Post Presearch Reflection
Reading books has a greater impact on us than watching a movie or a TV show because we gain access to a character's inner thoughts and desires. Does one genre of literature have a greater impact than others? For instance, if you're trying to change someone's mind about a political issue, would reading about it in fantasy be more effective than reading about it in contemporary fiction, since it's taken out of context? I read about how The Hunger Games makes us reexamine capitalism; however, we haven't done much about that. Does literature just make us change our point of view/think about things in a new way without making us want to take action? If so, how can we make it so that it makes us want to take action? Stereotypes are often perpetuated in literature. How do we break down those stereotypes in an organic way that makes the reader think about these stereotypes? When reading fiction, if a character is in a life or death situation or has to make a difficult decision, we become anxious for them and sometimes our stress manifests physically. If we know we are just reading a book, and these actions have no real consequences, why do we care so much? One of the psychological traits that conservatives tend to score lower in is openness to experience. Does that mean that they're too close-minded for their points of view to be changed? How can we open their minds? If an author realizes they don't have enough representation of a particular group in their book and they add a character to have that representation, is it always tokenism? If their intentions are not just to have diversity for diversity's sake, but to make sure readers of all backgrounds can see themselves in this book, is that still tokenism? What would happen if a person never saw elements of themselves reflected in the literature they read? How would that impact their mental health? How would that impact their perspective on the world? What long term effects does seeing yourself in a book have? There is often no concept of race in fantasy. Is this absence of race beneficial or harmful? How can we use fantasy literature to change a person's mind about a real world issue? How much impact will that have? If a person sees an issue in a new way after reading a fantasy novel where that issue is represented, how will they take action on that? Additionally, does the medium matter? If it's a novel, will it be more effective than a short story?