Science
fiction and heroic fantasy were mostly for men, however, Le Guinn’s style of
fantasy includes pure creation of the imagination and this fantasy appeals to
both women and men. According to Tax (2002), the genre viewed in America
included contemporary realism with monsters, ghosts. Living writers with their
work not grounded in realistic, contemporary premise were disqualified by genre
from the libraries being shelved with “literature”. Following on Tax (2002),
Ursula Le Guinn has written forty books and none of them is predictable and don’t
know whether to classify the Earthsea books as children’s literature of adult.
Le Guinn explains that people turn to the realms of fantasy for stability
because of our rapid moral and mental transformations which can be unsettling
for people. Fantasy becomes a commodity for the readers and Le Guinn’s science
fiction is about political and social life with imaginary societies and deals
with revolution. Le Guinn quotes “The great fantasies, myths, and tales are
indeed like dreams...” . According to Armitt (2005), ‘fantasy’ is a word
commonly criticized by literary and non-literary. Where fantasising is ‘airy-fairy,’
then, realism is ‘grounded’. Fantasy enjoys along with the unconscious with a
greater freedom from our daily lives and avoiding the real life stories. According
to Attebery (1980), fantasy invokes wonder by making the impossible seem
familiar and the familiar seem new and strange. When we read fantasy we explore
the unknown and characters adventure in the mysterious land. There is always a connection between Christianity and
fantasy where Christians don’t allow people to watch fantasy movies, for
example, Harry Potter, Lord of the rings. However, I believe it’s about the
type of movies that can influence people these days that Christians are aware
of. In the last chapter in the bible (revelation) has the whole fantasy background
where many of the directors get their ideas from. I myself as a Christian believe
that it is not about what movies people should watch or not watch, but a lot of
fantasy and action movies are highly influential.
Armitt,
L. (2005). Fantasy fiction: An introduction. New York: The continuum
international publishing group.
Attebery,
B. (1980). The fantasy tradition in
American literature: From irving to Le Guinn. Bloomington: Indiana U P.
Le
Guinn, U. (1993; 1968). The earthsea
quartet. London: Penguin.
Tax,
M. (2002). Year of Harry Potter, enter
the dragon. In The nation.
A good understanding of fantasy shown here. Can Christian values be affirmed by this Pagan literature?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, following on your question I believe that Christian values cannot be affirmed by Pagan literature because Pagan literature is not acknowledging the God of Christianity and Judaism and Islam. I believe that Christian values are very different from Pagan literature and also linking to fantasy, Pagan literature can expand on their beliefs on fantasy God and the whole setting of the after world etc, however Christianity is believing in one God but up to them to accept and to watch fantasy genres without doubting their faith.
ReplyDeleteMay Kim - a fair comment on my question. However values might be understood to include such things as truthfulness, sincerity, faith, steadfastness, awareness of the spiritual dimension. Your comment did not so much relate to values as to cosmology and the belief in a single god. Any comment on this?
ReplyDeleteBelieving in a single God means to have all those values truthfulness, sincerity, faith and more. Many fantasy type movies have their own God of their high priests who rules the world and the universe. However, in Christianity, it is always about love and the peace to the world and by believing we are free from the sins, however, in the movies or in the fantasy stories God is presented with lot of anger and selfishness. The God image in the stories and in the movies want to rule the whole world with their only power or by stealing the enemies power. Values of believing a God is more to do with love, security, peace to yourself and the world.
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