We’ve been talking a lot about fantasy in this blog lately, and mostly we’ve been speaking about the positive things. Understandable, since I am such a massive fantasy nerd.
However, I am not oblivious to the fact that fantasy is not everybody’s cup of tea.
Again, I have covered in other articles the criticisms that some people have of fantasy. criticisms that are fair. It must be said though, not all criticisms of fantasy is fair, which is what we will be discussing to day.
What are some bad reasons to hate fantasy?
The primary reason why people hate fantasy is because they say it is unrealistic. This leads people to say that those who watch fantasy end up being unproductive in the real world. They may then say that fantasy can’t connect to people because of its unrealistic nature. Some dislike fantasy because it desensitizes people to violence. Others may argue that fantasy is childish.
These all have the same thing in common, in that they misunderstand it. All stories exists to make a single point. Sometimes to make your point, you need to extend your metaphor vocabulary, and conjure scenarios that don’t exist. As long as the point you are making is sound and valid, then your point was successful.
That’s absolutely a mouthful, so I will try to break it down for you guys as easily as I can. We will be breaking it down into these 10 basic arguments, and explaining how each is answered by our explanation.
1. Fantasy Is Unrealistic
The first reason bad reason we could give to dislike fantasy is to argue that it is a bit unrealistic for us.
Now, I know exactly what we are talking about here.
The talking animals, elemental manipulation, dragons, magic weapons, and the magical creatures all around us. People who argue fantasy is unrealistic tend to not even be bothered by the medieval European setting, even the made up nature of the world. What bothers them is the people flying through walls, and just the general magic.
This however misses the point of fantasy, as it is not meant to be taken as real.
All stories are an argument. The story possess 5 elements; characters, setting, POV, plot and the theme. All these things work to show us a central lesson.
Basically, a central argument.
Our character starts of as arrogant, and through the plot, the setting, the POV, and the themes, we see the character become humble. The central message in the story could be something like, ‘Humility makes you a better, happier person’. This is how all stories work. They make an argument.
However, sometimes you can’t make an argument using just recognizable means.
I could try to teach my sibling not to play with a stove by retelling the time I got burnt. But what if I had to tell my youngest child something more abstract such as “keep your word” in a way that is simple to understand?
Well, I use the Pied Piper story.
Even for adults, we have biblical stories to tell teach them about keeping your word, such as the story of Jonah.
The point is, sometimes you need to come up with extra ordinary situations but as long as it works towards making your argument, then it absolutely is real. Maybe its not real that you can call rats with your flute, but is it not real that you should keep your word?
2 Fantasy Readers Are Unproductive In The Real World
The second poor reason we can come up with for disliking fantasy is that it makes the readers unproductive.
Now, this is an argument we can only reach if we kept to the first point.
We would argue that people who watch fantasy only see horses, and people breathing fireballs. Therefore, how could they know how to have everyday interactions? There is no breathing fireballs in the real world.
Instead, if they watched a drama they would see people in relationships, and how complex those could get. Thus they would know how to behave properly in a relationship, or risk their partner being unfaithful.
However this makes a terrible mistake again, as this is based on the misunderstanding that fantasy is made for those magic things.
Instead of the truth, which is that fantasy is made to teach life lessons. And any good fantasy fan is definitely up for learning these lesson.
A survey was conducted in 2015 which found that 72.2 % of the fantasy readers were employed or self-employed; 70,5% were in a relationship, and 82,4% had a university level education.
Why are fantasy readers doing so well? Because they learned great lessons from fantasy. Hard-work, loyalty, honesty, discipline, self-sacrifice, comradery etc.
It would be easy for us to assume that fantasy readers who do not watch other shows like crime shows or drama shows are a bit behind in learning social behaviors. This way they will probably be ruined, and taken advantage of, or never have a comfortable life. The thing is we neglect to realize that learning these things does not help us avoid these things, instead it attracts these things into our lives. Those who learn honest, attract such too.
3. Fantasy Does Not Connect Well
The third bad reasons is because it does not connect well to the people.
Now when it comes to this one, we have to admit that some people just connect to things differently. Fantasy is one of the most successful genres in the world today, if not the most. This would show how it is very good at connecting to people.
Many people see themselves in a lot of these characters.
They see traits they wish they could imbody in their lives in some of the characters. Not necessarily wishing to embody the trait of being a billionaire, and having an iron suit, then flying to school everyday (though i am sure this is absolutely a common fantasy.).
