Fantasy Asks: Where the Reality Ends?

This study will examine Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose Of Cairo (1985) in the context of the placement of its main character, Cecilia, between the worlds of ‘reality’ and ‘fantasy’. Employing the prominent method in the field of film studies, namely that of discourse analysis, this study first will emphasize the distinction between the ‘real’ and the ‘reality’. Second, it will elaborate the historical, cultural, economical and social circumstances that structure the ‘reality’ of Cecilia’s life. Then, it will question the effects of Hollywood Industry on the spectatorship of women. Lastly, it will describe how Cecilia constructs her own ‘reality’ through the fantasies her mind produces; and in conclusion this study will answer the title question as “reality ends in film theaters since films take the spectators to the worlds of fantasy, at the same time a new reality begins in film theaters since the spectators carry that fantasy into each moment of life as Cecilia does”