Let me play the devil’s advocate here and ask you: Is it really Hollywood to blame? Or could it be that people WANT to see fantasy, and Hollywood capitalizes on that. Even fiction movies that allude to the truth in metaphorical way draw audience because of their fictitious/artistic presentation, not because of the truth value they deliver (which may be considered after the fact). Do you think Matrix generated $170 million because of its truth value? I think not.
boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=matrix.htm
It is ironic that even in order to tell a truth, you’d have to lie and exaggerate. I am not saying how it should be but how it seems to work with many people’s psychologies. Inspiration through a lie. (maybe similar to Lee’s Life of Pi, or Sigh’s The Fall, which deal with self/other deception in order to convey a realistic message because the character is either too immature/weak, or unwilling to face reality head on)
It reminds me of the of the photography vs paining debate. Photography, it is said, is not art, because it only documents, it does not produce anything new, or its own. It just copies, it does not produce or create. If Hollywood switched to producing only documentaries, I’m pretty sure its audience would drop, and then it would go broke. And the first story teller with extraordinary story to step out would become a literary hero again. So, who’s to blame if people themselves are drawn fantasy and exaggeration and seek out the most extraordinary story teller? It’s like sugar addiction; people naturally crave sugar and someone steps in to exploit it - because it is an exploitable craving. Not all are susceptible to it, of course. Some like realistic dramas, and if something in the plot is outside the realistic probabilities the viewer might feel insulted, or looked down upon, and refuse to follow along any further. This could be interpreted in many ways, such as a person who might have an undeveloped imagination, or one who prefers to stay within rigid confines of realism; though he might still identify with childhood fantasy stories (because children will believe in fantasy); but then, he would identify specifically with his own childhood (past self, and not the present).
But this might be an increasing minority of general population, as Hollywood feeds unrealistic “hyper symbolic” and detached and sugar-coated themes to ever increasing audience, as if it tires to preserve and elevate the importance of human life, of self. In Hollywood, no matter what happens with a character, good or bad, it must happen with a bang, flair and fireworks.