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Anybody else no longer able to stomach fantasy movies or ghost movies that involve all kinds of supernatural powers, events, and spirits?

It's all so silly to me now. Doesn't make any sense. How would you like to live in a universe with all these arbitrary rules?

Harry Potter is just plain bad writing that only a nine-year-old should enjoy.

GlyndonD 7 Apr 6
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23 comments

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5

There is a major distinction between enjoying fantasy and believing it to be true. It’s only a good use of the imagination. Some wonderful fiction writers, artists etc have been atheists ie: Isaac Asimov; conversely, some devoutly Christian authors have been able to imagine wonderfully secular characters and societies, such as Sir Thomas Moore in Utopia.
So, to answer your question, no. I still fully enjoy ALL machinations of the human brain. It’s beautifully complicated and can always create the frameworks for different realities that do and do not purport actual reality. You just have to take it for what it is. ?

5

Nothing wrong with well written fantasy - even if it does not correspond to reality, it can still be INTERNALLY consistant ... and fiction is, after all, fictional. If it wasn't 'different from normal life' it would be no more entertaining than normal life.

The problem is reading a fictional fantasy book - something like the bible - and convincing yourself that it's not fiction at all.

4

I don't like ghost movies. I am a huge Harry Potter fan though. I have the books and movies. I own a shirt too.

2

God I hope not. I’m an author, and the supernatural is my genre. Ghosts, vampires, witches, even shaman. They all make up the stories that I tell. Right now my favorite television show is Supernatural, and I’ve been binging it for weeks now. Bewitched was one of my favorite shows as a kid, and still own all the DVDs—along with Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

I have always loved mythology as well. It has fascinated me how societies and cultures have viewed the world and how they used their mythologies to discuss that part of life that they couldn’t see or understand.

As to Harry Potter, this is more than a book about a wizard... it’s about a boy who relies on his community, who steps up even when it costs him dearly, and who faces his fears and has to deal with the real challenges of living with ‘light’ and ‘darkness’ that do battle inside of our minds. It’s one of the best mythologies of our generation. The magic is only the icing on the cake.

I think there are better stories then the ones that use magic, for the narrative, in order to teach anything. To put that's shit oin ones head is a slippery slope.? its like getting your poison with your pudding! I won't watch any of that stuff on TV or movies, I like science fiction like star track ,share science and art can be harmonized to teach morality, ethics ect. But that magic shit,too close to what I have seen religion do to humanity!

Sorry for the miss spells

Even mother goose nursery's Rime's, who every lived ever after or happy while they did it, like the end of all there stories, just puts bad exspantations in ones head thinking that because ones life was a struggle ,they must have done it wrong. Life is what it is, You can make all the right moves in life AND still get all the wrong results!

You must be a lot of fun at parties.

2

I'd love to live in a magic world haha. It's exactly what I think it's supposed to be: an escape into a world where things are possible that aren't in our mundane world. Plus it's a good setting to explore concepts (morality etc) in a far different environment. So despite not believing in any of it IRL, I love me some fantasy movies.

2

More of a hard science fiction fan but some fantasy is good too. Read Lord of the Rings long before it became mainstream and also a big HP Lovecraft fan.

1

I can stomach them, but they sure aren't scary anymore!

1

I grew up with Harry Potter and Star Wars and love the avengers. I know it is not real.

1

Growing up, we learned the difference between fiction and reality. Well before 9 years old, in fact. We knew Looney Toons wasn't real. We knew Wile E. Coyote didn't really die after falling off the cliff. We knew that was not real. So - for anyone who does not enjoy well-written fiction because it's not real - well, don't stop the rest of us from enjoying a well-deserved escape. I deal with reality all day long (so does everyone!) - I enjoy Harry Potter, Marvel movies, and a brief respite.

1

I have no problem is fictitious story. A problem emerges when a seemingly fictitious story is being portrayed as real.

0

Can't even watch marble comics anymore lol. And last Star wars was a bitter disappointment as well. An I growing too picky or just too old lol?
Ghost Movie as are the worst. Stupid screams supposingly scary moments that make my laugh?.
Good movie for me was Happy death day ?. Funny smart and alive?.

0

Many of these films require a suspension of belief, require you to "check your brain at the door" to be enjoyed. If the story is well told, Idon't mind, but many of these are so poorly told I cannot stomach them.

I love horror comedy when it is well done. Films like Zombieland, What we do in the Shadows, or Only Lovers Left Alive.

