E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
The thought of a new "Twilight" movie does this to some people. Others -- not so much.
When the new "Twilight" film opens, fans will be lining up hours before to make sure they get in. Others will be steering clear.
And that won’t have anything to do with movie reviews or the comments of friends. Some folks just aren’t wired to enjoy flights of fantasy, a new study suggests.
It’s all got to do with how we experience fantasy, said study co-author Russell Webster, a doctoral student in social psychology at Kansas State University. Webster’s study was published in the journal Imagination, Cognition and Personality.
Webster had noticed that while some friends loved to read fantasy novels others just hated them -- and he wondered why. One possibility was that people who hated fantasy just didn’t have good imaginations. Another was that people couldn’t accept the rules of an imaginary world and immerse themselves in it.
So Webster designed some experiments to look at how people experienced fantasy, which he defined as a type of narrative -- such as a book, film, piece of art -- that included supernatural, unreal or impossible aspects. He distinguished fantasy from science fiction because, he says, science fiction tends to come with a logical explanation for the worlds it creates.
Webster and his co-author gathered up a group of volunteers and asked them to fill out questionnaires designed to ferret out those who had a tendency to fantasize and daydream.
Then the researchers ran two similar experiments.
In the first, volunteers were given one of two narratives to read and think about: one a fantasy, the other realistic. In the fantasy, the writer has acquired the ability to fly and the narrative describes the feeling of soaring over mountains and then coming down and landing on beautiful field of green grass. The realistic narrative describes a sunrise and includes passages that detail the appearance of the sky with colors bursting out from the sun.
In a second experiment, volunteers were shown and asked to dwell upon one of two paintings: a man sitting in a thatched hut or a man meditating while floating in the air above some mountains.
After each experiment, the volunteers were asked to describe the images that the narratives sparked. The researchers were surprised to discover that the intensity and vividness of the images had nothing to do with a person’s proneness to flights of fantasy.
But, there was a clear difference between people who were prone to fantasizing and daydreaming and those who were not. People who were comfortable with fantasy tended to be more absorbed by what they read and saw. They also tended to have an emotional reaction. Many said they felt good after reading the narratives or looking at the paintings.
Another interesting feature of the fantasy prone people was that even when they were confronted with a realistic narrative or painting, they inserted fantastical elements when they mulled things over. “On their own they began to picture themselves flying while watching the sun rise,” Webster said.
Webster isn’t sure why it is that some people aren’t comfortable with suspending the rules of reality so they can lose themselves in a fantasy story. That’s a subject for future research he says.
Do you love the fantasy genre, or hate it? If you love it -- what's your fave?
Related:
- Occupy 'Twilight' Street! Fans rough it ahead of premiere
- Teens, stop sucking each other's blood or you're grounded!
- Forget Team Jacob. Are there real-life werewolves?
- Watching 'Jersey Shore' makes you dumber
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
I happen to love fantasy but HATE Twilight. Give me Harry Potter over that tripe any day.
Second. Or Wheel of Time, please.
I agree. Once again MSNBC masters at the misleading headline. Why does this website excell at such poor reporting?
I love fantasy and science fiction, but I don't like Twilight because it just sucks. And I am not a teen girl.
I blame Anne Rice for all this. Before her we had vampires that were terrifying. No body want to marry one and they have no corporal body so they cant have sex or children. She gave us gay emo vampires that wine all the time, and now we have twilight.
Amen to that. Twilight is a poor excuse of a series. Stephenie Meyers just thought "What would it be like if I were cool and popular in school and there were 'vampires'?". Seriously parents, don't let your children read this (especially your daughters). It makes girls think that having a controlling boyfriend is ok (No Bella, you can't hang out with that boy. I won't allow it.) and that having a boyfriend is the only way to really live. Plus the writing sucks (no pun intended).
Twilight sucks! I watched half of the first movie not knowing anything about it because I like vampire stories. I only watched the rest of it later and the sequels because I love my wife and she watches my picks too.
