Materialism and the Fantasy Genre
Skimming critiques of critiques of capitalism makes you think really interesting things. Take, for example, the concept of materialism and how it relates to the fantasy genre–and more specifically its typical representations found in the big names of the genre. What does magic do to issues of hoarding, to materialism itself, and to general concerns over resources? I can’t think of many examples in which magic is used as the primary method of acquiring, well, everything the kingdom needs, but it is interesting to consider how materialism acts as a dividing force in fantasy. Individuals who hoard and who must own things are seen primarily as the enemy, or are at least on the darker side of the good guys. Harry Potter, perhaps, is one of the few series that so obviously presents oppositional forces in the world of materialism–a good and evil battle between the kinds of materialism we are familiar with today. The Malfoy family dominates much of the series as the principle nemesis family to Potter and the Weasley’s: they are wealthy, pride themselves in said wealth, and spend it with the express purpose of acquiring new and flashy things; they are the pinnacle of materialist families in the Potter universe. Harry, however, is exceptionally anti-materialist. Most of his possessions are those he has acquired not necessarily by intent, but through gift or necessity–and each of those possessions is “special” to him, having something to do with his family or his friends. Potter isn’t interested in acquiring things so much as hanging on to his links to those most important to him; the Malfoy family, however, is the opposite. And, of course, Potter is the hero, the good guy, the Chosen One. These things are seen elsewhere too. Karen Miller’s The Innocent Mage/The Awakened Mage series splits society into two distinct groups: those who typically support the King, and those that believe the King’s family doesn’t deserve to be where they are. While each of these groups are in a position of privilege and power, there is a particularly strong materialist bent in those families that do not typically support the King. These “darker” families want the throne for purely selfish reasons, while the “lighter” families want the throne to protect the Kingdom. Even the King’s magic-less son is opposed to materialist formations, rejecting much of what has been forced upon him as the son of the King. There are even splits within the royal family as well, with the princess being particularly arrogant and selfish, despite her parents’ level-headed approach to authority. But what about materialism in fantasy that isn’t definitively evil or good? How does magic influence the way the material is perceived? I can’t think of any examples, but it seems to me that if a select few individuals in a society were to have magic and were also not inclined towards ruling “normies,” wouldn’t there be a rejection of materialism in general? Why would you be a materialist if you could create anything you needed out of thin air? What of Gods? Why is it that in fantasies which contain Gods as active participants, that they are often materialist in nature? Perhaps there’s a bit of faulty thinking by fantasy writers in certain instances. It seems illogical to have materialist tendencies in societies in which magic alters the consciousness of select individuals, or even where entire societies are magically inclined. But maybe this is what fantasy does: it steals from modern society and drags it into the fantasy landscape, even if the analogy doesn’t quite compute. —————————– What do you all think about materialism in fantasy? Let me know in the comments!
Reader Question: Video Game Plots and Successful Fantasy Novels
(This question is yet another whose questioner I forgot to write down. Please, if you asked this, let me know in the comments so you can get credit. My apologies for not putting your name in the post as I was working on it.) The full question was: Has there ever been a fantasy book series to pull off the “save the world by collecting a group of shiny things” plot, or is that an exclusive video game schtick? This is a tough one primarily because I have not read enough fantasy novels (as in non-graphic books) to be able to say yes or no with enough certainty to be completely comfortable. My guess is that there has yet to be a fantasy book series that uses a video game plot successfully. I could be wrong, but it seems like those sorts of plots are unfortunately the domain of more visually-based mediums (video games, TV shows, movies, graphic novels, etc.). You could, perhaps, count Harry Potter, which uses the last two books to hunt down what might be considered as “shiny things” (horcruxes are certainly not “shiny” in a traditional sense, but do hold significant value for the characters). Beyond this, however, I think it is safe to say that a treasure-hunting save-the-world plot is more comfortable in a visual medium. Why do I think this? Because these kinds of plots don’t always have strong connections to the characters by default, which means it makes a novelization rather difficult for the reader to connect to. That’s not to say it’s not possible, just that the stories I am familiar with intentionally place the viewer/player in the center, allowing them to forge their own connections to the world by actually doing the searching and world saving. Novels are, generally speaking, exterior products: the characters are other people (imaginary people, usually) and thus must act as intermediaries in some way for the reader (i.e. they have to be the connecting point to the world). And these plots do seem to suffer from a sort of ridiculous repetitiveness. So many video games and television shows essentially recycle the same basic plots and simply change the names and maps to make it seem different. They are still entertaining, but that’s not really the point. Getting to the point, I don’t think that video games own this plot, per se. Graphic novels are quite successful at using similar concepts, and really you wouldn’t need to go much farther than Dragonball or Dragonball Z (though their plots do wander quite a bit). Beyond this, though, I don’t feel like I know enough to make any logical, (partially) absolutist claims. I fell out of the gaming community at about the same time as I fell out of the graphic novel community, so I’ve missed quite a lot. If anyone reading this has any suggestions of either successful or at least interesting fantasy novels which have used the treasure-hunting/save-the-world plot, please leave them here in the comments. I’m curious to see what people identify with this style and whether there are books I’m forgetting. Thanks! —————————- If you have a question for me about science fiction, fantasy, writing, or something related, whether silly or serious, let me know by either leaving a comment here or anywhere, sending an email to arconna[at]yahoo[dot]com, or tweeting me your question to @shaunduke. If you enjoyed this post, feel free to stumble it, digg it, tweet it, or plug it on your blog!
