It starts when I pitch a favourite book, in this example Deerskin, by Robin McKinley. They sound excited until I say the words "fantasy". Their face dips and I'm left trying to explain to them that its a mature fantasy novel. Its sad, because I shouldn't have to. In this example a young woman deals with living in the shadow of her glorious mother, then with her brutal rape and near death experience as a result of her injuries. If it had the name Jodi Picoult slapped on it, that shit would be on Oprah. Instead, its left a difficult and obscure book in the back corner of a store, if its there at all. The idea that a book needs to be placed in a realistic setting is disappointing.
Not since Tolkein has Fantasy had such a place in the spotlight. The likes of Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and the ever troubled Stark family are splayed across magazines and headline popular newspapers and one of the top Television companies. Its made fantasy not only exciting again, but now for an adult audience.
I suppose it goes with the growing trend of youthful creations now made for adults including: Batman, the Marvel Universe, and Harry Potter.
And it is these three things, I think that make fantasy so unapproachable by those who aren't usually used to it. The fandoms and the subculture. The comi-cons and the kids lined up in their Harry Potter robes and glasses. I am in no way dismissing them. Its excellent to embrace a story in such a whole hearted way. To be passionate about something like a stories of the morality of justice, of working as a team or of kindness and love is better than to obsess over darker, more insidious aspects of the world, and often it helps people cope in the ever changing world.
But the world doesn't look at it that way. Look at the silly people in their silly costumes, and their silly stories. That's not real, that could not happen.
It was never about that in fantasy, and I'm going to come back to Tolkein when I look at this. Of course it couldn't happen, that's not the point. Its an alternative means of exploring ideas, thoughts and perspectives on the world.
It was very much Tolkein who wanted to gear this mythical world towards adults. The post World War 1 & 2 minds were bruised and battered by the horrors of reality. In a fantasy world, he made it safe, and he made perceptions of good and evil, once so clear in the eyes of the Western world, clear again. It unburdens the binds or reality so other ideas and perceptions can be explored with out tripping over things in reality that would be called to question. The mythical sword, the magical ring, the blessed trees and rivers now thought of as foolish superstition in history can once again hold sway over the mind of the reader, and of the characters in the tale.
Of course there will always be a bad apple in the genre. For every best seller, there are half a dozen crap romance novels that just don't do anything beyond entertain. The same goes with Fantasy, but just because the characters wear armour, or little at all, doesn't mean their journey is anything less than the arch of a best seller.
Fantasy deserves as much recognition as literature/literary best sellers.
ALSO DID ANYONE SEE THAT EPISODE OF GAME OF THRONES THAT JUST CAME OUT? game changer!
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