In C. S. Lewis’ "The Chronicles of Narnia", Peter, Edmund, Lucy, and Susan step through a magical Wardrobe to enter the land of Narnia where they discover a world that is beautiful yet dangerous. As an audience, our culture has taken a journey through a magical wardrobe into the world of fantasy. Beautiful yet dangerous, the genre of fantasy has permeated its way into several mediums, recently becoming massively popular especially in books and movies. The genre of fantasy transports the audience into new and imaginative places filled with impossible creatures. Fantasy is a fresh, vibrant, living entity that is constantly evolving and changing. The limits of fantasy are bound only by the imagination of its creators, who are like gods creating new life and new places. Fantasy connects us all by taking us to worlds we have never been to see things we have never seen, instilling us with mystery and wonder.
To study the effect fantasy has had on culture, it is important to define the fantasy genre. Any medium that contains magical elements or paranormal elements is considered Fantasy. This means anything that expands beyond the realm of realism and into the unexplainable is classified as fantasy, which separates fantasy from science fiction. In science fiction the fantastical elements are explained through scientific reasoning such as future technology. In fantasy the audience must be able to suspend their disbelief to accept the fantastical elements.
The fantasy genre has left its mark upon popular culture in many forms such as comic books, videogames, literature, and movies. Fantasy is a dominant part of our culture and has been a part of popular culture around the world for many decades. Fantasy is found in various media and with various styles, and will continue to be a part of our popular culture for a long time because fantasy is molded by every culture in its own unique way. In America we tend to think of fantasy as entertainment but fantasy has also been used in Greek mythology and Native American folklore to explain natural events such as the sun rising or the change of the seasons. Sailors recounted stories about mermaids and sea monsters to help pass the time when sailing the ocean. Fantasy is an ever flowing and changing genre that will continue to grow as each culture reimagines it.
The most impressive aspect of the fantasy genre is that it allows the audience to escape from the real world. Fantasy takes the audience through a wardrobe and into new worlds. When fully immersed in a work of fantasy, the audience is transported into a dimension that was created by someone else’s imagination. This escapism factor is soothing in that it allows the audience to forget their own life and live inside a world that is foreign. This immersion into the fantasy genre can also be frightening, manifested as a fear of the unknown. Being beautiful, soothing, and yet dangerous makes fantasy a genre that manages to produce a full scale of emotions from its audience, from fear of the villain to pride in the courageous hero.
Over the course of the semester I plan to examine fantasy and its affect on popular culture. While the fantasy genre is defined by its magical and paranormal qualities, its greatest power is to reflect on our society and the human condition. This is what makes fantasy such a strong force in popular culture, because the spectacle of fantasy serves to magnify the human element and help us to examine ourselves and our culture.
