Imagination: Your Best Friend or Worst Enemy?

2026-06-12 11:45 (UTC-0600)

⚠️ Spoiler Alert, Unsupported Characters, and a Trigger Warning
This post contains spoilers for multiple pieces of amazing media. I recommend checking out these media before reading this.
This post may also contain unsupported characters and may end up appearing as boxes.
If Anything Happens I Love You contains sensitive topics involving mass shootings, I would advise skipping this one if it upsets you.

Boy (2010, Taika Waititi) is like a masterclass on how imagination affects people to me. One of the most memorable moments from the film is when Boy finally realises that his father, Alamein, is not the hero he had imagined him to be. Throughout the film, Boy creates stories and fantasies about his father being brave, talented, and larger than life. When the reality finally breaks through, it becomes a huge turning point in Boy’s development.
That moment made me ponder about the role of imagination in life. Imagination helps people deal with loss, loneliness, disappointment, and other painful experiences. At the same time, it can also prevent people from accepting reality. This is especially relevant today with so many people turning to ways to escape reality such as social media, video games, movies, and online communities to cope with stress or challenges. These can be comforting, but at the same time can become unhealthy if they take the place of real world engagement fully. So for that, my inquiry question is this: In what ways can imagination help people survive difficult realities, and when does it become harmful? But before that, I’ll answer a few other related questions, including:

Why do people create fantasies?
Can imagination protect mental health?
When does imagination become denial?
Why do children rely on imagination more than adults?
Is accepting reality always necessary for growth?
How can imagination and reality coexist in a healthy way?

To explore these ideas, I also plan to look at some texts including Boy, The Marrow Thieves, If Anything Happens I Love You, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Eraser Tattoo, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Each text does a different take on imagination, whether it may be positively, negatively, or neutrally, and may offer different answers to my inquiry question.
So, without further ado, let’s get into imagination.

Boy (2010, Taika Waititi)

Boy says Kia ora while standing in front of a blackboard that says 'Who Am I?', his head covering the Am.

First off, let’s look at the spotlight text. Taika Waititi’s film Boy shows us an 11 year old Māori boy growing up in rural New Zealand who imagines that his father is basically a superhero in his eyes. When Alamein eventually returns, Boy’s imagination is put to the test when his dad turns out to not be the amazing father-figure he thought he was.
Imagination here is what Boy uses to cope with the grief and disappointment, where he invents a better Alamein and imagines him as a person who’s basically up there at Michael Jackson’s rank, and retreats into this fantasy whenever reality becomes painful. These daydreams protect him emotionally and make his life feel more exciting and manageable.

This movie suggests that people create fantasies when reality becomes too painful or disappointing for us to face directly. As a child dealing with grief and an absent father, Boy leans heavily on imagination to give him comfort and protect his mental health. His fantasies allow him to believe that his father is a hero instead of facing the hard truth. However, the movie also suggests that imagination can be a form of denial when it prevents someone from accepting reality. Boy’s exaggerated view of Alamein stops him from growing up emotionally because it allows him to forgive his father’s imperfections instead of seeing them clearly. At the end of the movie, Boy learns that growing up requires accepting the painful truth, but doesn’t entirely give up imagination. Instead, he uses it in a healthier way, like when he used it to lie to Rocky about why Alamein left just to spare his feelings. This proved that imagination and reality can coexist as long as fantasy provides hope without replacing the truth.

If Anything Happens I Love You (2020, Will McCormack and Michael Govier)

Parents eating dinner at the table while their imagination, portrayed by shadows, argue with eachother.

This animated short tells the story of two parents trying to cope with the loss of their daughter after a devastating school shooting. As they grieve, memories of their daughter swirl around them.
While the film is more about memory than fantasy, imagination comes in through the daughter’s lingering presence and the way the parents mentally revisit moments from her life. Their memories allow them to remember someone they’ve lost.

