How fiction can change reality

How fiction can change reality - Jessica Wise

Рет қаралды 763,693

11 жыл бұрын

View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/jessica-wis...
Reading and stories can be an escape from real life, a window into another world -- but have you ever considered how new fictional experiences might change your perspective on real, everyday life? From "Pride and Prejudice" to Harry Potter, learn how popular fiction can spark public dialogue and shape culture.
Lesson by Jessica Wise, narration by Emilie Soffe, animation by Augenblick Studios.

Пікірлер: 576

@alonespirit_1Q84 4 жыл бұрын

"Fiction is a lie which tells the truth" - Neil Gaiman, Book: Art Matters.

@argiemauricio6054 3 жыл бұрын

Agree. A truth that is hard to swallow in society.

@KsL30sTm08 2 жыл бұрын

PERFECT STATEMENT.

@imsickoflifeanditstactics5063 2 жыл бұрын

Book: coraline

@muhammadridho7680 2 жыл бұрын

Foreword of Fahrenheit 451?

@cobyfront6310 Жыл бұрын

"Fiction is a lie which tells a lie" - me, Book: I Hate Language Arts.

@mckennaellington1610 2 жыл бұрын

I'm crying my eyes out over this. As someone who strives to become an author one day, this really inspires me. Any form of fiction has the power to change and shape who we become, and I hope one day I can write something that can help someone in a positive way.

@callieashley9199 2 жыл бұрын

I’m willing to read your story. I’m sure it’ll be joy to others. I hope that your dream will come true.

@56658 2 жыл бұрын

i wannaa wwrite a story that'll disgust someone entirely lol

@samsunggalaxy5498 2 жыл бұрын

I like your profile photo 😉

@manisazvar7638 2 жыл бұрын

Same

@izamils Жыл бұрын

Have you published yet/can I read your book(s)?

@tangelaserls9677 5 жыл бұрын

Narratives are powerful. They reflect on reality and challenge us to change our perspectives.

@view94 3 жыл бұрын

Me looking for my classmates in the comments because my teacher assigned us to watch this video lol

@xtremesssss 3 жыл бұрын

same here lol

@emilymalvesti5315 3 жыл бұрын

sameee

@KaedeAkamatsu 3 жыл бұрын

And unsurprisingly, same.

@eyenmaiden5885 3 жыл бұрын

oh hi then!

@RG-qb6dv 3 жыл бұрын

Same

@anyataylor9475 8 жыл бұрын

I literally almost cried every when you mentioned Seekers they are my favorite books and no one seems to know that they exist!!

@Turtl3Dov3 8 жыл бұрын

+Anya Taylor Thanks for pointing this out. I never would have known. I just ordered the first one from the library. :-)

@HAngeli 8 жыл бұрын

+Anya Taylor Now I know. It seems quite interesting... I will look for these books.

@laurenathalasa3834 8 жыл бұрын

they were some of my favourite books as a kid and I still have all of them I can't believe they mentioned them!

@gianagordon165 8 жыл бұрын

I loved the seekers too and her other books

@gringocolombian9919 7 жыл бұрын

i love the seekers

@satnamo 5 жыл бұрын

Without thought there is no thinker. Thought is the thinker himself. With our thoughts, we create our reality; Reading is like thinking with another person's head!

@fuanasantuary1277 2 жыл бұрын

💡

@helenayan490 11 жыл бұрын

I think that reading fiction gives one great insight to life and people. I've noticed that it has become easier for me to put myself in someone else's shoes and take a walk in them. Reading fiction has really help me look at things in other people's perspective and become more understanding/ forgiving... or maybe it was just me maturing... :D

@ramanunnikrishnan7354 7 жыл бұрын

I had always thought that I was a sore loser reading fiction because my goal in life is to be a scientist.I love fiction but I had a belief that most of my ideas won't work because they were from fictious book and started reading non fiction.

