What's fun about fantasy?

“Not all who wander are lost” – J.R.R Tolkien

The previous post concentrates on the M20C (my new ‘cool abbreviation for the ‘mid twenties crisis’) and how our life experiences should be the focal point for any decisions made. The M20C is brought about by sociological pressures, creating not only an emotional crisis but sometimes also an existential one. How do we alleviate these pressures? How do I alleviate these pressures?

Fantasy texts are the answer; novels, films, tv programs. A genre dedicated to pure, unadulterated escapist pleasure. For me, the self doubt and self questions stop when I enter a world that is so unbelievable, it encompasses my whole self. The reversion to reality can be wholeheartedly depressing, when I’ve been so entranced in a happy bubble cloud of words. What more could I want, coming home from work on a bleak Manchester evening, than to curl up and immerse myself into a world of magic, knights and dragons.

Some people assume that these above points are all that fantasy texts are about, but there’s so much more. Key themes include illusion versus reality, good versus evil, relationships, and there’s always a flawed protagonist. Maybe I’m being contradictory, maybe I can see myself in these characters; the flaws in the protagonist are the key to the human condition and every person is part of that. Whether the hero be in Narnia, Middle Earth or Terre D’ Ange they struggle too. How many times have I read about an existential crisis in one of these texts and related to it? They are the key to my education, they live, take risks and experience life in ways only imaginable. Let’s re-evaluate, we can now call it an educated escapism, as we can relate to the hero. In fantasy, things usually work out well in the end, so this is what we can hope and strive for. The key point is ‘experience’. It’s the adventures, heartaches and downfalls that are exciting to read. It’s these things that make the hero eventually get where they want to be. I am the protagonist of my story. Ready for the adventures.