The First Academic Explanation For How Spectators Use Their Imaginations As Part Of The Experience And Appreciation Of Popular Fantasy Filmmaking.2022 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Shortlisted For The 2022 Best First Monograph Award Presented By The British Association Of Film, Television And Screen Studies Hollywood Fantasy Cinema Is Responsible For Some Of The Most Lucrative Franchises Produced Over The Past Two Decades, Yet It Remains Difficult To Find Popular Or Critical Consensus On What The Experience Of Watching Fantasy Cinema Actually Entails. What Makes Something A Fantasy Film, And What Unique Pleasures Does The Genre Offer? In Encountering The Impossible, Alexander Sergeant Solves The Riddle Of The Fantasy Film By Theorizing The Underlying Experience Of Imagination Alluded To In Scholarly Discussions Of The Genre.