Do metaphorical stories piss you off?

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I'm watching Bridge to Terabithia right now. I read the book in school when I was a kid, and I think I thought the magical world the kids go to was all real, but from the looks of the movie so far, it's actually all made up. Anyway, that kind of thing drives me crazy. My least favorite one is "The Fountain". GOD DAMN. Seriously. Either have an emo story about cancer or have an epic thousand-year love story. Don't mix them and trivialize the fantasy aspect by trying to glorify the SUPER SRS REAL LIFE story. I mean, to me, this almost even implies that the makers of The Fountain think the movie can only be meaningful to people with cancer, (and their family and friends) since they have no faith in their audience to use their imagination and apply the message of a story about one thing to a different type of situation. Maybe that's going a little far, but that's how low my opinion of them is, LOL. *shakefist*

Everyone complains when a story ends with the guy waking up and it was all a dream. I don't see what the difference is between that and the metaphorical fantasy thing that everyone seems to love so much. That's one thing that's so great about Lord of the Rings: Tolkien always denied that his story was a metaphor. Why can't people get just as much meaning out of a literal fantasy? It can still be applied to situations in your own life if you want, even though it's different. Right?

TL;DR: I hate fantasy stories that turn out to be imagined by the characters and are really about some sort of mundane real-life thing.

Anyway, I'm posting in this section because of the idea that autistic people taking things literally, and I'm wondering if that means a lot of you will agree with me or not. If not though, it's not like I'll hold it against you. :B

That was supposed to be a fictional world in a fictional world i thought it was a non-Fiction world in a Fiction world.

No they do not.

I read Bridge to Terabithia in 5th grade, and I could discern that Jess and Leslie were just playing make-believe. I could tell that they were not literally going to other realms. I was able to pick up that they were dealing with their problems via role-playing. But that's just me. Although I enjoyed the movie, I was disappointed in how they portrayed their fantasies so literally. I would have much rather seen them swinging sticks at imaginary creatures and mouthing the noises (Like me and my real-life "Leslie" did) than to see them beating computer-rendered weasels over the head.

Maybe I just like my fiction to be realistic and grounded. I like hard science fiction, not little green men with laser pistols. It's all a matter of personal preference. I enjoyed Lord of the Rings because although it's a fantasy, it was a believable one. You could see our world mirrored in theirs. Same thing goes for Star Wars, Chronicles of Narnia, etc.

If it turns out that a story was a dream, it dilutes the impact of the story. It's a lazy, dues ex machina ploy. It's one of the most over-used, contrived endings there are. I know for a fact it's in the book 101 Plots: Used and Abused. People read fiction to escape reality. If it was all a dream, then it's no different from our world after all. We all have crazy dreams.

What you have to keep in mind is that all fiction is a product of our day-to-day reality. You can never completely escape our world in fiction.

As a side-note, I do have difficulties discerning whether or not someone is being serious, and with taking things literally. But I've never had difficulties with stories.

I hate fantasy stories.

There is no purpose at all to them. When you start reading something and it seems to make sense and then suddenly a pink horse flies out of nowhere and then it rains coffee...... it's lunacy and absolutely anything can follow. Anything at all can happen - there are no rules, there is no rhyme, no reason. Why read random nonsense?

I read mostly non fiction and when I do read the rare fiction I want it to be a good story that is solid and that is clever enough to keep me from figuring out the ending early on. Most are not. It's so boring to work out the puzzle or mystery or story halfway through the book and then it plays out exactly that way.

Generally I just don't like made up stuff at all.

Methodical stories make me want to saw my arm off, but not my right arm, lest I'd need to write some more.

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

The Fountain and The Bridge to Terabithia can be enjoyed for their literal interpretations.

Metaphorical stories are supposed to be lessons for life. Here's a random one I just pulled off the internet:

A student went to his teacher and said earnestly, \I am devoted
to studying with you. How long will it take before I become enlightened?"
The teacher's reply was casual, \Ten years." Impatiently,
the student answered, \But I want to master it faster than that. I
will work very hard. I will practice everyday, ten or more hours a
day if I have to. How long will it take then?" The teacher thought
for a moment, "20 years."

So no, neither the movies/books you had mentioned, nor actual metaphors, piss me off.

A metaphore is where you say one thing, but when not literally it means another.

For example, chess is a metaphor for a military campaign.

I love metaphorical stuff. I use it to describe things to my friends and girlfriend all the time.

I love metaphors, similies and allegories. It's like hidden bonuses in fictional work. Not only do you get the real story, you get the metaphorical language as a bonus. Two for the price of one deal there, so it's like you get the metaphor for half off. To me that is the epitomy of cool.