@willpierce5333 7 жыл бұрын

its only fiction until its non fiction

@KogaBrigaXTC 5 жыл бұрын

Television or computers were only a fiction a century ago

@ajr5406 4 жыл бұрын

Never undervalue the power fiction has over everyday life. Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, both of which are considered the fathers of science fiction, wrote of things that were yet to be, or ever will be. Jules Verne, who was born in the nineteenth century, wrote about submarines, the internet, helicopters, etc., before they were even a thing. Nobody had even thought of these important human constructions until the twentieth century. H. G. Wells forecasted the twentieth century so vividly and accurately he became known as "The Man Who Invented Tomorrow." He wrote of super highways, overcrowded cities, military use of airplanes and the bombing of cities. In 1911 he forecast the atomic bomb and other weapons of mass destruction, that terrified him. His final vision in 1933 was of an apocalyptic world war. Though the last one has yet to occur, he predicted numerous other scientific and societal advances. Don’t ever be ashamed of reading fiction because of your future profession, for it can be the inspirational pathway to your future discovery.

@frhataeiad9622 3 жыл бұрын

Please please no!!!!! If reading fiction makes you happy then read fiction!

@BookishMusic1010 2 жыл бұрын

@@ajr5406 deep

@bronzejourney5784 4 жыл бұрын

0:40 I hate to see that Video Games are not considered as an art form as well, with books/movies. Movies or books lets you follow the story through the hero's steps, in video games, you can also choose the steps YOU are going to take in the fictional world created by the author. Becuase of this, such a great insult it is to miss Video Games while talking about art forms.

@JakeJohnRogers 11 жыл бұрын

I've read Heart of Darkness, Animal Farm, Crime and Punishment, All Quiet on the Western Front, 1984, Romeo and Juliet, The Trial and about to start the Brothers Karamazov. Still the Harry Potter books are some of the most entertaining and enjoyable narratives to read.

@innovationthinker4599 4 ай бұрын

I know right who is your favourite character Mine is peeves❤❤

@Bradezone 11 жыл бұрын

Glad to find this! I just told a group of friends the other day that the thing that shapes our character the most is long-form books (although I was including nonfiction as well). Even more so than movies & music, it seems books are the keys to changing our thinking in a permanent way.

@juniorqindes8335 2 жыл бұрын

You thought that would be cool, then went to find info to confirm it. You are not very smart

@cocodiieen8439 2 жыл бұрын

I'm glad I watched this, because lately my cousins have been indirectly undermining me for reading non fiction. I started out reading self help books and then started out on fiction with classics. And by reading them a tiny part of me felt reading quality fiction is more impacting than reading a dozen self help books. In the former we travel with protagonists' life and see how they each react in different situations. I gave up on self help books unless they are of matter I wanted to study and learn!

@Skeiths 5 жыл бұрын

"You don't believe in the power of fiction? It may not be a physical power, but our wish will surely be received by someone. If fiction has the power to touch people's hearts, then that power can change the world" -K1-B0

@snivader 5 жыл бұрын

I knew there'd be a Danganronpa player somewhere in the comments.

@EGRJ 8 жыл бұрын

2:45 Harry would be absolutely nothing without his "fam" backing him up, and he knows this. Every victory he achieves is due to love and friendship. It's kind of the central theme of the series. 3:30 The central theme of the Hunger Games is marketing. I suppose capitalism is a part of that.

@irrelevant12 8 жыл бұрын

+EGRJ nah sorry he was the chosen one and if he didn´t succed Nevil would had. Also the central theme of the series to me do everything right (as Snape did) and you might still get f*cked, what happened to your love and friendship did it saved Snape or was it the cause of his demise.

@thearmyofiron 6 жыл бұрын

hey now, neville could be the "harry potter"

@MusicalInquisit 6 жыл бұрын

How is it capitalism if there are no companies that own anything in that story, everything is owned by the state; the Hunger Games was not about capitalism, it was either about socialism or communism.

@Gigatonaz 6 жыл бұрын

He sacrificed himself for the greater good. Friendship saved Hogwarts on the last battle. Harry couldn't have faced all the death eaters, Giants, spiders, etc by himself.