5 Black Science Fiction/Fantasy Authors Everyone Should Read
It’s been a while since I’ve done a list like this, so I thought this list would be a great way to get back into them. The following are five black authors I think everyone should read, even if only once: 1. Octavia ButlerDefinitely a favorite with me, Butler is the author of some of the best science fiction novels to come out of the era following the Golden Age, rivaling even the greats of the pre-social-revolution period. From Parable to the Sower to her Xenogenesis series, Butler has captivated readers everywhere with her brilliant examinations of the human condition. If you haven’t read her work, you should, and I’d recommend her stuff to anyone who happens to like speculative fiction, even if science fiction isn’t your thing; her work is sort of universal. 2. Tananarive DueAuthor of one of my favorite short stories, “Like Daughter,” Due has captured in so few words some of the most pressing issues of our time, from cloning to the lack of Black “heroes” in fiction. She even works with Blair Underwood, if you believe it, and that’s pretty cool in my book. Fantastic writer and definitely worth reading. 3. Samuel R. DelanyOne of the best literary critics and science fiction/fantasy writers of all time, Delany has a knack for philosophy, world building, and downright in-depth storytelling. His critical essays on science fiction are particularly interesting, in case you’re into that stuff. If not, check out some of his best science fiction works such as Dhalgren or Babel-17. 4. George SchuylerAuthor of Black No More, probably one of those novels you should read even if you’re not a science fiction reader, Schuyler has had a rather strong career dealing with issues of color, humanity, and much more. Black No More is a poignant social commentary on the culture of “whitening” (or creation of products to de-black African Americans so they could fit in) that gained prominence during the early 1900s. Definitely worth picking up. 5. Nalo HopkinsonRecognized as an author who draws upon her Caribbean roots, Nalo has had a brilliant career in the fantasy/cross genre world, writing such greats as Brown Girl in the Ring and working with Uppinder Mehan on the collection So Long Been Dreaming. I’d recommend her works if you like softer science fiction or crossover work, particularly Brown Girl in the Ring, which begs a lot of questions about organ donors in the future and the nature of culture and magic in a dystopic setting. And there you have it. What do you think are some must-read black science fiction authors? Particularly I’m thinking of authors who might not be so clearly labeled as fantasy or science fiction, but the names are escaping me at the moment. Feel free to tell me in the comments! I know I’m missing some folks!
SF/F Links: Another Pre-May Batch
I just keep finding nifty stuff to let you all know about. Hope you find some of these interesting: I give you Zombie Kids. I love this image. For those of you writing superhero fiction/comics, you might want to check out this detailed questionnaire. Might be a good place to start with developing a superhero or supervillian who is three dimensional. Remember that post not too long ago about current events and reader preferences? Well, I was right about a few things, like how escapist fiction gets a rise in not-so-good times. Natania Barron has an interesting article on the other in fantasy literature. It’s short, but interesting nonetheless. Futurismic highlights some of the insanely Orwellian things happening in the U.K. right now. You’ll be surprised the things they’re doing. You think we have it bad? They’re closer to Fascism than we’ve ever been. I may be ranting about this in the near future. Here’s an interesting cyberpunk reading list. Might be worth checking out if you’re into that genre or are curious about it. (Thanks to SF Signal) Book Giveaways Today’s Adventure has a copy of Bloody Jack by L. A. Meyer to give away.
A Fun Fantasy Quiz
(Found over at Fantasy Book Reviews) 1) Lord of the Rings: Movies or books?In all honesty, I prefer the movies. I respect the books for what they are, but I hate reading them. The movies managed to take an exceedingly dull story and bring it to life. I’ll always take the movies over the books. 2) Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms?Dragonlance. I never got into the Forgotten Realms stuff. 3) Online bookstores or physical (local) bookstores?Depends on the situation. If I’m buying books for school, I’ll use Amazon. If I’m buying books for myself, I prefer physical stores because I get to actually touch the books and see them in real life. You can learn a lot about a book by actually touching it with your fingers (or smelling it). 4) Hardcover or paperback?This depends too. I prefer hardback to trade paperback, primarily because the latter has a tendency to end up bent or in shoddy shape. But I prefer mass market paperback to hardback because I can get three mass markets for the price of one hardback. Seems logical, right? 5) Secondary World or Real World?Hmm. Now this is a hard one. I don’t think I can properly answer this. Are science fiction worlds representative of the real world? Or are they secondary? Or neither? If neither, then I’d have to say I prefer secondary worlds, even though I do happen to enjoy a lot of contemporary fantasy that takes place in our own world. If the real world is meant to be science fiction, then I prefer that to the other. It’s a bit of a dilemma. Well, there you go! Feel free to answer the questions in the comments or turn this into a meme and write a blog post!
SF/F Links: A Few Feb Links
Well, I thought I would bring this feature back. I’m not going to make it as big as I did in the past, but hopefully it will be of use to folks. Here goes: Charles Stross and John Scalzi have posted their opinions on the issue of lateness that has GRRM’s fans all twisted in knots and GRRM a bit irritated. SF Signal has their latest mindmeld feature up asking various authors who their literary influences are in the realm of science fiction. Scifi Chick has a short interview with Eliza Dushku from Dollhouse. Climb the Sky talks about magic and it’s many interesting points. Locus Online has an article about why science fiction often fails at predicting things. It’s interesting, to say the least. I take issue with some of the points made, though. I don’t think science fiction is so much as failure in predicting a lot of things, just not very good at picking good dates. Reality dictates that we’ll conquer space eventually, just not on the time frame provided by science fiction writers… And some random science for you all: Japanese coral can apparently change back and forth between sexes as needed based on their environment. What the heck is it with the environment and sex changes? SF Signal asks what your favorite bookstore is. It’s old, but so be it. Mine, as I’ve mentioned before, is either Bookshop Santa Cruz or Logos in Santa Cruz (or Borderlands Books in San Francisco or Powell’s City of Books in Portland, OR). What about you? What is your favorite bookstore and why? And there you have it! Hope you enjoy the links.