The Mechanics of Change

Let’s face it, fantasy is in the doldrums. And, as much as I’d like to believe that movies such as Prince Caspian will force epic fantasy to the forefront, the more I feel that the movie will take fantasy a step backwards. Not that it doesn’t look like a good movie, but I feel myself skeptical of how it will feed us anything but the usual hero-fantasy dribble we’ve been force fed over the past few years.

Rise-to-power fantasy has been following a particular trend that seems almost SCREAMING for change. What am I talking about? Let me lay it out for you.

Lord of the rings started, as many know, as a children’s storybook. It captured the imagination of Tolkein’s extensive mythology background, and played on that to create a quaint little story of overcoming monsters. Not that this is an overall bad premise, but in all respects it was a forgettable one. But, like all great fantasy that came after it, it grew darker and darker. With each telling, the world shaped into an unforgiving world … a world of dark desires where greed rules all and heroes are defined as men who define common logic. Men who’s morals, based on nothing really, drive them to uphold what we define as “good” and sane. So, as the story goes, the story went from childhood tale, to dark after it sucked you in.

How about Harry Potter? Any fan will tell you, comparing the first book to the rest of the series will reveal that the first book is farrrrrrrr on the “light” side of the things that the books that preceeded it. So, in that respect, it followed the Tolkein template to perfection.

Now Prince Caspian comes along, apparently born of that same light, that same old adage. And, while I love that these classics are brought to the screne, I feel it may put the final nail in the fantasy coffin. That fantasy only falls into a neat little box, and can only draw in audiences by appealing to CHILDREN first and foremost, that fantasy in and of itself cannot appeal to the adult crowd. Sounds familiar? It should.

Margaret and Tracy Hickman reviewed their dragons of autumn twilight animated “movie” on their podcast a couple of months ago. In it, they describe their disappointment on how the producers dumbed the book down, focusing not as much on the characters and creating a tone that concentrated more on the aesthetics rather than appeals of emotion.

The problem, in my eyes, is that fantasy doesn’t have any real outlet to inspire change. Star Trek created fans, and challenged the normalcy of Science Fiction, breaking the common mold by inspiring those that came after it to appeal to a broader audience. No longer was Science Fiction a simple Saturday morning cartoon. The comic industry went through a similar change in the 50s, when there came a gradual transformation from goofy cartoons to sex-appealing, adult themed graphic novels such as “The Dark Knight Returns”, “Camelot 3000” and “The Watchmen”.

So, what does fantasy have? NOBODY! Did anyone watch that horror that was Eragon? How about that girl-infested girl with the bear movie that tanked? Or how about In the name of the King, featuring BURT REYNOLDS as a king! I mean GOOD GOD! Sure, its hard to change. Why would an executive fund a money based on a premise that has no real example in the fantasy realm to go on? We know HP made money, so why in the world would we do something else? Sure, LOTR was semi-adult theme, but it still had a child character in the center role. So, in this respects, I can’t entirely blame them.

Then again, outside the world of media, there is such a book that defines that fantasy needs. I’m sure you all know the author. Yes, friends, George R. R. Martain gives us hope. Let us pray that, someday, it might find itself on the silver screen.