The short film suggests that imagination and memory can help protect mental health during the absolute worst kind grief of a loss by providing comfort and preserving emotional connections. Unlike Boy, imagination does not become denial because the parents understand their daughter is gone. Instead, the short film suggests that imagination and reality can coexist in a healthy way, helping people accept the painful truth whilst still holding onto love.

The Marrow Thieves (Cherie Dimaline)

In a future dystopian society, Indigenous people are once again hunted but instead of forced assimilation, they turn out to be the last people capable of dreaming. Frenchie and a group of survivors travel north while staying alive.
This may be a stretch, but imagination shows up in this novel. The novel is built on dreams, stories, and cultural memory. The characters hold onto stories and imagination to keep hope alive and to hold onto their identities in a world that tries to erase them once more.

The novel suggests that imagination is important for human survival. Dreams give hope, purpose, and cultural identity in difficult circumstances. Imagination is portrayed as an essential part of human life in the face of adversity, not as something that becomes harmful like in Boy. Without it, people risk losing their humanity and sense of self.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Rick Riordan)

Percy Jackson, a snarky sixth grader, discovers that Greek Mythology is actually not myth but instead very real and that he’s the son of Poseidon. He must navigate a hidden world of gods, monsters, and heroes, just to keep Olympus from falling.
This series transforms myths, legends, and fantasy into reality. Percy learns to embrace a world that we would consider impossible.

The series suggests that imagination can help people understand themselves and find strength in adversity. Percy has a hard time at first with being different, being a son of Poseidon, but gains confidence and purpose by embracing the amazing world around him. The novels teach us that imagination can be empowering when it’s based on growth rather than escape.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (James Thurber)

Walter Mitty is anything but an ordinary man, in his head. He escapes his dull boring life through daydreams where he becomes a hero surgeon, a war hero, and a genius lawyer, to name a few.
Imagination dominates this short story. Walter constantly retreats into his fantasies whenever reality becomes uncomfortable or boring.

This story provides the strongest warning about imagination. It shows us that imagination can provide temporary comfort and relief, but turns into poison when it becomes a substitute for actual work in this world. Walter’s fantasies prevent him from even living his own life, hiding in a chair from his wife one time. The story raises the question of whether imagination is helping someone survive reality or helping them avoid it altogether.

Eraser Tattoo (Jason Reynolds)

In this short story, we meet two young teenagers named Shay and Dante. Shay’s family moves away due to gentrification, and Shay and Dante are torn apart. Both struggle with the emotional pain of separation.
Shay and Dante imagine different futures and possibilities for their relationship while taking a trip down good ol’ memory lane. Their hopes and expectation shape how they deal with the uncertainty of being separated.

The short story suggests that imagination can help people cope with separation and the unknown by giving them hope for the future. However, it also shows that fantasies about what may happen cannot replace reality. To grow is to accept the circumstances and yet keep the meaningful hopes and memories.

After checking out these texts, I’ve come to the conclusion that imagination is one of the most powerful coping tools of mankind. Whether it’s boy creating stories about his father, the grieving parents in If Anything Happens I Love You holding onto memories, or the dreamers of The Marrow Thieves holding onto hope and identity, imagination helps people get through situations that can feel impossible to overcome.
However, like most good things, too much of it can become poisonous. Both Boy and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty suggest that fantasy can become dangerous when it becomes denying reality. Imagination can save us from pain, but it can’t solve our problems alone.
The most surprising thing I found in this analysis was that no text completely rejected either imagiation or reality. Instead, they claim that the healthiest approach lies somewhere between the two. Imagination can offer hope, comfort, creativity, and resilience, but growth requires we embrace the truth of our circumstances. Imagination is most valuable not when it allows us to escape reality, but when it helps us find the strength to face it.
So, in response to my inquiry question, imagination can help people survive the hard truth through emotional protection and hope, but is harmful when it replaces reality instead of helping us understand it.

← Back to Blog

Visitors: 000000