Opinions on fantasy fiction, I has them
The reason I read fantasy is not escapism, which is the motive that I think many non-fantasy readers would be quick to assign. To people whose only information about fantasy comes from seeing Lord of the Rings movie posters (or seeing the movies, for that matter) or a brief glance at D&D cards, it seems like fantasy is all about the flashy surface elements. Pointy-eared elves, furry-footed hobbits, and barbarian queens riding on white tigers. The entire genre gets stereotyped as being cartoonish and juvenile and probably poorly written, and people who otherwise know a lot about books don't even think to question that assumption. Accordingly, every single mainstream review of George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series can't help being insultingly impressed that they don't suck.
(The worst offender, in my opinion: "A fantasy series for hip, smart people, even those who don't read fantasy." -Detroit Free Press... Yeah, unlike the rest of us pimple-faced dumbasses who do read fantasy, way to insult your target audience and p.s., I hope you die in a fire.)
In any case, I like fantasy and sci-fi because they allow you to explore situations that simply aren't possible otherwise. If you're writing historical fiction, the process goes like so: "If I have this character (say, a black general who is a fundamentally good man but prone to jealousy) in this place and time period (primarily white, 16th century Venice), then what would he think/feel/do in this situation?" And while there is plenty to be done with that, fantasy allows you to take it one step further and engineer the world itself, giving your characters questions and issues undreamt-of outside speculative fiction.
Take the issue of racism, for example, which is already explosive enough, and now imagine it applied to relations between different species. Might the presence of a different species finally give humans the impetus to overcome our intra-species racism? Like, now that we think about it, black skin vs. white skin isn't really that big a deal compared to the need for a united front against FURRY SIX-LEGGED ALIENS. And you know that someone would want to fuck them. What's society going to think of that? Is it disapproved of? Illegal? Is it okay so long as the aliens have intelligence on par with humans? Do most people not believe that the aliens are as smart as humans, because they don't look it, and how kindly would the aliens take to that? Are the people who dig them going to get shit for it, the way furries do? Would an interspecies relationship be able to meet our expectations of romance? Would it meet theirs? What if the social position of the people involved puts an added strain on the relationship? What if sex with these critters causes cyanide poisoning in humans?
(Yes, this is what I ponder. And that's barely scratching the surface.)
In essence, fantasy isn't about the trappings, the magic fireballs and telepathically bonded unicorns/dragons/whatever, it's about that great, open-ended "if-then." If [this world], then... what? Sky's the limit.
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This is actually the precursor to a longer piece I'm writing, about world-building a society's attitudes toward homosexuality.
(The worst offender, in my opinion: "A fantasy series for hip, smart people, even those who don't read fantasy." -Detroit Free Press... Yeah, unlike the rest of us pimple-faced dumbasses who do read fantasy, way to insult your target audience and p.s., I hope you die in a fire.)
In any case, I like fantasy and sci-fi because they allow you to explore situations that simply aren't possible otherwise. If you're writing historical fiction, the process goes like so: "If I have this character (say, a black general who is a fundamentally good man but prone to jealousy) in this place and time period (primarily white, 16th century Venice), then what would he think/feel/do in this situation?" And while there is plenty to be done with that, fantasy allows you to take it one step further and engineer the world itself, giving your characters questions and issues undreamt-of outside speculative fiction.
Take the issue of racism, for example, which is already explosive enough, and now imagine it applied to relations between different species. Might the presence of a different species finally give humans the impetus to overcome our intra-species racism? Like, now that we think about it, black skin vs. white skin isn't really that big a deal compared to the need for a united front against FURRY SIX-LEGGED ALIENS. And you know that someone would want to fuck them. What's society going to think of that? Is it disapproved of? Illegal? Is it okay so long as the aliens have intelligence on par with humans? Do most people not believe that the aliens are as smart as humans, because they don't look it, and how kindly would the aliens take to that? Are the people who dig them going to get shit for it, the way furries do? Would an interspecies relationship be able to meet our expectations of romance? Would it meet theirs? What if the social position of the people involved puts an added strain on the relationship? What if sex with these critters causes cyanide poisoning in humans?
(Yes, this is what I ponder. And that's barely scratching the surface.)
In essence, fantasy isn't about the trappings, the magic fireballs and telepathically bonded unicorns/dragons/whatever, it's about that great, open-ended "if-then." If [this world], then... what? Sky's the limit.
----
This is actually the precursor to a longer piece I'm writing, about world-building a society's attitudes toward homosexuality.