I think so. TV also tries to "educate" people about what's legal and what's not. Shit shows like Law and Order have convinced people that guns are illegal and there was a story years about in Tennessee about some couple looking at a house and the wife freaks out after seeing a gun case loaded with rifles in a house they were touring. That is also from the media telling people the gun itself is a bad thing.

Yes, children do this, remember being a child and being whisked away by becoming a character in a great book you read? Many people never grow up and develop the reasoning skills to understand the difference between fiction writing and reality. For some its a matter of IQ, others, I'm not sure, perhaps fantasy has such a pull on them that they wish to live in the fantasy rather than face reality. Far too many women are like this as well, its why we really need to put a stop to the princess stories.

Oh yeah and I have had conversations with people about writing/reading non-fiction, they were obsessed with it being the absolute truth and not embellished at all. Its as if they don't comprehend the reason or the intent of writing (or the resulting acting out of the writing on screen). The intent to manipulate, and on multiple levels. Shit becomes nefarious real quick which is why some just refuse to accept it even though they are mentally capable of comprehension, emotionally, they reject it and embrace the fantasy as reality.