consider Christian Heaven: singing hymns doesn’t sound like loads of endless fun
Unless, perhaps, you happen to enjoy music...
(Seriously—suppose you got to compose your own hymns.)
A general comment: I am tempted to question the wisdom of tying Fun Theory so closely to the aesthetics of storytelling, by discussing the two in such proximity. As we all know, there’s not necessarily any correlation between the worlds we would want to live in and the worlds we like to read about. I’m not just talking about Dystopian stories either. I love watching House, but sure as hell would never want to actually be any of the characters on that show. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a delight to read despite being (paradoxically) a depressing tragedy. Etc.
Now there is a connection, to be sure, in that aesthetics itself (in the context of any art form, including but not limited to storytelling) is effectively a miniature, special case of Fun Theory. But this connection is more abstract, and has little to do with how closely settings and plots match up with eudaimonic scenarios. (Inhabitants of Eutopia themselves may enjoy tragic stories and the like.)
(Seriously—suppose you got to compose your own hymns.)
Music is actually a good big mine of fun (thought naturally it is finite). We seem to need longer to tire of the same piece of music than of say a movie or a book.
consider Christian Heaven: singing hymns doesn’t sound like loads of endless fun
Unless, perhaps, you happen to enjoy music...
(Seriously—suppose you got to compose your own hymns.)
A general comment: I am tempted to question the wisdom of tying Fun Theory so closely to the aesthetics of storytelling, by discussing the two in such proximity. As we all know, there’s not necessarily any correlation between the worlds we would want to live in and the worlds we like to read about. I’m not just talking about Dystopian stories either. I love watching House, but sure as hell would never want to actually be any of the characters on that show. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a delight to read despite being (paradoxically) a depressing tragedy. Etc.
Now there is a connection, to be sure, in that aesthetics itself (in the context of any art form, including but not limited to storytelling) is effectively a miniature, special case of Fun Theory. But this connection is more abstract, and has little to do with how closely settings and plots match up with eudaimonic scenarios. (Inhabitants of Eutopia themselves may enjoy tragic stories and the like.)
Music is actually a good big mine of fun (thought naturally it is finite). We seem to need longer to tire of the same piece of music than of say a movie or a book.