4 ms·

Movie with CGI such as Star Wars = lying?

TuringTest 5y ago
Fiction is lies only when you want to pass them off as the truth: "That's right -- and when you get to the human world, the Nothing will cling to you. You'll be like a contagious disease that makes humans blind, so they can no longer distinguish between reality and illusion. Do you know what you and your kind are called there?" "No," Atreyu whispered. "Lies!" Gmork barked ― Michael Ende, The Neverending Story
- TuringTest 5y ago
  There's in the same dialog this warning about advertising and politics: “When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts ... Who knows what use they’ll make of you? Maybe you’ll help them to persuade people to buy things they don’t need, or hate things they know nothing about, or hold beliefs that make them easy to handle, or doubt the truths that might save them.”
  - sabhiram 5y ago
    need a revisit, that seems appropriate and deep
    - TuringTest 5y ago
      It is! Ende was raised under the esoteric Anthroposophy philosophy, and I suspect much of his works are dedicated to debunk its nonsensical beliefs. The second half of The Neverending Story is a philosophical treaty on itself (it hurts the book as an action story, but gives you a lot to ponder about). His child books certainly have a deep second reading as adults.
b112 5y ago
All fiction is a lie, by its very definition. After all, it claims the unreal as real. Fiction, lies. The difference with things like fiction in books and movies, for entertainment, is that the listener of the lie, knows it is a lie, and listens for entertainment. It is not a lie, pretending to be true.
- abyrne10 5y ago
  I would argue that a lie involves deliberate deception, not just untruth. Fiction, then, is not a lie, as by definition it is something imagined or invented, and therefore not created to deceive.
  - b112 5y ago
    I think deceive was created to explain the difference in intent.
nicbou 5y ago
Yep, the whole thing is made up!

Fiction is lies only when you want to pass them off as the truth: "That's right -- and when you get to the human world, the Nothing will cling to you. You'll be like a contagious disease that makes humans blind, so they can no longer distinguish between reality and illusion. Do you know what you and your kind are called there?" "No," Atreyu whispered. "Lies!" Gmork barked ― Michael Ende, The Neverending Story

TuringTest 5y ago
There's in the same dialog this warning about advertising and politics: “When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts ... Who knows what use they’ll make of you? Maybe you’ll help them to persuade people to buy things they don’t need, or hate things they know nothing about, or hold beliefs that make them easy to handle, or doubt the truths that might save them.”
- sabhiram 5y ago
  need a revisit, that seems appropriate and deep
  - TuringTest 5y ago
    It is! Ende was raised under the esoteric Anthroposophy philosophy, and I suspect much of his works are dedicated to debunk its nonsensical beliefs. The second half of The Neverending Story is a philosophical treaty on itself (it hurts the book as an action story, but gives you a lot to ponder about). His child books certainly have a deep second reading as adults.

b112 5y ago

All fiction is a lie, by its very definition. After all, it claims the unreal as real. Fiction, lies. The difference with things like fiction in books and movies, for entertainment, is that the listener of the lie, knows it is a lie, and listens for entertainment. It is not a lie, pretending to be true.

abyrne10 5y ago
I would argue that a lie involves deliberate deception, not just untruth. Fiction, then, is not a lie, as by definition it is something imagined or invented, and therefore not created to deceive.
- b112 5y ago
  I think deceive was created to explain the difference in intent.

nicbou 5y ago

Yep, the whole thing is made up!