Rather, traits like constant improvement, as shown by Iron Man. No matter where you place him, even in a cave, he will always improve and come out better. People living in harsh situations, abusive homes etc, all want to get better. They want to improve. And to do that, they channel Iron Man.
However, it could be that this is not you, and if it isn’t, then that is completely fair.
4. Fantasy Desensitizes People To Violence
The fourth bad reason to hate fantasy is because it desensitizes people to violence.
This is a reason that used to come up often in the good ol’days.
One would think that it was gone for good, from how rarely one hears it. But as I was doing the research for this article, I was surprised to find this argument come up. I am not sure if I should respond to it or not, but for the sake of being safe, I will give it a tender go.
Media does not make people violent.
Whether it is violent music, violent movies, or violent games, people are not led to behave violently just from the shows they consume.
Again, even the violence shown in these violent mediums serves a purpose. More often then not, it is sending a message. In 300, the violence was sending the message of patriotism. Yet in other shows, such as Squid Game, the violence served the purpose of showing the brutality of modern day work culture.
It’s not the violence that is learned, it is the lessons.
5. Fantasy is too childish
The fifth reason people could give why they do not like fantasy is that it is too childish for them.
This is argument is one of the most fascinating that we could ever conjure, especially seeing the research I’ve done.
I could not help but notice repeatedly that the number 1 group of people who use this argument are self-conscious fantasy consumers themselves. Whether it is fantasy writers, or fantasy readers, it seems as if the fantasy fans are always pointing out just how immature fantasy is.
However, we could try to understand this too.
The argument goes that the fantasy stories have simplistic characters, bright abilities, and worlds, and as a result, it is a childish thing. This is not true for a rather simple reason.
A Song Of Ice And Fire.
There are many words I would use to describe A Song Of Ice And Fire. Childish is not one of them. Remember, the primary goal of fantasy is to make a point. To teach a lesson.
If you can do that by simplifying your message into the Pied Piper legend, then go on right ahead. This way, even children will understand it.
But as Tolkien himself put it, the best fantasy is the one that can teach even adults a thing or two.
A Song Of Ice and Fire is a story about houses squabbling about politics, while a greater natural disaster that will destroy them all looms above them. If this is not a perfect description of our modern day Global Warming situation, nothing ever will be.
6. Fantasy Had Made Up Words
The sixth reason why people would dislike fantasy is because the words are made up.
I must confess I struggle to completely understand this one. I have raised my criticisms on the nature of made up words in fantasy. Words that are clearly letters tossed together at random, but follow no observable grammar (even if it is a grammar of a language that we do not know).
This is bad writing, and honestly feels disrespectful. It must cease at once, or of with its head.
But if you dislike all made up words, then I have three words for you: Sony, and Kodak.
7. Fantasy Is Demonic
The seventh reason people could dislike fantasy is because it is demonic.
This is again another example of a situation that takes these stories on face value level, and ignores the subtexts of the stories. If all stories that feature demon, or devil like characters are evil, than that means half of all Christian/religious literature is also evil and demonic.
Including the Bible.
The one thing that should matter in all stories is the message of the story, and what the book is trying to say.
Looking at it from that perspectives, most fantasy stories fall into one of two camps; either they are non-religious works, or they are expressly religious/Christian pieces.
8. Fantasy Has The Same Plot
The eight bad reason to dislike fantasy is because they all have the same plot.
This one is a rather fair argument, though not entirely true.
I think that a lot of these stories did follow the farm boy trope, and at first, I considered we talk about how this is just the staple of a genre.
It would be strange to say you do not like mystery because in all mystery stories something happens and we do not know who did it for most of the story. That’s just mystery.
However, I feel there is a better way of explaining this away. Modern Fantasy.
Modern fantasy books have changed drastically from traditional stories. These days, the stories tend to not have any farm kids. instead, we see the characters in a range of diverse story types. In fact, there is a new fad of joining multiple genres into fantasy. Such as joining fantasy with the heist genre. So, that is interesting.
9. Fantasy Stories Are Made In Medieval Europe
The ninth bad reason people could dislike fantasy is because it takes place in medieval europe.
This one is also solved with modern fantasy. A lot of modern fantasy books are slowly disengaging from medieval Europe, and we are beginning to experience the rest of the world. This is all turning out to be awesome.
Once you can understand what makes people hate fantasy, you will learn how to create your own perfect fantasy story. Then you will be that much closer to mastering mastery.