Why so many mythical/fairy tale/fantasy stories today?

Interesting article from Forbes Magazine:
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The Unequivocal Connection Between Social Media and Myths, Fairy Tales, & Fantasy
Todd Wilms, SAP

Some bits and pieces:

Quote :: Call it a craving; just like we sometimes crave a certain food as our body tells us we are lacking something, our brains crave a release from the disconnected onslaught of social media behaviors. We crave familiarity, we crave connection . . . we crave myths, fairy tales, and fantasy......

Social Distracts Us:
Whereas we used to occupy brain space on everything from “to do lists” to birthday reminders to important phone numbers and all of our daily tasks, we now have Evernote, Facebook, smart phones, and a wealth of apps to manage that for us. Which means we can spend more time on absorbing every instantaneous happening around us. We now know a little about everything, but nothing about anything.... so our brain is telling us we need something – we have a craving.

Fairy Tales Connects Us:
Professor and Mythologist Joseph Campbell understood the power of the myth. First witting on the topic in 1949, he gained wider popularity in universities in the 1960s for his ideas around monomyths or what is more typically called “The Hero’s Journey.“ Campbell studied myths and stories from most regions and civilizations in history. He quickly discovered that the components for these myths were all exactly the same.

Put another way, no matter where you were in the world, or in what time, the stories told ALL followed the same framework....

...An unlikely hero is unwillingly thrust into a land of supernatural wonder and confronted with some new evil which they are unable to battle alone. Retreating they find the help of some wised mentor who shows them how they have the power to defeat evil. Imbued with this new use of power, the hero goes on to defeat evil and bestow the bounties of this journey on their fellow man...

As we become more disconnected from social, we crave familiarity. We crave stories to which we can relate. We crave connection.

Storytelling is Essential:
Social media and our behaviors are not going away. We will adapt to it as new technology and new demands evolve. Not surprisingly, fairy tales are not going away either. With big budget movies like “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Hobbit,” and Maleficent in the works, and the recent successes of book series like “The Hunger Games”, we will see more and more of this connective storytelling. We require something to ground us. These common stories – myths, fairy tales, fantasy – all have those connective elements and bring us together in a very human way.

Ann

I think reality has become complex and the mind seeks a simpler experience in which there is no need to think or an experience impossible to create in real life.

Yes, but I think we can handle the complexity.

To my thinking, what is missing from our current perceptions of reality is a meaningful connection. That is what these stories provide.

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