Q1. Tolkein defines fantasy as something in teh human mind that is capable of forming mental images of things not actually present. The faculty of conceiving the image is naturally called imagination.
Q2. Attebery defined fantasy as "any narrative which includes as a signifcant part of its make-up some violation of what the author clearly believes to be natural law". Also "fantasy invokes wonder by making the impossible seem new and strange". "Fantasy generates suspense by presenting characters whose fates we are interested in, by appealing to our senses, by callign forth human longing and fears". Also "fanasty gives comprehensible form to life, death, good and evil".
Comparing these two different defintions of the meaning of "fantasy" there are many different ideas from Attebery Tolkein. Both do agree though that fantasy is your imagination. Attebery also sees fantasy as another form of narrative which I also think is true because fantasy can bew hatevery you want it to be, there are no rules or guidelines that need to be followed. Like Attebery said "it gives comprehensible form to life, death, good and evil".
Q3.Tolkeins notion of the faery story is linked to the fantasy genre because like fantasy it is make believe. For example. "The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever present peril; both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords". I think that the Faery story and fantasy genre are linked because they are similar and have the same ideas. The stores can be whatever you want them to be and they are about your thoughs and imagination. They are not true or have any meaning to the real world we live in. They are just a figure of your imagination that you can create.
Q4. The franchise from the Wizard of EarthSea has changed rapidly. Many years ago things like plays, comic strips and cards were broughts as merchandise through a book etc. Nowdays comparing that to the Harry Potter franchise the changes are huge. There is so much more merchandise on offer now for example.. films, computer games, video games, the internet and much more. These other merchandise are stopping children from reading the novels because they now have so many other options of accesing and knwoing the full story without even reading the novels.
Q5. Burns suggests that games influence books or it could also be the other way around. The Harry Potter stories may be organised around the kinds of structures that make good games, quests, magical objects, helpers, monster opponents, a bounded fantasy world or a puzzle dymamic. (Burn A, 2005) - Vol 14, No. 3
Q6. The fantasy genre relates to the moden media such as video games because like the fantasy genre it is not real. Although you can play the games and get high scores or clock the game it is only a replica of what is already fantasy or your imagination. for exmaple. Harry Potter is a fantasy genre and there are countless video and computer games around that replicate the novels and films over the series. But like the novel they are just fantasy. There is nothing real about it except that you can see the animated charcters on a screen instead of reading it in a novel. They do it though to make it seem more real if you can see the characters it makes you believe it more thats why films and video games have been created.
Q7. According to Cockrell, the US condems fantasy because fantasy stories have taken over and also complicating this issue is the fact that there are significant differences in what may be considered fantasy from one religion to the next (or between differing denominations of the same religion). The border between what is real and what is fantasy is a shifting line that is culturally dependant. Also parents believe that fantasy equals deciet, that fantasy and story telling 'will lead to lying, and other decietful behaviour", and this factor combines with the necessity to protect their children from evil forces in teh fantasy world.
Q8. Cockrell defends fantasy literature by saying "that a great deal of modern childrens literature is fantasy", and "it is primiarly Harry who seems to be the lightning rod for these fears". There hve been dozens of web pages produced warning parents of the pitfalls awaiting the child who reads Harry Potter. Cockrell suggesets that there are two reasons behind this distinction between Harry Potter and other practitioners of fictional magic. The first, that Harry Potter is too close to home, builds upon teh second, that Harrys detractors are skillfully parodied in his books. To begin, Harry lives in our world, making him more of a threat. Rowling has abandoned the realm of high fantasy and laid her story in contemporary England, rather than in the imaginary and medievally flavoured other world of Tolkeins Middle Earth. Rowling suggests the existence of witchesa and wizards and of workable magic, int eh world we inhabit here and now; by unseen muggles (nonmagical folk) but here nonetheless existing in another stratum. There is more or less the image that many fundermentalist chritsians also hve a witchcraft, that, like angels or the voice of Satan is out there, unseen but ready to shallow up the hapless child who can be turned towards its seductive allure, and that it acutally works.
1. In my view, Tolkien's definition of fantasy does not depend on any definition or account of elf or fairy, but upon the nature of faerie/elf: the Perilous Realm itself. That is the enchantment, which produces a secondary world/belief into which both designer and spectator can enter, to the satisfaction of their senses while they are inside. In other words, fantasy stories are set in secondary or invented worlds which are distant or otherwise distinct from the world in which we live our everyday lives.
3. Yes, I agree with your comments for questions 1 and 3, Ashleigh.
Yes, they inter-connect: as fantasy is the human mind capable of forming mental images of things not actually present - the working imagination, which transcends the primary world through its artistic creativity. And fairy-story is indeed a form of image-making, but of an artistic kind, inviting belief in the reality of its sub-creation. It's magnificent how they inter-mingle, isn't it?
Q2. Yes, I agree once again, Asheigh. And thank you for such brilliant insight.
