Realism vs Satisfaction in Narrative/Storytelling?

[MrBehemoth]

Interesting question, Kreekakon. First, I want to say something about the terminology. If what you mean by "satisfaction" is "wish fulfilment", then we have a word for that already: "fantasy". Not in the elves and dragons sense, but in the sense of a work of fiction that is desirably unrealistic. So the question really comes down reality versus fantasy. In your DBZ example, humanity joining hands and minds to overcome a common evil would have been the more fantastical outcome.

I don't think reality and fantasy are mutually exclusive, except where a particular story calls for it, as you acknowledge. The best stories have both. LOTR / Middle Earth is what always springs to my mind when searching for story examples and it works quite well here because, underneath the battles and magic and heroism, it's a story about a world changing from a fantastical to a realistic one. The destruction of the Ring heralds the end of the time of the Elves and the departure of magic from the world. As Frodo kills a fallen god by destroying his horcrux and is rescued by eagles from an exploding volcano, so too is the fantasy killed and the gritty realism of the world is too much for him. He is basically a PTSD survivor and living in the cold, hard, realistic Middle Earth of the 4th age is too much for him.

It's a bit of a trite summary, I know, but my point is about how LOTR (imho one the most important works of literature in the English language, dare you to disagree) uses fantasy and realism together.

Now, as for character development, I think, because our brains are uniquely wired for recognising and analysing other personas, characters should always behave realistically, no matter what situation they're in. This what is typically wrong with action films and light SF/F stories. An example of this working well would be in a certain kind of survival horror (movies) like, I dunno, 28 Days Later, since Wooderson mentioned it. The situation is completely fantastical, but the characters, rather than being heroic, just want to feel safe again.

Realistic characters, with realistic motivations and choices, work perfectly well in fantastical situations. And Woody is right, the more fantastic a situation is, the more willing we are to forgive.

So, inconclusion, I think that fantasy and realism belong together and I think any time you find yourself wondering about the realism of a story, there is something wrong with how the the characters are approaching it.