THE B-SIDE

We all know what it is to dream. To dream is to hope, to chase a far-off, glittering future without any certainty that we will ever finally reach it and grasp that elusive thing slipping between our fingers. To dream is to want, desperately and nonsensically, to be someone else, somewhere else, in spite of the painful knowledge that to do so would be impossible. We throw ourselves into this yearning in spite of all reason; we chase these dreams every day, sometimes in the only way we know how — through escapism, through art, through fantasy.

We all understand the desperate longing that comes with immersing ourselves in a world wildly different than our own. We flip through a fantastical novel or press play on a magical, mysterious film or TV show in search of something better, something bigger, something we can be a part of. To consume art is to escape, to dream, to build new worlds and wonders all within the limitless bounds of your imagination. To consume art, and to create it, is to fantasize.

A fantasy is a complex, beautifully multifaceted thing. It’s a genre, a fictional universe of alluring impossibilities. It’s a daydream, a harmless infatuation that, given the time, can consume and overwhelm your every waking thought. A fantasy is a crush, an impossible romance, a delusion. It’s a hope, an ambition, a chance. Fantasies are what create art, those inklings of impossible thoughts and dreams take shape as their creators imbue them with words, images and life. Fantasies drive us to engage with art and media, allowing us to think critically and creatively. Our fantasies make us human.

Within every one of us is a secret, a delusion, a daydream, a fantasy. These Daily Arts writers coaxed those fantasies out, put them on the page and breathed a little life into them, bringing their hopes, dreams and fantasies just that much closer to reality.

— Senior Arts Editor Annabel Curran can be reached at currana@umich.edu.