Terrific article, Robin! I LOVED your references. You really covered the gamut. I had probably never thought much about fantasy impacting reality but your article made me ponder this. It's a lot like going sober or getting off drugs.

One of my favorite moments in A Simple Plan is when this middle class couple with a baby on the way make plans for the money her husband found in a plane wreck in the snowy woods. The life they've always dreamed of seems within reach, but when they realize they can never spend the money, going back to reality and their dull lives becomes intolerable.

"You might not get what you want. What happens then?" Two plays first come to mind, The Iceman Cometh and Waiting for Godot.