Stephanie Meyers must have been thinking "How can I MARKET my vampire story better to young girls? What do girls like? Hmm, they like shiny sparkly things. I know!! I'll make the vampires $parkle in the sunlight instead of burning!!"
You have ruined vampires Stephanie. RUINED them. Of all the ridiculous vampire lore out there, you are by far the worst with your ____ing $parkling. I can enjoy movies with outrageous vampire powers / charachteristics, but $parkling? Really?! Are you freaking kidding me?!? Why didn't you also make them raise pink baby ponie$ and ride magical flying unicorn$ acro$$ rainbow$ while you bu$y de$troying this exceptional concept of a monster? The dialogue probably wouldn't have been much worse.
So glad my wife has a friend lined up to see the next one.
Absolutely! "Harry Potter" rules!! I'm a 50-ish woman who has read both series. I re-read HP at least once a year, but I will NEVER pick up a "Twilight" book again. (Yes, I did watch the first three movies, and will probably watch the fourth when it comes out on cable--but I WON'T spend any money at a theater to see it.)
One thing I think Mr. Webster overlooked--or didn't even think about--is that the "Twilight" books/movies are as much in the romance genre as fantasy. (Actually, I'd say MORE romance, with very little fantasy.) And I HATE, HATE, HATE, HATE, HATE romance novels and movies! I don't know why, but whenever I read or watch a romance, I have the most horrid nightmares imaginable--and the nightmares have nothing to do with fantasy.
JMHO, but I think the whole "Twilight Saga" came about as a backlash against Harry Potter. Remember when all the evangelical "Christians" were railing against the Harry Potter books/movies? BUT, they're more than happy to allow their teen and tween daughters (and sons) read "Twilight"? Witches and wizards vs. vampires and werewolves--and the significant difference is....? Probably that Stephenie Meyer, as an American, is recognized as a "Christian". One "theme" that tends to run through the "Twilight" series is "no sex until we're married"--but Edward and Bella DO have sex (after marriage) in the fourth and final book. Poor Harry only got a kiss in the fifth book, and more kissing (but not too much) in the sixth and seventh. I guess since J. K. Rowling wasn't screaming from the top of Big Ben, "NO SEX BEFORE YOU GET MARRIED!" her series wasn't worthy of being read.
To all parents out there who have let your children read the first three books, but are "holding off" letting your children read the last one "until they're older"--WAKE UP!! If they actually read and enjoyed the first three books, they've already found a way to read the last one. You should have been thinking for yourself instead of letting your preacher do it for you--the kids would have been MUCH better off with Harry Potter.
Exactly. I'm a fantasy writer, but I can't stand Twilight. What this article is missing is that Twilight is Bad Fantasy. It's poorly written, geared solely to producing emotional reactions for young females, rather than something that appeals broadly to a wide audience, like Lord of the Rings does.
I think you'll find that more people will be staying away from Twilight because the story is lame and pedantic than people who are staying away because they don't like fantasy.
harry potter great twilight---horrible and its not about the fantsy I like vampire books but I dont like this one. This one the young girl falls in love (fine) but the lead character is a STALKER is this how we want our young girls thinking love is? That the man the are dating watches what they are doing follows them everywhere and even wathces them sleep, this is not love this is controlling.
I too, love fantasy yet hate Twilight. It is geared toward women with low self esteem who want to immerse themselves in a romance sooo unrealistic that they can imagine themselves in it. I happen to love Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I've been keeping up with that since junior high. It's really awesome. Too bad he died. That is a series worth reading and making a movie out of. The only problem would be finding a cast and crew that could capture its sheer epic genius.
You can't just make the statement "if you don't like Twilight, you just aren't wired to enjoy flights of fancy." That is patently untrue. I happen to enjoy many fantasy novels and movies, but Twilight does nothing for me.
You are totally correct! I happen to love fantasy books, Twilight doesn't qualify in my mind. It's tripe. I didn't even waste my time with the third movie, and frankly wasted my time seeing the first two. They were nothing but 4 hours of my life that I will never get back.
