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| Law of Nines - still fantasy. |
I consider the fantasy genre to be a pretty unique one. If you take a look at the other literary genres e.g. action, comedy, romance etc. you can see these elements in the fantasy genre. However, if you slip in an element of fantasy into any other genre, that genre becomes fantasy. It stands alone (I'll also include sci-fi as part of this too) as being its own steadfast genre. But what is it that makes it unique? Here's a few things that I can think of:
- Fantasy stories usually take place in a world which is not our own. If you took any other story at all, and set it on a world that was not Earth, that story would become fantasy.
- In fantasy, anything and everything is possible. There are no real limitations to what can be done. In a fantasy, mountains can be leveled by magic. In sci-fi, some great machine beyond our technological understanding can do it too. The lack of limits marks out these genres as unique.
- Both fantasy and sci-fi include entities that by our own understanding should not exist e.g. dragons, elves, aliens etc. No other genre has this (in the case of horror, the inclusion of monsters and the supernatural marks it out as a fantastic story).
What do you think sets fantasy and sci-fi apart from other genres in literature, movies etc?
I've heard complaints about sci-fi & fantasy being lumped together, but I think it's fair, since they appeal to the same audience. I think you've defined what it is about these genres that makes them special, but the literary devices are used to high-light themes that aren't natural to other genres. ie: "Honor" in a legal thriller is diluted by the here-and-now, compared to Worf, or Bilbo.
ReplyDeleteBoth genres (and they are separate to me) involve aspects that don't exist.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget urban fantasy, which is set in the here and now. And in the USA, it's currently one of the most popular genres.
Both genres to me seem to be very extravagant in their execution...and very ambitious. I create suspense, but I abide by the laws of physics, time, biology, etc. It must be freeing and daunting to create worlds from nothing...and making them fantastic and believable seems so difficult. My hat is off to writers in those genres.
ReplyDeleteI always considered them mutually exclusive until I read Orson Scott Card's How to Write Sci fi and fantasy, where he talks at length about how and why the kind of belong together. All it boils down to in the end is preference of swords or guns - usually the morals and characters are very smimilar.
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