis?) Fact of the matter is, movies are the world's escape. When life gets a little too "real" it's that little bit of entertainment that brings us excitement for a fairly inexpensive price of a ticket. Who goes to the movies to watch something that reminds us how dull real life can get?

Where do we draw the line? And how much is too much "reality" in a movie? I speak more of this topic because with the advent of more advanced technology in special effects the lines between reality and fantasy are beautifully blurred. Suddenly Batman's acrobatics or his weaponry don't seem too far out of the realm of possibility. Superman is as large as life and everything we see him do onscreen whether it's bending metal bars or holding up a collapsing bridge is easily and instantly believable. Hollywood seems keen on continuing the path that the likes of Nolan, Singer and Vaughn have carved out for super hero films. But when does the idea of grounding something more in "reality" start to detract from what makes the stories and characters in these films so interesting in the first place?

Let's say the same concepts were applied to movies like Harry Potter or The Hobbit? If Gandalf had a scientific and realistic explanation for every act of magic he performed on screen would he be less interesting? If the One Ring was more of an alien device that the poor back wooded people of Middle Earth stumbled upon would you be more interested in its story? What if Harry Potter was really attending a school of advanced chemistry and every "spell" or wand or piece of "magic" he ever used was just a series of complicated chemicals mixed together to create certain effects? Would you be interested in his story? Now those are extreme examples I've provided but I'm sure you get what I'm pointing at.

The magic of movies has always been in the suspension of disbelief. That wondrous moment when you sit in a nice comfy cushioned theater chair, the lights go out and the silver screen lights up with a story to entertain you for an hour or two. We step away from the real world for a while because we all like to be reminded that there are wonderful things that the imagination is capable of performing. It adds a little more color to our world.

Now I'm not saying that a move to push some "reality" into a fantasy story shouldn't be done. Frankly I think in many cases it amplifies the more fantastical aspects of any given story we choose to watch on screen in a sitting. My only complaint would be that when the focus on "reality" supersedes the fantasy in such a way that it is completely lost or replaced by said "reality" is when we're hit with a tragedy in story telling. If I pay to see a purely "fantasy" based film the last thing I want to see is something that is anything but "fantasy" and vice versa.

There is a time and place for everything. So many wonderful and amazing things are being done in the medium today that I continuously marvel at every new accomplishment in telling more compelling fantastical tales. It's the biggest reason I love going to the movies.

So in closing I ask the question to all of you readers! What do you find more compelling, reality or fantasy? Can the two mix successfully?