Tolkien's Elves

One might not fully comprehend how Tolkein set the standard. One might not even realize how influencial his work was and, how it limited fantasy right off the get go. I mean look at Star Trek and the Vulcans; tall, elegant and with an unearthly beauty. Sound familar? How about the so-called Standard of the Dungeons and Dragons/Forgotten Realms Series? Andre Norton and the With World's Green People of the Valley?

They're more than just another fantasy race but a standard of that boy discovering the vale of the elves for the first time, a la Frodo. It's that cliche that all fantasy must ALWAYS be about discovering a new fantastical world that is different from anything ever imagined. Don't believe me? Go to your local bookstore (Borders for me) and just stroll down the isle and look at the backcovers for books. Sure you'll find the morsals of goodness that don't revolve around Eragon crap but the magority's centered around this fake ideal of, "The land of the elves." Oh lets talk to talking dragons! Lets Dance with the Fairies. And yet when you look at the Fantasy Best Sellers, outside of the Potter Clones, most of them are about something more.

Tolkien's Elves are an anchor, weighing down into some primal belief that angels walk among us. World of Warcraft proves this in their oh-so cliche Elves. Hell, even their dark Elves contain in them an elegant beauty that follows the trend.

Why am I putting such a big deal about this? Because this is how people thought of Science Fiction in media back in the beginnings of Television. People thought, "Scifi is only for the children." How many watched those black and whites about that space hero fighting intergalactic foes? Millions. (I forgot the name of that show) And yet today Scifi explores adult themes previously unencountered, opening storylines that intrigue the imagination. How many engineers have been influenced by Star Trek? Hundreds! Even in the upper escholons you'll find a couple of them! Scifi allowed for the technology boom, opened people eyes to what was possible.

Don't get me wrong, Fantasy will never achieve that kind of status. Instead, Fantasy is the opportunity for viewers to get out of their daily lives and live the tales that people long ago told. Fantasy can give that escape from the dolldrums of life by indulging your senses to Roman Drama without the cliche Costumes, into the European, "Game of Thrones" and thrust you into worlds where generals die at the hands of tyrants.

-Longbow