Fantasy is the best policy

[vovat]

Yesterday I read Crackpot, a book of essays by John Waters (more on that in another post, possibly), and I noticed in one of them how he said he hated The Hobbit. I'm not surprised by this, but it did make me think of how fantasy tends to be something people either like or hate. I've always been into fantasy, from way back into my elementary school days. And while both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings took me a while to get through (the writing dragged somewhat, from what I recall), I still remember them fondly overall. I've gotten along with plenty of people who don't like fantasy at all (I'm sure some of them are reading this very entry), but it sometimes seems like fantasy-haters have a greater level of distaste for popular fantasy (like, say, LotR or Harry Potter) than for other popular media. Maybe that's just my view as someone who DOES enjoy fantasy, though.

I usually cite fantasy as my favorite genre of book, although that doesn't mean I'm familiar with most of the fantasy that's been released in recent years (aside from Terry Pratchett, of course). But I still have a better answer for that question that I do for what kind of music I listen to. Probably the best term for that would be "nerd rock," but bands that are grouped under that label tend not to like it much.

In addition to not liking fantasy, there are some people who just don't like fiction, which is a rather difficult concept for me to grasp. A guy who was in a few of my classes at library school was like that. I admit I don't read a lot of non-fiction for fun, aside from comic essays. And while they clearly fall into the non-fiction category, they tend to be based largely on opinion, and not simply cold, hard fact.

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

It's become my automatic reply when someone says they hate Harry Potter to say, "now, do you actually hate it because you don't like it or do you hate it because everyone else loves it?" and they usually admit it's that latter-- though in actuality it's probably a combination of the two. Had that conversation with my teen volunteer library aide the other day. He went on to admit that he doesn't like reading, period. I asserted that that just means he hasn't found the right sort of book yet, but he HAS worked in a library for the past year, so maybe he IS doomed to not-reading.

But yeah, the mistake people make with Tolkien before they read him is assuming he's a Great Writer, when actually his writing isn't very good, it's just that he's a great IMAGINER. And if you can't appreciate his imagination, you're never going to make it through his writing! And I think one of the reasons fantasy gets a bad rap is because so much of the adult paperback fantasy is bad Tolkien rip-offs from people who write like him and DON'T have their own creative imagination. Which is why children's and YA fantasy is so awesome-- it tends to be more original and also has all the extraneous poorly written bits cut out, because kids, much less their picky publishers, don't have the patience for that crap!

I remember talking to a lady who never liked Disney movies because she couldn't get past the fact that Animals Don't Really Talk. That was so sad to me.

I have been reading more nonfiction lately. I tend to read children's/YA fiction because they have better stories, and adult nonfiction because it's designed to be about some interesting topic and not just something for kids to use for school reports. I'm reading a nonfiction book right now about the links between taste preferences and mood and personality. And if you want nonfiction that doesn't read like cold hard fact, I give you: true life adventure stories! Stranger than fiction!

I tend to say, when people ask for my favorite genre, Middle-grade Humorous Fantasy (which is why I liked Harry Potter before the rest of the world so nobody can take that from me!), but obviously since that's not a huge category, I also just like Good Books.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'll admit to buying into the "if it's popular, it must suck" at times, but I try to avoid it. Sure, a lot of what's popular sucks, but so does a lot of what's NOT popular. I'm not sure there's any real correlation between how many other people like something and whether I will.

I remember talking to a lady who never liked Disney movies because she couldn't get past the fact that Animals Don't Really Talk.

That just seems weird to me. I seem to recall reading that someone (possibly in China) objected to Alice in Wonderland on the same grounds. (Of course, that was also a Disney movie, but it was the book they were referring to.)

What about the Disney films where the animals don't talk? Thinking of just the early animated ones, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty didn't have talking animals, did they? Cinderella, of course, had the mice, so that would be out.

[bethje.livejournal.com]

The animals in Pocahontas didn't talk either. But a tree did.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's right. Maybe it was the Deku or Maku Tree. {g}

I remember hearing that my grandmother objected to the fact that they showed mountains in the Jamestown area.

[bethje.livejournal.com]

If you're going to object about that movie, the scenery is a weird place to start.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, this WAS something I heard second-hand, and I don't know for sure that it was her MAIN problem with the movie. But, I mean, I also complain when movies depict places near where I live totally inaccurately.

[shadarko.livejournal.com]

you know I love fantasy, and with people I know who know its easy for me to display my disdain for Tolkien. I tried and tried but always failed to beable to finish LotRs. I can apprieate that yeah he had an amazing imagination and the ability to create a world, but I just couldn't get passed the fact that his writing was so boring to me that I just couldn't really care about what he was writing about.

Saying that, I love Baum, and I know he hashed out the same story line a few times, but for what ever it was his writing always had the ability to pull me in. Same with Pratchett.

It is sometimes hard to discuss fantasy with some folk because they view fantasy purely on Tolken and Harry Potter because both series have been so much in the pubic eye for so many years now, and if I don't like tolkien I must not like fantasy cross the board.

Oh the slippery slope of fantasy.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can definitely see having that reaction to Tolkien. I think one particular thing that Baum and Pratchett (and Rowling, for that matter) do well is dialogue. The Tolkien imitators who write Epic Fantasy with stock characters don't seem to be that concerned with having their characters talk like actual people. And there's also the humor factor.

It is sometimes hard to discuss fantasy with some folk because they view fantasy purely on Tolken and Harry Potter because both series have been so much in the pubic eye for so many years now, and if I don't like tolkien I must not like fantasy cross the board.

That's true of a lot of genres, which is why I don't really like to say what "kind" of book, movie, or music I like. I mean, I like a fair number of comedy movies, but a majority of what comes out in that genre is crap. While I like some country music, I'd be afraid that just saying, "I like country music" would lead people to think I meant Toby Keith and Shania Twain. It's definitely a problem.

[bethje.livejournal.com]

Crackpot is the best book I have read this year. And I truly do not know that I like fantasy as a genre. I'm thinking no...

[vovat.livejournal.com]

But you did like The Hobbit, right?

[bethje.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did like it rather well. There are fantasy books I like, I guess, but I would never be so bold as to say I enjoy the genre.