Paradox Of Fiction Essay

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It is highly debatable whether one can experience true raw emotion when engaging with fictions. Whether in the form of a film, novel, play or any known fiction, it is evident that most people develop an emotional response and are affected by a multitude of scenarios including ones that provoke fear, excitement, heartbreak, and grief. It is undeniable that as humans, most people develop an emotional response when engaging in fictions, but whether these emotional responses are real and rational is uncertain. Through analyzing the paradox of fiction and each of its three premises, and evaluating various theories presented by Colin Radford, Kendall Walton, and Noel Carroll on the validity of emotional responses whilst engaging in fiction we are …show more content…

Sainsbury (2010) on the “paradox of fiction” begin to generate the paradoxical assumption that our emotional responses to fiction are irrational. Firstly, in order to experience and express real emotions such as anger, happiness, frustration, excitement, etc. relevant belief is required. Such that one must truly believe the persons or scenarios presented existed at one point or another, for example one can only experience fear if what is being presented is truly perceived as threatening or dangerous. Radford (1975) supports this premise in arguing that our ability to become emotionally engaged and connected to fictional characters and scenarios is irrational, incoherent and inconsistent. For example, Radford explains “it is not only seeing a man’s torment that torments us, it is also, as we say, the thought of his torment which torments, or upsets, or moves us,” such that if we truly believed someone was in danger we may interject or intervene (1975, p. 68). However, while watching a film in a cinema we may experience feelings of angst or anger in witnessing a woman being attacked in an alleyway, yet while we are moved by such a setting, it does not influence one to jump up and call the police or interject and stop the film to save the

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