Same here. My friend made me watch the first two, and I just wasn't impressed. Like you, I feel that those were wasted hours.
I agree with you. Twilight is not impressive compared to such classics as Beauty and the Beast ( the TV version with Ron Perlman especially) and Harry Potter.
jbean-2564020 - AGREED. The reason that I detest Twilight is not because I don't have the imagination or wiring for fantasy, it is because the books are crap. As Stephen King said:“Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend.”
;Nuff said.
Not only that, but most of the people who love Twilight so much aren't really into other fantasy series. I am sure there are exceptions to that-I have two friends that are-but for the most part, the ones you see camping out to buy tickets to Twilight will look at you funny if you mention Star Trek or Lord of the Rings.
Also, Steven King is awesome. That is all.
I tend to agree that the "Twi-Hards" aren't really into fantasy.
I have two dear friends who kept telling me how much I would LOVE the "Twilight" books if I read them. Two years ago we made a deal: I would read "Twilight" if they would read "Harry Potter". They agreed. So far, I'm the ONLY ONE who lived up to my end of the bargain! One friend I think will eventually read the HP books, but the other "said" she read the first 3 books but "just couldn't get into them". WTH?!? Either SHE is one of those who isn't truly "into" fantasy and has mistakenly classified a romance novel as fantasy because of the vampire/werewolf theme, or she flat-out LIED about reading the HP books. Everyone I know--and I DO mean EVERYONE--who has read HP has loved them!
Steven King is an awesome screenplay writer, but as a novelist, he's strictly tripe. His writing is over-descriptive to the point of being galling. I was in a situation where I was desperate for something to read, and King was the only thing available. I tried reading The Gunslinger, but after 4 pages of describing sand, I said the hell with it.
I'll stick to King's movies.
McBob- I agree!! King makes great movies but his books are....tiresome. His thoughts seem to wander of topic and the next thing you know 30 pages have gone by.
I LOVE reading and If I want scary then I go to the Master Dean Koontz. As far as the Twlight books..never read them, never will. I tried watching the 1st movie last night but was bored and turned it off after the first 45 minutes.
I have never read Harry Potter and I think the only movie I've seen is the first one. Just cant seem to get into them.
Not wired for fantasy?? Wrong! Because I LOVE Christopher Paolini's series "Inheritance" ( Eragon )....and I'm 45 years old. Dragons, Elves, Ra'zac, Urgals...etc LOVE THEM!
Please please stop what you are doing. This is the worst website I have ever seen, you misrepresent the entire scientific process when you continuously site the findings of one study (often erroneously) and make hasty generalizations to facts about our brains. As a neuroscientist I implore you to stop. It is literally killing me.
Ditto in spades! I've asked them repeatedly at least to include links to citations for the source material they use, to make it a bit easier to run down what the researchers REALLY did and said, but they just ignore the requests. "Body Odd Contributor" on a résumé currently translates as "junk-science writer."
Hey there -- you're right, we should be better about including links to the studies we cite on the blog! We'll try to do that more consistently moving forward. As for your other complaints -- well, yikes, is all I can say. Also, ouch. But ... thanks for reading?
Well, to lessen the harshness, those of us who work professionally in a field grit our teeth when a description of research is dumbed down and popularized too heavily, even as we recognize that some of that is necessary in order to make it interesting to the general public. My main complaints about popularizations are: omitting links/citations to the original source (when my students do this, it's called plagiarism), sensationalizing a result, and generalizing beyond conclusions that the data allow, especially without reporting caveats. "Science News" usually does a pretty good job of remaining fairly accurate and interesting without burdening the reader with too much technical detail; it's not a bad to emulate.
Once the writer of this MSNBC story ditched the references to Twilight, which had nothing to do with the research conducted, the story was fine. That first part did drive me a little nuts, though...
I love fatasy books, and DETEST twilight.
