Hyperreality.

Hyperreality: "Hyperreality is an inability to distinguish between what is real and what is not. Hyperreality can be described as enhanced reality. Some people become more engaged with the hyperreal world than with the real world." (1)


I have fallen victim to hyperreality in more ways then one. I believe that many young girls and teenagers fall victim in the areas of romance and relationships. Primarily this is found in Disney Movies, where the theme is always, and they all lived "happily ever after"(2). Though i believe that people can live happy lives, this hyperreality creates children who expect to be pampered like a princess, find a handsome prince charming, who saves them from something evil--they then get married and live "happily ever after". Though nothing is wrong with young girls who desire to be princesses the fall is in the conclusion... life isn’t all about falling in love, and living happily ever after. Love takes work, and so does living "happy" life. How many of us are happy all of the time? It's not happiness, its joy, and true everlasting joy can only come from the Lord, not from just any Prince Charming. A second example of this is in soap operas found on TV. They portray "extreme dramatic relationships [that] are a heightened form of reality that some people relate to as being real."(3) If someone bases the relationships that they have off of the dramatic and so much more interesting lives of the people on soaps, they find their life to be incredibly boring. There is no way life would ever measure up to the high drama and intensity of "soap like" portrayals of how life really is. Hyperreality affects everyone, especially in today’s postmodern society where we always question what real truth is.


(1,3) http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-hyperreality.htm
(2) http://www.jamieliew.com/category/movies/