@NoNameC68 5 жыл бұрын

It's because far too many people associate wealth with capitalism, and wealth is often portrayed as the driving force of corruption. Thus, anytime we see a wealthy person or society using said wealth to cause others harm, people automatically refer to it as capitalism. Unfortunately, most people don't understand what capitalism actually refers to.

@ktchimmy5823 3 жыл бұрын

1:04 this is true!! The movies we watch makes us open our eyes more than the studies we learn in school sometimes

@MarkArandjus 11 жыл бұрын

I would like to praise this channel for consistently finding people to make really nice animations for these videos: *praise praise praise*

@PogieJoe 10 жыл бұрын

This is so splendid. Thank you to Ms. Wise and the animation team. Just wonderful. :)

@NekoMouser 11 жыл бұрын

Agreed. In MANY ways, I think it is a shame that twilight is affecting people's minds, but you can't realistically deny that it is doing so. And that was the actual point the speaker was making--not a moral call on whether it's having done so is good or bad, but merely that it does affect its readers.

@loura246 11 жыл бұрын

you know what is simply awesome? i have read most of the books mentioned!

@Vulppix 6 жыл бұрын

Whoa- Seekers??? Totally wasn't expecting that series to be in this...

@glendalee9037 5 жыл бұрын

Ikr

@enamabam7 11 жыл бұрын

I recently read Pamela for fun and it's pretty funny how, for being controversial and novel in its day, it still presents for the modern reader (or for me anyway) an almost comically traditional and foreign world and worldview.

@addiebrice6001 5 жыл бұрын

TY! Life imitates art! Finally I am not the only one who sees it! 😊🤗

@judithlobo9038 2 жыл бұрын

This animation style is beautiful

@GregBurkeVideos 6 ай бұрын

Love this. Fiction reveals to us life patterns that we want to emulate and those we want to avoid!

@KaylaKasel 11 жыл бұрын

I love reading books about dystopian societies/futures ("The Hunger Games", "Divergent","Skychasers", exc...). But it's kind of fun and thought-provoking to think of this future world and our world now, and just imagine the steps between. What caused these events to happen? In a way, it makes you think and when it comes to the greater issues (global warming, pollution, ext...), it can make a huge difference in preventing said events (or similar) from occurring. At least that's what I think.( :

@Maryjane022 4 жыл бұрын

This is so good just like what John Fish said about his video regarding with fiction and other stories that inspired some of the well-known thinkers in our history like Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx! and who knows maybe it can help us someday too! 😊📚💕

@deadman1144 10 жыл бұрын

twilight only message was "Do what ever your boyfriend tells you to do."

@christopherdirksen 10 жыл бұрын

no, it was, " girls think its hot when you watch them sleep"

@roneyandrade6287 9 жыл бұрын

what about never let a baby die

@oonmm 9 жыл бұрын

Vampires rock

@shadowkat678 8 жыл бұрын

+deadman1144 Vampires rock, yes guys, but not a sparkling one. I want the crazy, nonhuman ones that look like bat/human hybrids from legend. Those things are sick! >:)

@moggycat99 7 жыл бұрын

+shadowkat678 30 days of night. Those vampires are freaky

@kcinknowsbest 11 жыл бұрын

I totally want to make a comic now. That Bomb Dog was awesome. It's quite a fashion statement.

@phily8020 3 жыл бұрын

I never used to like fiction books, only non fiction. However now I see the value of how it expands your imagination - the quality that Einstein valued the most.

@novellant 10 жыл бұрын

This was like a book talk to me because of this video I'm now reading Pamela or virtue rewarded and so far I really like it.

@CATtostraphy 8 жыл бұрын

We can all agree that we all hate twilight

@PhillipCummingsUSA 8 жыл бұрын

+CATtostraphy But 50 shades of grey is amazing.

@CATtostraphy 8 жыл бұрын

Capn Cummings it's porn for women showing how they secetly wish to be dominated, well those those who like it.

