Why Fantasy Matters Too Much

by Jack Zipes


In September 1997 a fairy-tale princess and a holy saint, Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, died within a few days of each other. Millions of people openly and dramatically expressed their grief and mourning. Their pictures along with many different images of Diana and Mother Teresa were beamed all over the world through television and the Internet. The mass media carried all sorts of stories and acclaimed the two of them as the fairytale princess and the saint, so that little was left to the imagination. Fantastic spectacle was all that mattered.