[The Black Ferris]

Honestly, I think it has to do with denial. The world is no more interesting than it ever was. People who are more interested in non-fiction are often the same people who claim to have no love for humanity. Yet, I'd bet they still see 'faces' in the woodwork.
Fiction, for the 'user' is not just a journey into someone else's house, it is also, when it is good, going home. It appeals to our sense of wonder. If the imagination is dying, these are the people murdering it.
But the imagination is not dying, nor reaching obsolescence. We can see so much more of our world these days, there's so much more to imagine. And we've created this world with our imagination, a world where what we imagine can become reality so much more quickly than it ever has in past.
Not to mention, we all want to be original as artists and with so much out there to contend with, perhaps part of us resents and is afraid of it. We don't want to seem as if we've been influenced. Hence the slew of remakes. Another paradox.
Of course, nothing gets me like a good turn of phrase, no matter if the character saying it is fictional or 'not'.
It is more difficult, in my opinion, to delve into the dark reaches of your own soul while reading about the exterior worlds 'real' atrocities.
The whole idea of 'Reality Media' is hilarious. On one hand, it is designed to get you and the coming generations used to being watched. Numbed, frightened and watched.
On the other it opens up whole other avenues for exploring the meaning reality, the image as experience.
"I don't want to see live theatre or go to the damn movies! Those are just people up there acting stupid. It's so much more entertaining and interesting to me to watch people who actually are stupid. And I can feel better about myself from the safety of my own home."
People are stupid. They do stupid things. No getting around it. The trick is to find which brand of stupid you are and be that.