Why has fantasy gotten so gritty and red ? Why are we so obsessed with Game of Thrones and Christian Bible sagas about severed limbs and dirty spate , alternatively of larger-than-life quests involving elves and singing swords and Ultimate Evil ? Writer David Chandler shares afascinating possibility over at SFSignal .
In the 1980s , repulsion movies shifted by from stylized , pretty sanitized panic towards full - blown panel and intense fierceness — and to some extent , this may have been a reaction to the Vietnam warfare . And perhaps now something alike has happened with fantasy , in the wake of the War on Terror , writes Chandler :
I think fantasy is responding to the horrors of the War on Terror , just as horror answer to Vietnam … Elves with witching bows and children born under prophecies to hold launch the world just do n’t fit with the new reality of war and politics . alternatively we get changeless , grueling warfare ( Joe Abercrombie does a great job with this ) . We get the people in charge make secret deals and betroth in reprehensible reprisals ( George R. R. Martin is the unquestioned master here ) . We get sudden acts of terrific mass murder , and we get the desperate hopes of the people huddle in their clay hovels , hoping this time , just peradventure , the warfare of good versus evil wo n’t be bet out on their fields and in their homes this time .
The whole thing is well worth reading . And turn over . [ SFSignalviaRichard Kadrey ]
FantasyGame of ThronesGeorge R.R. MartinPolitics
Daily Newsletter
Get the good tech , skill , and culture news in your inbox day by day .
News from the hereafter , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
