The aim of the Tall Tales project is to explore the therapeutic value of “contemporary fabulations,” especially fake news and conspiracy theories. Starting from the folk-tale tradition of lying as a healing-ritual, I aim to analyze how conspiracies satisfy the need for fantasy, control, and self-importance, but also the possibility of restoring the sacred space in which lies can exist without harmful consequences on reality.

The term “belief narratives” refers to a system of beliefs, often rooted in folklore, that someone intentionally adopts with the aim of improving their life through a narrative, while understanding that it might not be true from a factual/logical/empirical point of view. The mechanics are similar to fake news and conspiracy fantasies. These work because they present a compelling narrative, but also because they fulfill a therapeutic need. They offer a hyperbolic, fantastic explanation, to a real, often not completely verbalized, problem/anxiety. The goal of my project is exploring the possibility of creating belief narratives for the modern age, by subverting conspiracy theories. I am interested in the extent to which this subject, depressing by its very nature, can be treated in a playful manner, the extent to which the audience can be drawn into the game, and whether the language of folk tales, generally perceived as an “escape from reality,” can be used as vehicles for “a return.”

My project offers playful and fabulous narrative solutions for “decredibilization” by recontextualizing fake news and transforming them into fantastic narratives, in an approach that combines literary text with illustration. Using language specific to folk tales and popular literature (comics, pop-up books, choose-your-own-adventure narratives), the result aims to be formally accessible and conceptually challenging.