To me its like soccer, a bunch of people running around, with nobody scoring, and millions telling me I just dont get it.
I adore fantasy--Star Trek, Harry Potter, the Madeleine L'Engle Wrinkle in Time series, and tons more--but I can't stand Twilight. The books are amateurishly written, and the movies (which I have seen--friends that love the movies are into them and made me watch all three, but I still think they're awful) are perfect for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment. IMHO, of course. I agree with the posters above; you can't just make the sweeping generalization that if you don't love Twilight, you don't love fantasy, as your article wording really does seem to imply. I just don't love bad fantasy.
The Twilight books are romance novels about vampires, not fantasy.
I actually like the Twilight series. And I'm also into other fantasy series. I can't stand
when people compare one series to another *Cough Harry Potter Cough*. Can we
just accept the two as two different things?
We could, if they would lay off the stories like this one. Or if most Twilight fans didn't say things like: "You don't like Twilight!? OMG! You're so stupid!"
Note that I didn't say you did, I said most.
Nope.
I'm pretty sure that what makes you love or hate Twilight is if you like to read books, or if you like to drool over the men in dimestore romance novels. I like to read books (especially fantasy, scifi, and often things involving real vampires), therefore, I'm not a fan of Twilight.
I love to read books ANDI like to drool over the men in dimestore romance novels. I love Twilight - it is nice escapism and the abs aren't bad either.
I love to read! I read all different kinds of genres too (except dimestore romances...don't read those) And, I loved Twilight. Yes, Twilight is cheesy and silly. I don't think anyone is trying to say Twilight is the BEST series. And, if they are...well, they must not read a lot. It's quite obvious that the writing in Harry Potter for example is much better than Twilight. But, it is okay to like Twilight. I understand lit nerds like to hate on Twilight, though. It's just like film nerds like to hate on Rom-Coms.
Books were great. Movies sucked.
Seriously, the result of the study is "if you don't like a poorly written, badly thought out and disturbingly in favor of stalker boyfriends walking all over girls with low self esteem series of hack novels, then you just don't have an imagination"? Seriously?
I would put money on the writer of this piece of crap and the study "researchers" being first in line when the movies come out, and shame on both of you for attempting to justify your fan fetish with garbage science and bad reporting.
The studies cited were about imagination and inclinations towards fantasy, in general, and had nothing to do with Twilight. The reference to Twilight was something MSNBC attempted to do to make interesting research more interesting, but in doing so, they obscured the actual details of the work and made the conclusions seem less valid or interesting than they actually were. Please read the article before criticizing the research or the researchers. (And no, I'm not one of the researchers who did this work. I am a psychological researcher, though, and have read the article.)
Melkuphd; there's nothing wrong with criticizing an article that misrepresents a work of research, and this is exactly what this is. The writer made an assumption that Twilight is a fantasy film/book when it very clearly isn't. It contains fantasy elements, but the existence of fantasy elements isn't enough to make something a work of fantasy.
What Ms. Dahl basically suggested is equivalent to saying that if you don't like porn films that have wizards and dwarves in them, then you aren't "wired" to like fantasy, which is an absolutely absurd statement.
Twilight is just Harlequin Romances with glittering vampires plugged in where gardeners with long hair, bare chests and dusky eyes were before. It's pulp romance; it's not even good pulp romance.
So please, everyone stop calling Twilight fantasy, because it isn't.
Nooo...some people just don't like crap.
My hubby is a twi-hard. Someone help me.
I will go see the movie with him.
Thank you! I refuse and he isn't quite understanding a guy in his 40s by himself at a Twilight film is just creepy.
lol, Bailey Quarters! Good for you to notify your hubby he is floating into Creepyville! I'm going to chuckle on that all night! (As a fellow wife of a 40-something that also sometimes has a thick head for appearances, I share your concern. lol!)
My wife dragged me to two of those awful movies... but in exchange, I get to drag her to movies that I like to see... e.g. District 9, and hopefully they're making a sequel to it.
