The Half-Reality of Imaginary Friends

I wanted to end this semester of blog posts and whistles with a discussion on imaginary friends in media. There are a couple of famous examples of this as a centerpiece to the plot, the most noteworthy being Calvin & Hobbes and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends; at the same time, several stories include (occasionally recurring) sequences where "imaginary" friends don't seem so imaginary anymore.

From what I can gather, most authors that do some kind of imaginary friend story portray them as "real" in a sense. I mean to say that a character (not necessarily the one with said imaginary friend) might find evidence of the friend being real after something happens. This is usually something small, like a note or an item that the imaginary friend handled and changed somehow (i.e.: an item it fixed for its "real" friend). Oftentimes this holds a level of symbolism as well -- it oftentimes makes the characters wonder just how "real" our perceived reality is, whether or not there are alternate dimensions, whether or not they can overlap. It makes me, personally, think about just how little we actually know about the universe, especially when this may not be the universe at all. This may be the multiverse.

Authors like to place a lot of hints on the semi-realism of imaginary friends. In Calvin & Hobbes, whenever Calvin has a fight with his stuffed tiger, he is always seen with the scratches and scuff marks from it, even though Hobbes is technically imaginary. There was a strip of Axis Powers Hetalia where a very depressed Britain, feeling cheated and alone, returned home to find a plate of cookies on the counter -- lovingly made by his imaginary friend, Flying Mint Bunny*.

Anyway, imaginary friends is just an interesting subject I like to rant about. Thanks for listening!

~ Avalon




* No, Mint Bunny didn't commit suicide and turn himself into the cookies. They were peanut butter cookies, you sickos.