Help
I really do believe as the younger generation begin to become the ones who write reviews that the current stigma associated with fantasy/speculative fiction will change, let me explain.
One of the most popular pastimes for young people today is to play those Massive Multiplayer Online Games like Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft. 99% of these types of games are set in some fantasy world and its a very short step for at least some of these players to become excited about reading fantasy.
To confirm this all you need to do is log into any one of these games and you will notice so many variations of well known fantasy character names. Usually if the name is a real popular one the company won't allow the name to be used but variations of it can be.
Of course the LOTR movies are responsible for many of these names but I have seen many others from many books I have read.
Therefore in conclusion I really do believe that the Fantasy genre is on the rise and no longer will it be considered "children's stories" in the very near future. I could be wrong but I really do think that the internet is on side when it comes to fantasy/speculative Fiction.
Rahl
Page 1 of 1
The stigma associated with Fantasy
#2 Guest_Fool_*
Posted 24 January 2006 - 12:07 AM
Uh, kids have always liked fantasy. The only difference between now and the past is that there wasnt a MMORPG around where you could observe them picking names from fantasy books.
I really dont think there are many more people reading fantasy now than 10 years ago (discounting harry potter of course).
I really dont think there are many more people reading fantasy now than 10 years ago (discounting harry potter of course).
#3 Guest_Rahl Windsong_*
Posted 24 January 2006 - 12:45 AM
Hummn well I think you are wrong 
#4
caladanbrood 
- Ugly on the Inside
-
- Group: Team Quick Ben
- Posts: 10,819
- Joined: 07-January 03
- Location:Manchester, UK
Posted 24 January 2006 - 12:46 AM
Of course, a lot more people read fantasy than most people believe. Its just the people employed as "literature critics" who shape people's views of whats popular, and they never recommend fantasy books...
O xein', angellein Lakedaimoniois hoti têde; keimetha tois keinon rhémasi peithomenoi.
#5 Guest_Fool_*
Posted 24 January 2006 - 12:49 AM
Literature critics dont shape any views as to whats popular. I doubt the da vinci code and harry potter got a lot of good reviews.
They shape people view's as to whats worth reading.
They shape people view's as to whats worth reading.
#6 Guest_Harold Bloom_*
Posted 24 January 2006 - 01:07 AM
There are two stigmas associated with the works of written fantasy: literary and social. I don't think that these have changed. Here's mnsho on both:
Socially:
There is no reason why reading a Tom Clancy or John Grisham novel should be more socially acceptable than reading something by Erikson, Bakker, or Martin. The stigma clearly has nothing to do with literary merit since many people read non-fantasy novels as meritless as %99 of epic fantasy. I think most of the stigma comes from the coddling and diversionary effects of nearly all of epic fantasy, children's fantasy, and fairy tales. It's too bad that nonfantasy readers don't know how gritty some of the latest epics are.
Literary:
The literary stigma against fantasy has merit. However, it is mainly against epic fantasy and doesn't prevent writers like Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Borges, Kafka, and Gogol from being well respected and even esteemed in literary circles.
Socially:
There is no reason why reading a Tom Clancy or John Grisham novel should be more socially acceptable than reading something by Erikson, Bakker, or Martin. The stigma clearly has nothing to do with literary merit since many people read non-fantasy novels as meritless as %99 of epic fantasy. I think most of the stigma comes from the coddling and diversionary effects of nearly all of epic fantasy, children's fantasy, and fairy tales. It's too bad that nonfantasy readers don't know how gritty some of the latest epics are.
Literary:
The literary stigma against fantasy has merit. However, it is mainly against epic fantasy and doesn't prevent writers like Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Borges, Kafka, and Gogol from being well respected and even esteemed in literary circles.
#7 Guest_Sonnyboy_*
Posted 24 January 2006 - 12:09 PM
Tom Clancy and John Grisham novels get adapted into popular mainstream Hollywood movies. So whether or not their novels are better than those of any fantasy author you name is beside the point. Fantasy adaptations are seldom adapted into films. That trend may change with the massive success of the LotR and Potter films. If the Narnia films do good box office, we may see even more fantasy films in the future. Of course, the appeal of Tolkien, Lewis, and Rowling extends far beyond the Fantasy genre. I think we need a major studio to take a chance on a less widely known book or series.
Anyway, sales of Fantasy have been consistently growing. The readership is huge. But you'll never see Erikson or any of the others accepted by literary critics simply because they are basically mass-market pulp fiction, just like anything by Grisham or Clancy. Being a reader of Fantasy won't be as stigmatized in the future, certainly. It's not the geekiest section of the bookstore anymore (that honour goes to military history).
Epic fantasy will never gain literary acceptance because it contains little literary merit. Those who spend their lives studying literature have little if anything to gain from typical sword-and-sorcery Fantasy.
Anyway, sales of Fantasy have been consistently growing. The readership is huge. But you'll never see Erikson or any of the others accepted by literary critics simply because they are basically mass-market pulp fiction, just like anything by Grisham or Clancy. Being a reader of Fantasy won't be as stigmatized in the future, certainly. It's not the geekiest section of the bookstore anymore (that honour goes to military history).
Epic fantasy will never gain literary acceptance because it contains little literary merit. Those who spend their lives studying literature have little if anything to gain from typical sword-and-sorcery Fantasy.
#8
Tsundoku
- A what?
-
- Group: Malaz Regular
- Posts: 4,663
- Joined: 06-January 03
- Location:Maison de merde
Posted 26 January 2006 - 01:57 AM
The Internut and the growing adaptation to technophile lifestyles has made the geekier pursuits cooler than they once were. That's not to say they are as worshipped as sport (except in Korea), but since everyone in the OECD nations is into something or other that once would have been considered the exclusive province of (despised) geeks, society as a whole grows more accepting of the other traditionally geeky pursuits - like Fantasy/SciFi etc.
I think at the moment it's really only the liternazis that are still looking down on the genre, because of course to be considered "literature" a work must be archaic or read by less than 1000 people. W@nkers.
Yeah, F/SF is mass-market, but it's really lumped in with the rest these days in peoples' minds, rather than singled out. It has a separate section in bookstores, but then again so does Biography, Classics, etc.
Cheers,
La Sombra, adjusts his beret, smooths his goatee and sips his w@nka-ccino
I think at the moment it's really only the liternazis that are still looking down on the genre, because of course to be considered "literature" a work must be archaic or read by less than 1000 people. W@nkers.
Yeah, F/SF is mass-market, but it's really lumped in with the rest these days in peoples' minds, rather than singled out. It has a separate section in bookstores, but then again so does Biography, Classics, etc.
Cheers,
La Sombra, adjusts his beret, smooths his goatee and sips his w@nka-ccino
"Fortune favors the bold, though statistics favor the cautious." - Indomitable Courteous (Icy) Fist, The Palace Job - Patrick Weekes
"Well well well ... if it ain't The Invisible C**t." - Billy Butcher, The Boys
"I have strong views about not tempting providence and, as a wise man once said, the difference between luck and a wheelbarrow is, luck doesn’t work if you push it." - Colonel Orhan, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City - KJ Parker
"Well well well ... if it ain't The Invisible C**t." - Billy Butcher, The Boys
"I have strong views about not tempting providence and, as a wise man once said, the difference between luck and a wheelbarrow is, luck doesn’t work if you push it." - Colonel Orhan, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City - KJ Parker
Share this topic:
Page 1 of 1