Attebery suggests that fantasy may be defined as a 'fuzzy set' of those works which share, in greater or lesser degree, the characteristics of certain central fantasy texts. Moreover, Attebery sees fantasy as 'prose narratives evoking wonder through the consistent treatment of the impossible as though it were possible.' In this way, fantasy differs from science fiction, which works to persuade the reader that things which seem impossible are actually scientifically explainable; i.e. they really are subject to natural law once we understand them correctly. Surreal fiction, on the other hand, plays freely with natural law, obeying or stepping outside it. It lacks the component of 'consistency' that is essential to fantasy; fantasy stories have their own internal laws which cannot be broken.
2. I totally agree with the fact that "Fantasy generates suspense by presenting characters whose fates we are interested in, by appealing to our senses, by callign forth human longing and fears".
3. I think that the Fairy story and fantasy genre are linked because they are similar in different ways and have the same ideas. They contain things that are out of the boundaries and also imaginary things.
Q6. I think that The fantasy genre relates to the moden media. The novel like this they are just fantasy- There is nothing real about it except the animated characters you can see on a screen.
1. I agree with Ashleigh and Seung Hees comment for this question. Fantasy is the work of illusion.
2. I agree with Ashleigh. People have minor different opinions on what Fantasy is but the overall idea is the same. Fantasy is whatever you mind makes of the story in your imagination.
3. Again i agree, I think Faery story is linked to Fantasy. I personally think faery stories are like a sub genre of fantasy. As Tolkien says "Most good 'fairy stories' are about the 'adventures' of men in the Perilous Realm", she also says that fairy stories shouldnt be defined by fairies and elves but about the Perilous Realm.
5.Again Ashleigh has pretty much sumed it up. Burn believes that video games is the main influence behind Harry Potter. He says that like most arcade video games Harry Potter has been based around "the maps, lists, puzzles and survival characteristics".
6. Fantasy relates to video games because ofcourse its not real life but it still has the "quests, magical objects, helpers and monster opponents." Children can let their mind and immagination run wild when playing these video games, much like when their reading a fantasy novel.
7. Cockrell believes that witchcraft and pagan has influence Harry Potter he believes that "Harry Potters world may be fictional, but the pagan pratices it promotes are real and deadly". He also feels that the series "teaches witchcraft in the disguise of fantasy".
11 comments:
1. How does Tolkien (1964) define fantasy?
2. Compare and contrast this to the other definitions from last week’s reader?
3. Is Tolkien’s notion of the ‘faery story’ linked to fantasy genre? How closely?
4.What parallels can you find between A Wizard of Earthsea and the Harry Potter franchise?
5.What other influences does Burn (2005) suggest for Harry Potter?
6.How does the fantasy genre relate to modern media such as video games?
7.Why does the religious right in the US condemn fantasy, according to Cockrell (2004)?
8. On what grounds does Cockrell defend fantasy literature, using Harry Potter for exemplification?
Q1. Tolkein defines fantasy as something in teh human mind that is capable of forming mental images of things not actually present. The faculty of conceiving the image is naturally called imagination.
Q2. Attebery defined fantasy as "any narrative which includes as a signifcant part of its make-up some violation of what the author clearly believes to be natural law". Also "fantasy invokes wonder by making the impossible seem new and strange". "Fantasy generates suspense by presenting characters whose fates we are interested in, by appealing to our senses, by callign forth human longing and fears". Also "fanasty gives comprehensible form to life, death, good and evil".
Comparing these two different defintions of the meaning of "fantasy" there are many different ideas from Attebery Tolkein. Both do agree though that fantasy is your imagination. Attebery also sees fantasy as another form of narrative which I also think is true because fantasy can bew hatevery you want it to be, there are no rules or guidelines that need to be followed. Like Attebery said "it gives comprehensible form to life, death, good and evil".
Q3.Tolkeins notion of the faery story is linked to the fantasy genre because like fantasy it is make believe. For example. "The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever present peril; both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords". I think that the Faery story and fantasy genre are linked because they are similar and have the same ideas. The stores can be whatever you want them to be and they are about your thoughs and imagination. They are not true or have any meaning to the real world we live in. They are just a figure of your imagination that you can create.
Q4. The franchise from the Wizard of EarthSea has changed rapidly. Many years ago things like plays, comic strips and cards were broughts as merchandise through a book etc. Nowdays comparing that to the Harry Potter franchise the changes are huge. There is so much more merchandise on offer now for example.. films, computer games, video games, the internet and much more. These other merchandise are stopping children from reading the novels because they now have so many other options of accesing and knwoing the full story without even reading the novels.
Q5. Burns suggests that games influence books or it could also be the other way around. The Harry Potter stories may be organised around the kinds of structures that make good games, quests, magical objects, helpers, monster opponents, a bounded fantasy world or a puzzle dymamic. (Burn A, 2005) - Vol 14, No. 3
Q6. The fantasy genre relates to the moden media such as video games because like the fantasy genre it is not real. Although you can play the games and get high scores or clock the game it is only a replica of what is already fantasy or your imagination. for exmaple. Harry Potter is a fantasy genre and there are countless video and computer games around that replicate the novels and films over the series. But like the novel they are just fantasy. There is nothing real about it except that you can see the animated charcters on a screen instead of reading it in a novel. They do it though to make it seem more real if you can see the characters it makes you believe it more thats why films and video games have been created.
