
art imitating life
The phrase "art imitates life" suggests that creative works often reflect real-world experiences, emotions, and situations, while "life imitates art" suggests that real behaviors or events are sometimes inspired by or resemble works of fiction and art
The idea of life imitating art is a philosophical position or observation about how real behaviors or real events sometimes (or even commonly) resemble, or feel inspired by, works of fiction and art. This can include how people act in such a way as to imitate fictional portrayals or concepts, or how they embody or bring to life certain artistic ideals. The phrase may be considered synonymous with anti-mimesis, the direct opposite of Aristotelian mimesis: art imitating real life. The idea's most notable proponent is Oscar Wilde, who opined in an 1889 essay that, "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life". In the essay, written as a Platonic dialogue, Wilde holds that anti-mimesis "results not merely from Life's imitative instinct, but from the fact that the self-conscious aim of Life is to find expression, and that Art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realise that energy."
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