0

I've never been religious, so perhaps I'm exempt from your question but I'm going to answer it anyway. Yes, some of it is crap, but a lot of it is really good. I love Harry Potter. There's so much more to it than magic. Sure, it's not real, but why not take a break from reality once in awhile? It's not like we think it's true or anything. It's just fun, entertainment, an exercise for your imagination. Having an imagination is a wonderful thing.

Remi Level 7 Apr 7, 2018
0

I still enjoy Epic Fantasy Novels, those written for a more mature audience. The KEY word being Fantasy.

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It depends. As with any genre, there are great works and there is crap. I was never a fan of vampire plots and, by extension, find zombie flicks repugnant. The sole exception being Night of the Living Dead. I grew up on and still love the Conan books and John Carter series but the movies have sucked. In a sense, all fiction is fantasy and not even history is completely real.

0

I was referring to the magic and fantasy as being an example of poor writing. What I mean is that, even though many people think of fantasy as good imagination, I think it's an easy way out -- just think of a new "power" or new creature with new supernatural powers or whatever. Good writing means writing within constraints of reality to make it work. I can still tolerate Sci-Fi, as they usually attempt to work within natural law (e.g. being able to travel faster than light is impossible, but travelling faster than the speed of light is based on a scientific principle, not some kind of fantasy). But when they start getting into disembodied souls or the ability to create something by imagining it or mind over matter, credibility is sacrificed, and my interest starts to wane.

I was a big Star Trek fan, but I now view some of the episodes with disdain because they get into disembodied souls (spirits) or the ability to create something from nothing (e.g. Catharian apple tree) or forces created by just thinking about it (Plato's Stepchildren). I can accept warp drive, transporters, and aliens that look a heckuva lot like dressed-up humans, though.

@icolan Transporters do not create. They convert matter to energy and then convert back again. It references scientific principles. Creating a tree by thinking about it references magic and miracles. The problem with creating a tree, such that its apples are delicious, would have to have detail down to the molecular level. Who did the imagining of that? Who took over the thought and then painstakingly assemled the tree molecule by molecule? Only a god could do that.

Me no likum gods.

@icolan A good sci-fi writer will create a scenario where it doesn't take much effort to believe the "magic". Having the character reference a computer or database or giant manufacturing facility underground to produce an object is one thing, but having a character get shocked at the edge of a galaxy that causes him to have all kinds of supernatural powers such that he can say "Behold!" and have a Catharian apple tree appear and produce a noicy apple is quite another. Star Trek had episodes of both the above scenarios. I can still accept the first; the second -- now that I'm grown up -- is now laughable.

See the difference? Good writing versus bad writing. The Matrix was brilliant in creating a fantasy universe that could be scientifically believable. I admired it. But the ultimate message in The Matrix was that everything metaphysical was imagined and not real.

@icolan Things are not binary to me. There are scales of quality. Not all writing is equal, even within a genre. The better the writing, acting, and production, the more I will like it. Can you understand this?

@icolan Consistency does not equal good writing. I'm not sure why people feel compelled to use magic in their stories, except that it's always been accepted by society. Just like the bible, I suppose. And just like the Bible, I choose to not want to partake in other forms of fantasy and magic. I don't get it, and I don't need it.

@icolan OK, let's just call it lazy writing. And you can have it. Just like others can have the Bible and all those fairies and magic. To each his own.

@icolan except possibly as a stepping stone.

It's not about fairies and magic -- it's about the protagonist and other characters. The lazy part is having to test the characters by grabbing a new monster or magical power or ritual out of the air. Arbitrary. Hard work is to try to test the characters within the bounds of the real world. It can.be done. Check out some of the.Nobel and Pulizer Prize winners. They know how to do it.

@icolan You state the obvious, except that you fail to point out that, just because you like it does not mean that it is good writing.

0

Any mention of "magic" or "supernatural" in the description of a movie or TV show tells me it's not something I want to see.

0

I can live with supernatural and magical elements in a good story line, but if those elements are added to save a shitty plot, forget it.

JimG Level 8 Apr 6, 2018
0

Never really liked them. Except for the original ghostbusters. LOL.

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Such moviesw have not inerested me since I was a kid.

0

Fantasy I love as I know it's fantasy . Anything that tries to make out its based on real life like certain horrors I can't stop laughing at. But things like hell raiser I do like as they are just made up . Hope that makes sense

0

I know what you mean... Ony if it is overdone though.. Sometimes if that's the main content of the work it bores me to death lol 🙂

0

Even before I got my skeptic card I weened myself off science fiction, the last Jean M. Auel book I didn't even finish because it was so unlikely. Don't read fiction at all anymore. This is what I've been reading lately. [goodreads.com]

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