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 People-to-Art Relations So, a work of art is a message. Now, what happens on the audience’s side? It is a fact that we love, hate, feel compassion for, and fear the heroes of a work. As we already said, this new world is a real one. It is unique; it is unusual; it is specific; it is virtual; and it is real. We engage in this reality if we allow ourselves. And for those who do not, art simply does not exist. Despite the fact that we are free to engage and disengage the world of a piece of art, when we are engaged, everything that happens to its heroes touches us. That is, we develop real human-to-human relationships with heroes from virtual worlds. The only difference is the consequences. Have you ever been afraid when a movie becomes too chilling? Have you ever cried when listening to music? Have you ever had deep feelings, tempests of thoughts, while reading? These are all very human feelings, are they not? And these feelings are directed at and invoked by images shaped by the artist, writer, singer, or composer.

Interestingly enough, the same thing happens when it comes to real people and events we are not directly engaged with. They become truly real for us if they are “processed” by art. For example, earlier we saw how information in a newspaper may pass unnoticed by the public, yet the art of journalism makes a real event truly realistic. The art of journalism makes a factual event so captivating that we notice and accept it as important, that we become engaged in human-to-human relations with the characters of the article.

Personal versus Consumer Attitude Having said this, we can understand another dimension of individual relations with a work of art. Let us turn to our example again. Say, one day you discovered The Lord of the Rings. You may have borrowed it from a friend or taken it from the library. You read it and decided that you wanted this book on your shelf so that you can reread it, talk to its heroes, and listen to them. You want to enjoy their adventures, be afraid of their dangers, and discover new countless details, possibilities, beauties, and challenges time and again. Then