the only piont i disagree with your post is that we “see “the dark, creepy maze of the real world” every time I look in the morning paper”… i actually think we dont…
Okay, valid point and good example. What we see in the morning paper is more like what the main character of your piece sees: The entrance into the labyrinth, but there’s a lot more that we (as the viewers of your piece) see that he can’t because we can view how far the labyrinth stretches. But then, even we can’t see the details of what’s in the maze…
Okay, I don’t even know where I’m going with that thought any more…!
But yeah, there’s definitly room for art to have more than one reaction to life, at least as many ways as there are people to live those lives. It’s all valid. I think the most important thing may just be for we, as artists, to figure out our own reactions to the world around us before we can communicate with our art. Anyhow, you’ve certainly covered both parts…

-mike