@JoonasD6 8 жыл бұрын

+CATtostraphy And sadly gives them a faulty picture of how BDSM really works. 50 shades of gray was abuse.

@MsOdale7 8 жыл бұрын

+Capn Cummings It's horribly written and provides a faulty pictures of BDSM, so that's just your opinion.

@PhillipCummingsUSA 8 жыл бұрын

JustMe Apparently you don't know how to read sarcasm.......

@MROTAKU-km6yd 3 жыл бұрын

By non - fiction your thoughts imagination will be limited But fiction will force you to think beyond the world And one day you can even achieve great success in life

@hanhly9984 8 жыл бұрын

I literally screamed with joy when I saw the dalek

@vonnymargaretha99 3 жыл бұрын

This video is very inspiring and insightful

@woodfur00 11 жыл бұрын

Whoa, I'm not used to series I like to read being mentioned in TED lessons. I love Seekers :3

@d_reeves1133 3 жыл бұрын

I just love the asthetic of this vedio, it has those nostalgic feel of my old text books.

@shadowfiredragon7 11 жыл бұрын

This is why i love to write as well as read.

@jaydenwarnke641 10 жыл бұрын

Character responded differently? Could the situation be better? Could they improve? And thus, by allowing us to see how each path fails, assuming their view of the situation is balanced, we can apply these ideas in life. Huge games such as Mass Effect do a very good job at this, and have emotional and theoretical weight. And allow me to expand: railroading is NOT a 'popcorn' game just as books are not 'popcorn' entertainment. My argument is merely that even the best books cannot answer all

@harshalbhanarkar 4 жыл бұрын

There nothing more powerful than the reality and the mindfulness!

@theigneous 10 жыл бұрын

Internal combustion engine was once fiction, as was the space shuttle and smart phones and civil rights in some eras and societies. In order for these ideas to become reality, some imaginative people were required to consider things not as they were, but as they might be. Experiencing fiction, through story telling, film or reading nourishes the creative mind. Without imagination, there would (at least) less be innovation (social or technological). Fiction exposes us to the idea of 'if'.

@magic12ernie 11 жыл бұрын

Same here, that would be a good lesson idea relevant to shaping society.

@adityabagdi1178 4 жыл бұрын

The animation was great in this one😮

@geokaplan59 10 жыл бұрын

James, you're welcome to avoid the heady dances of fiction. Me, I'll immerse myself in stories that bring me into contact with humanity in a way that non-fiction can't, just as poetry can reach the marrow of emotional reality in its uniquely allusive, elusive way. And just as music or painting can expose sides of our humanness that a presumably direct approach cannot. Good fiction can take on any plight imaginable, and builds in empathy that brings matters not just to the mind, but to the heart.

@ArturoStojanoff 10 жыл бұрын

These drawings are beautiful.

@greensleeves78 7 жыл бұрын

I'm here for Augenblick's studio animation.

@raghavbhatia3892 6 жыл бұрын

When you talk about "fiction that changes thinking," you've gotta include Stephen King.

@marthadanielle427 3 жыл бұрын

Muito bom o vídeo!!! Que reflexão intrigante! Obrigada.

@danielaalcala3868 4 жыл бұрын

So cool! I wonder wich video editing sofware they use Someone knows?

@TaylorSwiftsBestFriend 7 жыл бұрын

Harry had changed my life . I love him

@warriorcatskid003 6 жыл бұрын

You mentioned Seekers and I had a flashback to my 5th grade Warriors phase

@oOChocoStar64Oo 11 жыл бұрын

3:37 I'm actually reading that series right now...

@KittSpiken 10 жыл бұрын

God Damn I'm a freaking nerd. I got upset when they punctuated one species with Superman and Wonder Woman because Superman isn't a human.

