The Supernatural In Entertainment

Some genres allow for a far more organic inclusion of traditionally supernatural beings or events than others do.  Fantasy (Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones) and adventure (Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider) lend themselves particularly well to explorations of religious and supernatural subjects.  In fantasy, this is because supernatural abilities like magic are often somewhat prevalent.  In the adventure genre, this is because the stories often feature legends of the supernatural that are revealed to be at least partially true.

Fantasy is more likely to incorporate its respective supernatural aspects into the very fabric of the worldbuilding, with entire races or groups being affiliated with blatant supernatural powers--though the occasional story keeps the use of magic to a minimum.  Adventure, to the contrary, often keeps the supernatural in the background, emphasizing it in the finale.  Despite these key differences in story presentation, no other genres fit supernaturality into their narratives as naturally.

Tomb Raider (2013), following the tradition of many adventure
stories, features a supernatural nemesis--something intriguingly
 left out of the 2018 movie.

Entertainment, partly because of the way the supernatural is usually handled in these genres, implicitly encourages to an understanding of the supernatural that excludes the recognition of certain things as being separate from nature.  As entertainment is made by people, and most people do not understand the supernatural, this is hardly strange.  Many people grossly overcomplicate the notion of the supernatural: not only are traditional supernatural beings (unembodied spirits, whether divine, angelic, or demonic) or realms (the afterlife) entirely logically possible, but people also do not need to verify that any of them exist to know the existence of supernatural things.

Since something must only be distinct from nature to be supernatural, the laws of logic, basic consciousness, and even the nonphysical space that holds matter are supernatural.  Every contemplation of first principles, act of introspection, and use of deduction is an inherently supernatural activity, since it is only possible because of things separate from the material world.  Logic, consciousness, and space are deeply connected to nature--logic because it governs all things, including material objects, consciousness because it animates physical bodies, and space because it holds matter itself--but none of them are a component of nature.

Entertainment often reinforces a faulty understanding of supernaturalism by treating only things such as divine activity, disembodied spirits, and post-mortem existence as supernatural.  Because entertainment can easily influence many aspects of a culture, it is not surprising that many are accepting of this understanding of the supernatural, despite its glaring flaws.  There are multiple supernatural things that people regularly overlook simply because of a popular misconception about what it means to be beyond nature, despite the rational obviousness of its errors.