fantasy

fantasy

Mental images or imaginary narratives that distort or entirely depart from reality. Primary fantasies arise spontaneously from the unconscious, while secondary fantasies are consciously summoned and pursued. Sigmund Freud saw fantasy as a vehicle for the expression of repressed desires (see repression). Fantasy is important in the lives of children and is a vital element in play. In adult life it is crucial to creative thinking and the making of art. Fantasy can become destructive if it serves as a constant refuge from the world of reality and a source of delusions.

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fantasy, phantasy

1. Psychol

a. a series of pleasing mental images, usually serving to fulfil a need not gratified in reality

b. the activity of forming such images

2. Music another word for fantasia fancy, development

3. 

a. literature having a large fantasy content

b. a prose or dramatic composition of this type

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fantasy [′fan·tə·sē]

(psychology)

An imagined image or series of images that serves to express unconscious conflicts, to gratify unconscious wishes, or to prepare for anticipated future events.

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Fantasy

See also Enchantment.

Aladdin’s lamp

when rubbed, genie appears to do possessor’s bidding. [Arab. Lit.: Arabian Nights, “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp”]

Alice

undergoes fantastic adventures, such as dealing with the “real” Queen of Hearts. [Br. Lit.: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Through the Looking Glass]

Alnaschar

dreams of the wealth he will realize from the sale of his glassware. [Arab. Lit.: Benét, 26]

Arabian Nights

compilation of Middle and Far Eastern tales. [Arab. Lit.: Parrinder, 26]

Back to Methuselah

England in the late twenty-second century is a bureaucracy administered by Chinese men and African women. [Br. Drama: Shaw Back to Methuselah in Magill III, 82]

Baggins, Bilbo Hobbit

who wanders afar and brings back the One Ring of Power to The Shire. [Br. Lit.: The Hobbit]

Bloom, Leopold

enlivens his uneventful life with amorous daydreams. [Irish Lit.: Joyce Ulysses in Magill I, 1040]

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

magical car helps track down criminals. [Children’s Lit.: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]

Dorothy

flies via tornado to Oz. [Am. Lit.: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]

Dream Children

in a reverie, Charles Lamb tells stories to his two imaginary children. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 287]

Fantasia

music comes to life in animated cartoon. [Am. Cinema: Fantasia in Disney Films, 38–45]

Harvey

six-foot rabbit who appears only to a genial drunkard. [Am. Lit.: Benét, 444]

Jurgen

regaining his lost youth, he has strange “adventures with a host of mythical persons. [Am. Lit.: Jurgen in Magill I, 464]

Land

of the Giants a Gulliver’s Travels in outer space. [TV: Terrace, II, 10–11]

Little Prince, The

travels to Earth from his star; fable by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943). [Fr. Lit.: Benét, 889]

Lord of the Rings, The

“feigned history” of the Hobbits; epic trilogy written by J. R. R. Tolkein. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1013]

Millionaire, The

mysterious Croesus bestows fortunes on unsuspecting individuals. [TV: Terrace, II, 97–98]

Mitty, Walter

timid man who imagines himself a hero. [Am. Lit.: Benét, 1006; Am. Cinema and Drama: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty]

Narnia

kingdom in which fantasy cycle of seven tales by C. S. Lewis takes place. [Children’s Lit.: Fisher, 289–290]

O’Gill, Darby

befriends dwarfdom. [Am. Cinema: Darby O’Gill and the Little People in Disney Films, 159–162]

Pan, Peter

escapes to Never Never Land to avoid growing up. [Br. and Am. Drama: Benét, 778]

Poppins, Mary

enchanted nanny guides her charges through fey adventures. [Children’s Lit.: Mary Poppins; Am. Cinema: Mary Poppins in Disney Films, 226–232]

Thirteen Clocks, The

beautiful princess is won by a disguised prince who fulfills her guardian’s task with the aid of laughter that turns to jewels. [Am. Lit.: Thurber The Thirteen Clocks in Weiss, 462]

Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The

adventures in land “somewhere over the rainbow.” [Am. Lit.: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]