Face it. You know about fantasy stories. Dragons, Wizards, heroes with magic swords and all the rest. We all know about them. But there may be a problem after so long.
See after so many books, TV shows, Video Games and Movies, fantasy setting are beginning to become generic. Boy or girl with implausibly ridiculous name has to go on a quest to kill some nasty evil that may or may not be related to him (if he is related to the hero then it will be revealed after an ill-fated fight between the hero and evil dude or their last battle.) because he has some kind of unnatural power(he or she will also strip away any common sense avalible to normal humans, becoming Genre Blind and show such amazing displays of intelligence such as standing around and doing nothing while bad guy gets away with magic thing of doom/salvation). Along the way he will meet some people that will help him such as and old man, a tough guy (who will undoubtedly be the first one charge a certain tough minion of the evil dude and get tossed aside in the blink of an eye), a hot chick (or a dashing hero if hero is a girl) who team up and encounter magic people, dragons and blah blah blah blah BLAH.
Now tell me. How many fantasy stories have you seen with this kind of stuff happen, let it be Games, Movies, Shows ect? I would say A WHOLE FRIGGIN' LOT. And that is the problem. There have been so many fantasy based media that it has become nigh impossible to make ANYTHING that has the same fantasy themes and not be called generic, cliched or derivative.
To show how I felt let me tell you a story. Last year I had to do an assignment for my English assignment and this assignment involved making your own fantasy-themed movie and doing a speech about it. Now I was in panic, for I was horrified at the idea of having to write up a generic fantasy story (and you could not put any elements that had to do with sci-fi, which saddened me) and then having to do a speech about something I would find generic sunk me to depression(For the record: In the speach you were meant to pretend you were suggesting your ideas to a film company). I was anguished for weeks, I couldn't think of anything that I wouldn't find generic and so I repeatedly missed the deadline and lost marks until I got lucky and came up with an idea that I did not find cliched. The story I made wound up being the mutant love child of Doctor Who and Bioshock with a few Lord of the Rings elements thrown in, not to mentioned being set in 1928. (And trust me. If I had my way it would have had aliens in it as well)
That brings up a point, is the only thing left for fantasy is for the media to think outside the box? To slowly put modern elements and sci-fi in them till they make full sci-fi fantasy movies? But there is one thing I know. Making a traditional fantasy story these days is rough ground indeed.
So what do you think? Are traditional fantasy stories dead? Or is there still hope?
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1 comment:
I suggest a read through the “Song of Ice and Fire” series. The fantasy elements are largely subdued, but the setting, structure and especially the characters are brilliant. It certainly doesn’t follow the typical plot you mentioned in your blog.
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