You may want to chalk this post up to me becoming an ornery old man, but it seems that the power of imagination is the sacrificial lamb of the never ending progress of media and entertainment. What is the end game, here? To make movies and video games indistinguishable from reality? To make them better than reality? Supposing that the natural conclusion of the evolution of visual media (primarily) is to supersede, nay replace, the real world is a little unsettling, to say the least. What place would imagination have in that brave, new world? The creators of entertainment are reaching a point where they have such fine control over the display of their creations that they can readily manipulate consumers' perceptions and interpretations. There are few gaps left for the audience to fill with their imaginings, their essence. I think that's a sad thing.
In a way, I believe media creators have become lost in the endless pursuit of fidelity, and their creations suffer for it. Yes, I can now watch a computer generated video where a character's skin shows those little black dimples and hairs all over the place, but I ask, what value does that add to the creator's story and message? My brain, and imagination, are quite willing and capable to fill in the little details that are pertinent to the story. "The character has acne," is not something I need to know unless it's this commercial. I argue that modern stories would be stronger if they were to allow the audience to engage its imagination while consuming them. They'd have their work cut out for them, however, because the ability to visualize has atrophied for a good majority of the people out there.
The common refrain from adults is "I don't have much of an imagination." Bullshit. That's a self-limiting belief that's been reinforced by the modern media and society. Every mentally healthy person out there has a very powerful ability to visualize and create within the framework of their own minds an internal reality. When I say visualize, I don't mean imagining visually. Visualization is the brain's ability to create a scene, a story, or a feeling within one's own mind. This process has been shown to improve the performance of athletes, musicians, performers, you name it, when they visualize ahead of time whatever it is they need to do. With practice, the brain is unable to distinguish visualized experiences from real ones. This is the power of imagination, and it's a terrible shame we're letting it languish rather than encouraging its use.
However, I don't think it's an accident that modern "progress" wants to supplant the need for imagination. Without imagination, we cannot imagine our lives being any different than they are currently. The status quo is maintained, the consumerist lifestyle lives on until it can't anymore, and we're all none the wiser.
Imagine yourself sitting down to think about the things that really matter to you. That's where it all starts. A voice will intrude, "that's all well and fine, but you have all these things that you are responsible for." The next part is difficult, the next part requires some pretty warmed up and limber visualizing muscle. Imagine all those things you simply couldn't live without were gone. How would you feel? Would it be the end of you? Would you go out and work to win all those things back, or would you stop for a moment and perhaps have a split second realization that all that bullshit doesn't really matter? In that opened space, you may taste freedom. Imagine, how would you fill that space? What would guide your decisions? Imagine yourself sitting down to think about the things that really matter to you.
Will you?
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