Bailey; try getting your husband on testosterone supplements.
Don't be fooled McBob. He thinks Predator is the greatest movie ever, the Oakland Raiders are the NFl's best, doctors are for wimps and Jack Daniels makes a great mouthwash. He's very cosmopolitan.
I happen to have a particular perspective on certain supernatural elements, and when something flies in the face of that, I generally don't accept it.
My perspective on vampires tells me these are maligned creatures of the night, solitary, predatory. While they may talk of romance, or play at social niceities, they have long left these things behind them, using them as a means to an ends.
Werewolves, likewise, brutal, savage, with little tolerance for humans, less for vampires, and driven by primal urges beyond human comprehension.
Twilight simply romanticizes these things, and goes against the concepts I hold, thus I do not like it.
So I suppose TrueBlood is out too? That is a shame, they are both alot of fun.
True Blood - Vamp, tramp and camp. Good times.
TrueBlood is Vampires for Rednecks. So long as FoxNews still has an audience of ignorant rednecks following it, there will be people wanting to watch TrueBlood.
The two best things about TrueBlood: Suki's ( . Y . )'s
Other than that...
Nights of Our Unlives just doesn't cut it for me.
Again, I don't see vampires, especially those who have lived hundreds of years, as pretty faces, running around with raging erections and only wanting a "little nibble" - these are ancient, dark and sinister things who have since shed their humanity to preserve what passes for sanity, living night after night, seeing all the knew die and be forgotten and replaced with all new things time and time again.
For these sorts of creatures, emotional comforts, like Love or Friendship are mere passing day (night) dreams of a forgotten time, and only interfere with more pressing matters, like feeding.
Additionally, the fact that these vampires have not been rounded up by the federal government and conscripted into military service and/or experimented upon as potential living weapons just screams "unbelievable".
I love books but never really strayed into the fantasy realm. Never enjoyed the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe growing up and never finished the last in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy despite loving The Hobbit. I stick mostly to the historical fiction genre. And while I would not consider myself a "fan" of the Twilight books, I did read them as I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and can definitely see what struck a nerve with so many women. I would agree that the fantasy elements are less important and feel that it is more about a slightly insecure girl being singled out by the most popular boy in school for all of the personal attributes that she values in herself that the rest of the world doesn't seem to care as much about. Empathy, intelligence, personality, mystery were what singled her out to her love interest rather than just physical attributes. What high school girl didn't want to be plucked from high school obscurity by the most popular guy in school for who she was, not just what she looked like? I am conflicted about the message that younger girls may interpret... that your worth is defined by who wants to date you, but I can appreciate that these books may let them know that you should be valued for who you are, despite how average you may feel. So before people judge these books as crap or dross, consider why they are so popular... as high school emotions and insecurities are still vivid memories for a lot of women.
This "study" is bogus!!! I enjoy fantasy books and love Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series, but I have ZERO interest in Twilight, or Buffy. Just not into the whole vampire thing...period!! One of Nora Roberts' books had vampires in it...I tolerated that one because the vampires weren't the main characters, and somehow actually fit into the story. But that's about as far as I go. That doesn't mean I have no imagination or can't give in to flights of fancy...I just don't get the vampire thing!!!
Please do not equate Buffy with Twilight.
As posted above in response to someone else bashing the research, the studies cited were about imagination and inclinations towards fantasy, in general, and had nothing to do with Twilight. The reference to Twilight was something MSNBC attempted to do to make interesting research more interesting, but in doing so, they obscured the actual details of the work and made the conclusions seem less valid or interesting than they actually were. Please read the article before criticizing the research or the researchers. (And no, I'm not one of the researchers who did this work. I am a psychological researcher, though, and have read the article.)
I love fantasy and have from the age of maybe 9-10. I'm currently reading the Temeraire series (Napoleonic Wars with a dragon 'air force.') My imagination and flights of fancy are just fine, thank you very much.