Q7. According to Cockrell, the US condems fantasy because fantasy stories have taken over and also complicating this issue is the fact that there are significant differences in what may be considered fantasy from one religion to the next (or between differing denominations of the same religion). The border between what is real and what is fantasy is a shifting line that is culturally dependant. Also parents believe that fantasy equals deciet, that fantasy and story telling 'will lead to lying, and other decietful behaviour", and this factor combines with the necessity to protect their children from evil forces in teh fantasy world.
Q8. Cockrell defends fantasy literature by saying "that a great deal of modern childrens literature is fantasy", and "it is primiarly Harry who seems to be the lightning rod for these fears". There hve been dozens of web pages produced warning parents of the pitfalls awaiting the child who reads Harry Potter. Cockrell suggesets that there are two reasons behind this distinction between Harry Potter and other practitioners of fictional magic. The first, that Harry Potter is too close to home, builds upon teh second, that Harrys detractors are skillfully parodied in his books. To begin, Harry lives in our world, making him more of a threat. Rowling has abandoned the realm of high fantasy and laid her story in contemporary England, rather than in the imaginary and medievally flavoured other world of Tolkeins Middle Earth. Rowling suggests the existence of witchesa and wizards and of workable magic, int eh world we inhabit here and now; by unseen muggles (nonmagical folk) but here nonetheless existing in another stratum. There is more or less the image that many fundermentalist chritsians also hve a witchcraft, that, like angels or the voice of Satan is out there, unseen but ready to shallow up the hapless child who can be turned towards its seductive allure, and that it acutally works.
1. In my view, Tolkien's definition of fantasy does not depend on any definition or account of elf or fairy, but upon the nature of faerie/elf: the Perilous Realm itself. That is the enchantment, which produces a secondary world/belief into which both designer and spectator can enter, to the satisfaction of their senses while they are inside. In other words, fantasy stories are set in secondary or invented worlds which are distant or otherwise distinct from the world in which we live our everyday lives.
3. Yes, I agree with your comments for questions 1 and 3, Ashleigh.
Yes, they inter-connect: as fantasy is the human mind capable of forming mental images of things not actually present - the working imagination, which transcends the primary world through its artistic creativity. And fairy-story is indeed a form of image-making, but of an artistic kind, inviting belief in the reality of its sub-creation.
It's magnificent how they inter-mingle, isn't it?
Q2. Yes, I agree once again, Asheigh. And thank you for such brilliant insight.
Attebery suggests that fantasy may be defined as a 'fuzzy set' of those works which share, in greater or lesser degree, the characteristics of certain central fantasy texts. Moreover, Attebery sees fantasy as 'prose narratives evoking wonder through the consistent treatment of the impossible as though it were possible.' In this way, fantasy differs from science fiction, which works to persuade the reader that things which seem impossible are actually scientifically explainable; i.e. they really are subject to natural law once we understand them correctly. Surreal fiction, on the other hand, plays freely with natural law, obeying or stepping outside it. It lacks the component of 'consistency' that is essential to fantasy; fantasy stories have their own internal laws which cannot be broken.
Q1. Tolkein defines fantasy as something in the human mind that is capable of forming mental images of things not actually present.
2. I totally agree with the fact that "Fantasy generates suspense by presenting characters whose fates we are interested in, by appealing to our senses, by callign forth human longing and fears".
3. I think that the Fairy story and fantasy genre are linked because they are similar in different ways and have the same ideas. They contain things that are out of the boundaries and also imaginary things.
Q6. I think that The fantasy genre relates to the moden media. The novel like this they are just fantasy- There is nothing real about it except the animated characters you can see on a screen.
1. I agree with Ashleigh and Seung Hees comment for this question. Fantasy is the work of illusion.
2. I agree with Ashleigh. People have minor different opinions on what Fantasy is but the overall idea is the same. Fantasy is whatever you mind makes of the story in your imagination.
3. Again i agree, I think Faery story is linked to Fantasy. I personally think faery stories are like a sub genre of fantasy. As Tolkien says "Most good 'fairy stories' are about the 'adventures' of men in the Perilous Realm", she also says that fairy stories shouldnt be defined by fairies and elves but about the Perilous Realm.
5.Again Ashleigh has pretty much sumed it up. Burn believes that video games is the main influence behind Harry Potter. He says that like most arcade video games Harry Potter has been based around "the maps, lists, puzzles and survival characteristics".
6. Fantasy relates to video games because ofcourse its not real life but it still has the "quests, magical objects, helpers and monster opponents." Children can let their mind and immagination run wild when playing these video games, much like when their reading a fantasy novel.
7. Cockrell believes that witchcraft and pagan has influence Harry Potter he believes that "Harry Potters world may be fictional, but the pagan pratices it promotes are real and deadly". He also feels that the series "teaches witchcraft in the disguise of fantasy".
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