The act of interpreting, explaining, or re-framing real-world political events, ideologies, or figures through the lens of fictional narratives—especially those from pop
culture like movies, comic books, fantasy novels, or
TV shows.
• Comparing politicians to fictional heroes or villains (e.g., calling someone a “real-life Thanos” or “
like Palpatine”).
• Using fictional dystopias to comment on current policy.
• Recasting real political debates within the moral or narrative structure of a fictional universe.
“Social media is full of
people polifictionalizing the election, turning every candidate into some kind of superhero or supervillain.”
“The article was less journalism and more polifictionalizing—comparing climate policy to scenes from ‘The
Hunger Games.’”
“He’s brilliant at polifictionalizing complex policies, making them feel
like plot points in a Netflix series everyone’s already emotionally invested in.”