There are two things about Fantasy that have always bothered me, one because of my nature and one because of something pointed out to me by my brother.
The first is that in Fantasy, the Past is almost always better than the Future. Indeed, the very success of the genre is because we want to escape to another realm, that feeling of nostalgia that somehow in days of yesteryear, things were better and more simple. The feeling goes that if we could only turn back the clock to those years, things would be so much better.
After reading the book "Hero of a Thousand Faces" I have become convinced that this 'proto myth' is indeed powerful stuff, but I also think 'inspired by' rather than 'steal' is more appropriate here. There are indeed myths where the future holds promise, and while it often comes apart at the end, Camelot comes to mind as a fantasy where, until the end, the future holds great promise despite the fall of the past. Note, there is still a past, the 'glorious' Roman empire, and Arthur is restoring civilization, but there is more to it than that. The Round Table is something more, something new, and something unique. Of course, it still has the nostalgia of the past, but contemporary to itself, it is very bright about the future.
The second tendency my brother pointed out about Birthrights. I mean, I am proud of my heritage, but I am more proud of my actions as an individual. So often, even the greatest of heroes, has their greatness reduced a notch or two because they happened to be born under a lucky star. Now the truth is, that birthright really does help, and many heroes of the real world have managed to do amazing things, in part, because of relatives, resources or biological enhancements that their birth gave to them. But the more impressive heroes to me are the ones that started out with nothing, and somehow managed to carve a niche of greatness in the world.
I think it's more inspiring for a hero to emerge from dogcrap. Everyone roots for the underdog because they see themselves more as the underdog.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I've never seen fantasy as a "return to the past", though it sometimes is. I've seen it as more flexible, an expansion of possibilities.
ReplyDeleteBuffy the Vampire Slayer is a prime example, exploring high school as a literal "hellmouth" and using elements such as magic and monsters to explore very real and very human problems.
What grabs me about fantasy, graphic novels and even Shakespeare's tragedies, is that truth is found between the extremes: the most powerful, the most noble born being is flawed and there's always someone out there who has an ability or knows a way to find and use those flaws to hurt or even destroy the hero. That's the conflict: will the "hero" rise above his or her flaws to triumph.
Someone who pulls themselves up from nothing is also "nobel" and "heroic", but they still have flaws to deal with that someone can use to send them plummeting back to the dung heap.
Interesting stuff Tom. Thanks for sharing the development of your creative process!