Twilight is poorly written, badly plotted, badly acted twaddle. It's on the level of a Harlequin romance with vampires and werewolves -- and I may be insulting Harlequin. I tried -- really I did -- but couldn't get through the first book. The movies are even worse.
I hope this 'study' didn't get a lot of funding.
Why won't anyone call them what they really are - bodice rippers. Taken in that context, they aren't that bad. How did they miss out on casting J. Bieber for the lead? But none of the vampires therein are a patch on Lestat and his buddies. Got to give the werewolves higher marks. Outside of the Native American connection, which was a bit weak, they are the best part of TWILIGHT.
Wow, this article is seriously ridiculous. I love fantasy. I've read all of the Discworld books, the Harry Potter Series, His Dark Materials trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia, and I immerse myself in Lord of the Rings once a year. I love Buffy, Lestat, etc.
The reason why some people loathe Twilight has nothing to do with their ability to imagine fantasy worlds. The writing is terrible, the characters are one-dimensional, the story really goes nowhere. As one blogger wrote: all it does is teach you the importance of having a boyfriend. Was this article written by some idiotic tween trying to justify being a Twitard? The books suck. Get over it and find something better. Twilight doesn't require any imagination to understand. It's cliche, simple, and stupid.
I love fantasy. I love the escape. It's fun to imagine an experience that's not possible. Take the movie Big Fish: it's one of my all time favorite movies. It's full of fantastic fun, whimsy and romance. It's the kind of story one wishes to be in, even for a couple of hours. I guess those of us who liked to pretend as children just pretend in different ways as adults; longer novels and movies with better graphics.
Twilight is for ass clowns and little girls.
I love "Fantasy" literature and Hate "Twilight". I like you Touchy, I love the Discworld series, Lord of the Rings, Eragon, HHGTG, Harry Potter, etc. Twilights are nothing but poorly written, trashy Harlequin Romance "novels" about supposed Vampires. They aren't even REAL vampires. REAL vampires see humans as FOOD period. They don't "fall in love with them", or "Sparkle in the Sunlight". In Sun light, REAL vampires burst into flames!!!
Ladies, Edward and the rest haven't had "100 years to learn how to love". They've had 100 years to learn how to "PLAY" ignorant little girls and get in their pants by telling them exactly what they want to hear. Big news flash too. If your "Boyfriend" really treated you the way those characters do, you would HATE him for being a total a$$hole, but because the writer TELLS YOU HOW it makes the girl "FEEL", you go nuts. And you wonder why your relationships always fail.
I thought the “Interview” series was the all time Vampire low, then Twilight came out and I realized how mistaken I’d been.
I tried to watch the first movie ("Vampires Suck" is a much better version), but seriously, the moment Edward said that he watched her sleep, Bela should have run like crazy. That's not romantic; that's stalker-crazy! Edward's whole relationship with Bela is creepy and wrong. Humans are food to vampires; nothing more.
Funny, I can't wait for the next Twilight, but the whole Harry Potter thing puts me to sleep. It's all mindless entertainment. If you blast somebody for liking one over the other, then you need a stressfull, crappy job like mine. Now THAT sucks.
You need to read some real fantasy, Bonnie. Forget Twilight; pick up one of Anne McCaffrey's books. A compelling story, deep characters that are developed into real people as you read, fantastic settings, powers and creatures. Now that's a real departure!
hate the twilight movies and books. poorly written and the acting Sucks.
First of all, Twilight in no way represents the incredibly broad scope of the fantasy genre. It's barely considered a traditional 'fantasy' book anyway (those would be more along the lines of Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings), more teen romance.
I honestly think the whole reason Edward's a vampire is because if he had been a normal guy, people would think he was a creepy stalker. But make him a vampire, and suddenly it's romantic. I'll never understand Twihards.
Preach it! Give me a series where triumphing over evil takes precedent over having a boyfriend, and the female characters are capable of kicking ass.
Try RESIDENT EVIL, in all it's parts.
i hate twillight with a passion..........
i refuse to read that garbage
i love harry potter though