@miguelchacon2717 4 жыл бұрын

No he is a man

@littlefishbigmountain 4 жыл бұрын

Miguel Chacón Diana is an Amazonian, which I think is a race of humans? Clark is a Kryptonian

@KittSpiken 4 жыл бұрын

@@littlefishbigmountain yes. he's a space man. I don't want to re-watch for context

@littlefishbigmountain 4 жыл бұрын

Kitt Spiken All the context you need is in your own comment

@KittSpiken 4 жыл бұрын

@@littlefishbigmountain figured as much, but I did say it 6 years ago

@TheHugosouthafrica 11 жыл бұрын

FANTASTIC VIDEO!

@nicoleb1105 6 жыл бұрын

twilight is about a girl who cant live without a boyfriend and it sucks

@nettart4924 6 жыл бұрын

0:23 With my little eye, I spy a Trekkie Engage!

@elamirino8261 8 жыл бұрын

"Yet recent study shows that Darwin's theory might not be the whole story". Which recent studies? That's a bit ambiguous, right?

@sarahmaronick8302 6 жыл бұрын

"We might not be hard wired to be a hero but might instead be members of a shared quest"... what in the world is she referring to? Altruism? Which is still a component of evolution, just specific to social animals. It's still a way to survive and reproduce

@henrikhubert4202 3 жыл бұрын

@@sarahmaronick8302 Ikr. Altruism is beneficial for the individual. I dont know what shes talking about.

@pauloperes9378 2 жыл бұрын

Darwin's theory is not the whole story, as he could not tell the causes those changes. His theory was a few decades later corroborated by molecular biology.

@user-wc9rx8fx4p 7 жыл бұрын

Ted_Ed is the only place that I feel I comfortable with??

@MinnowStar 11 жыл бұрын

People just have their own opinions of things, and I respect yours. I wasn't interesting in reading when I was a kid. I loved Aesop Fables, though. And some nursery rhymes like Humpty Dumpty. >__> I got really into it in the 4th grade. Picked up Eragon. 0__0

@Seraphimthong Жыл бұрын

Reading fiction influences the reader's mindset and once the mindset of people who read novels change they will do different things and so the world changes.

@EnordAreven 11 жыл бұрын

they have, its right here, you're sat on the desk next to mine, now shhh, I'm listenning.

@LittlexMissxRaven 11 жыл бұрын

May I ask what you like to read? ^^ I mean, I'm always looking for new material, and if you think there's something better than what I have been reading, I'd like to check it out.

@StevenChisham 8 жыл бұрын

Slow and steady wins the race

@spacejazz6272 8 жыл бұрын

yay! Great Expectations

@BetoValdivieso 11 жыл бұрын

This was beautiful :')

@NekoMouser 11 жыл бұрын

Yep. Campbell missed (or overstated) the mark in some places, I think, but he still can't be beat in general terms of understanding story and what it means to society and culture.

@ShubhamSingh-wt8bo 3 жыл бұрын

Well I watch animes of 12 episodes, Within 4 hours I get to know a new world what the author saw.

@gothaxngel5383 2 жыл бұрын

honestly, the 720 ep anime world>>>>>>>>>

@MinnowStar 11 жыл бұрын

No, it makes you more opened to text you usually wouldn't read. Had I not had designated reading in school, I would never have found out about many great authors and essays out there. If you really loved books and stories, you would have embraced kinds out of your interest to expand your mind. Even with the Twilight Saga being the fad it is, people now would choose to read that over, say, A Tale of Two Cities or In Cold Blood.

@onb.fearrr 3 ай бұрын

“Dumbledore said calmly”

@BloodAniron 7 жыл бұрын

Yay for the Huckleberry Finn reference!

@Rumblephil1 11 жыл бұрын

A Dalek and a spaceman riding a Unicorn. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

@cammyman32 Жыл бұрын

Awesome stuff.

@Akashic_Monk 9 жыл бұрын

great video !!!

@UrTotallyPro 11 жыл бұрын

Haha yeah. I realize that may not have been the best way to defend the books. Basically I just wanted to say that I love them and I'll read what I want to read. :)

@NkechiWaboso 11 жыл бұрын

I might think about it for dialogue sake.

