BLURRING THE AESTHETIC LINE: AN EXPLORATION AND DEFINITION OF TANGIBLE FICTIONS IN LIFE AND ART

Abstract

The phrase “paradox of fiction” was popularized in Kendall Walton’s 1978 essay Fearing Fiction. Scholars have gone about debating this paradox ever since by exploring what and how we feel about characters, plots, and settings in fictional works – specifically novels, movies, and plays. However, another world of fiction, one that this author refers to as tangible fiction, has been missing from the scholarly debate. Tangible fiction, which includes immersive experiences that, on the scale of realness, place themselves between fiction and reality, include attractions such as theme parks, haunted houses, zoos, and magic shows. By exploring the reality of these tangible fictions and their associated subsidiaries (emotions, feelings, actions) the author comes to acknowledge the spectrum of reality from which we conceive much of what we currently believe. The essay concludes with specific case studies of several institutions that were visited or contacted throughout the author’s studies.