Theme

REALITY AND ILLUSION

Because reality is so harsh, our world is full of illusions and we make use of them. Some of the more obvious ones come out of a spirit bottle or a syringe and are destructive by nature. Others are just as obvious but quite harmless. Their use promotes anything from enhancing our thinking to making the world seem a little better place than it is. We find these printed on paper, played out to an audience or projected on a screen in a dark room.

Yet most of our illusions are so subtle that we use them unconsciously in day to day life. We may manage to distinguish other people’s illusions, but we all carry our own behind our backs. When we turn to look at ourselves, our illusions turn with us, and we see nothing. Occasionally however, someone holds up a second mirror, and then there are just two courses open to us. We can disbelieve what we see because we are scared of reality, or, we can let the mirage fade away and face up to the sun and the thirst.

Fantasy Land is the story of a vile man who uses other people’s illusions till he meets a severe life crisis. But it is also the story of a decent man who points out a woman’s illusions and is reimbursed when she helps him to discover his own. This leads him to a better understanding of the world and ultimately, to happiness. Some of the illusions shown are listed below:

ILLUSION Falling in love High fidelity sound Painting The Iliad (poem of revenge) Friendship of Michael, Jerry and Andy Burt’s terminal disease Travel agency makes customers happy Charlotte’s loneliness Police woman Manolis’ restaurant

REALITY Trick of Nature for reproduction Concert Photograph Burt’s revenge Friendship with Sid Melissa’s revenge It exploits their dark side Unacceptance of her homosexuality Secret agent Narcotics distribution centre

NAMES In life, the true meaning of a name sometimes matches the appearance or the character of its bearer. In Fantasy Land the given and last names of the main characters correspond to their nature as shown below: Burt = Burton = fortified enclosure (old English) Curtis = courteous, educated, well-bred (old French) Charlotte = Carol = man (old English) Kedge = lively, brisk (middle English from old Norse?) Sid = Sidney = Saint-Denis = ultimately from Dionysus, Greek god of wine Bevin = drink wine (old French) Melissa = bee (Greek) Masock = Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian novelist who first described masochism Manolis = Emanuel = God with us (Hebrew)