@Nestmind 8 жыл бұрын

Ragazz

@ugwangho02 Ай бұрын

어떻게 허구가 현실을 바꾸는가 - 제시카 와이즈

@JakeJohnRogers 11 жыл бұрын

Beliefs and opinions should be able to be debated and discussed between people; I'm not a Christian myself, but I find talking about religion to be very stimulating. But mocking people, treating them as inferiors, placing them under a banner of ignorance... that's just wrong. I'm all for religious debate, I even encourage it, but when people are blatantly taking cheap shots at something that obviously means a lot to some people: that's when I disapprove.

@nay979 5 жыл бұрын

5:18 still a better love story that twilight

@cgarcia1196 11 жыл бұрын

3:40 is there an Uglies movie, because i would realy like to see it

@brumagemm 11 жыл бұрын

I can see the Navy really instilled a sense of humility in you. Not to mention open-mindedness and a taste for culture.

@jursamaj 11 жыл бұрын

When people believe in something so absurd, they *should* be mocked. Your right to believe it doesn't shelter that belief from criticism.

@ahmadsattarbhatti9991 7 ай бұрын

Is there any shift from reality to fictional words?

@laibarehman8005 5 жыл бұрын

1:17-1:29 seems pretty similar to the world we live in rn

@slopoke89 11 жыл бұрын

I dig the astronaut riding a unicorn at 4:14

@JakeJohnRogers 11 жыл бұрын

That's such a broad term for it and I would say that there are philosophical elements to many of those books. But that's against the point... The Harry Potter series is excellent in its simplicity and the ability to immerse its readers into such an entertaining environment. I don't know if you have actually read them but if you have, I am sure that you did so with the wrong mentality.

@Arinaretina 7 жыл бұрын

You mentioned Seekers, wow. That's a first.

@sylviastanell2043 10 жыл бұрын

Seekers is so good!

@TheMrNalsur 11 жыл бұрын

Amazing how it is, but a miracle has just happened! 3 weeks has past and no war, yet.

@cugzarui5568 10 жыл бұрын

you motivated me to write a book... lets hope that motivation will last

@georgedemirdjian9658 4 жыл бұрын

did it?

@zameendarabhinay1506 5 жыл бұрын

the voice of Miss Emily is very very good.

@shakespearaamina9117 3 жыл бұрын

Brilliant!!!!

@narrative-meanderings 6 ай бұрын

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

@caelroighblunt1956 9 жыл бұрын

Philosophy is just imagination and that's quantifiable isn't it? Science begins with imagination. You can pretty much thank Dick Tracy for the iWatch. The same goes for Spock and Kirk and the fliptop phone...

@Fedro_ 8 жыл бұрын

+Caelroigh Blunt you mean that applied science begins with imagination then?

@caelroighblunt1956 8 жыл бұрын

pedro afonso Absolutely. Any scientific achievement begins with an idea and ideas come from imagination.

@SAndSPictures 7 жыл бұрын

iWatch? What's an iWatch? I have an Apple Watch, but I've never heard of iWatch.

@caelroighblunt1956 7 жыл бұрын

S&S Pictures Okay, Apple Watch. The point remains the same.

@Moongazerr 11 жыл бұрын

I taugh it said: How friction can change reality

@Spellbound7 11 жыл бұрын

I think it's from the Hurt Locker, tho I'm not sure if there was a dog involved...

@syrens3 11 жыл бұрын

You could always do a steady build up. Maybe you could just try and commit to reading a chapter a day, then think about it.

@Xollani 10 жыл бұрын

The further you can peer into the past the farther your more likely to be able to see into the future, provided you also have an imagination. Reading history is wonderful, but Reading History and Science Fiction is an unstoppable combination.

@valerieboddie1995 9 жыл бұрын

it is OK sometimes to daydream on fiction stories and want to be in there shoes and do the things they did. As for me i prefer to be who I am in life.