Books vs Reality: can people over fantasize?

This article discusses what it means to over-fantasize a book and how we all compare real-life situations to stories. Also some thoughts on why people choose to read fantasy.rnUnless you are a thirteen year old girl reading Gone With the Wind or Pride and Prejudice for the first time, it is not acceptable to compare every single man you meet to the hero in your current novel, unless that hero happens to be Rhett Butler or Mr. Darcy because they are the perfect characters and all men should strive to become them.rnRecently, the Twilight series has bought itself internet fame as readers age twelve to fifty claim to be in love with Edward Cullen or Jacob, both characters from the book. For some, this love translates to love for the actors who play their characters in the film versions of the series. Twilight is certainly the most famous of this over-fantasizing, but it certainly happens in other books as well. Is this a problem?rnLet us first define what it means for a book character to be over-fantasized: - If the reader claims to be in love with the characterrn - If the reader believes the character to be a real personrn - If the reader compares all the people in his/her life to fictional characters and finds them lacking to the point where they end their relationshipsrnAn eleven year old waiting for his/her Hogwarts letter on his/her birthday does not count as somebody who over fantasizes. Why is this? Because the eleven-year-old is a child. If an adult truly believes Hogwarts exists and is preparing for death eaters (the bad guys) to burst in the door and murder them, then this is an example of over-fantasizing.rnTo be fair, there are very few people who fall into the above category. In fact, I believe anybody who fit into every requirement we’ve listed for over-fantasizing would qualify as insane. But many readers do exhibit less extreme versions of the above tendencies towards over-fantasizing.rnEven I have been known to compare real people and situations to book characters and plot twists. Books and the media have so shaped the way we think about things that it is nearly impossible to not compare a real-life situation with something we’ve read in a book or seen on television. We view life as a story, because we’ve been taught to do so since early childhood, when we learned to read. Conflicts are things to be overcome and there is a reason for everything that will be explained later in the story. By the end of the book, we will have found our perfect hero and live happily ever after because stories have told us this is true.rnThe answer to the question: can people over-fantasize? is complicated. In a way, everybody over-fantasizes life, by turning it into a romantic story in their heads. But if everybody does this, then it can’t be OVER fantasized, can it? There are always extremes, but for the most part, everybody fantasizes their lives because books have taught us to do so.