Urban Fantasy

Mixing magic and the real world is very entertaining. It take fantasy to a whole other level. Normally, we read fantasy to escape our everyday reality and explore beautiful fantastical worlds. However with these types of books, they bring the fantasy to our world. Now we can imagine having epic adventures and heroic journeys in our own reality! It is a very exciting possibility that I was happy to explore.

Reading about gods and mystical powers in our society also made me think of another book series I've read, which was suggested to me by, yet again, my sister. I believe it was for a younger audience, especially since I read one of the books within two days, but it's called Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Sadly it was made into a horrible movie that, just as another of my favorites, Eragon, did the book no justice at all. Percy Jackson is another book that plays on ancient gods and goddess, playing on Greek myths, versus Anansi Boys, about African culture myths and gods. However both books explore the 'urban fantasy' type genre, where reality and fantasy are heavily intertwined. I always find it amusing when things that we can't explain in our reality are caused by the magic of the other reality. For example, one of the main details in Percy Jackson is that the main character is dyslexic, and this is explained: he is a demigod, and his brain is programmed to read Greek, not English. Even subtle little things like that really solidify a story and fully bring the fantasy into the real world.

There is a bit of difficulty in this genre I would imagine. In fantasy worlds, you have the problem of having to create from scratch a whole new set of rules for the universe. The opposite, if you have a set reality, there are some rules you can't break, otherwise you lose the audience's believability completely. Of course being fantasy you can take liberties, but even then there is a fine line that borders on, 'Oh that's so cool, I never thought of it that way before' and 'Really? Come on, I seriously doubt that would ever happen...'

Upon researching Anansi Boys, I found it appears to be a spin-off of another novel American Gods. When I read the synopsis for that I immediately became intrigued, it sounds exactly like Percy Jackson, only a lot more in depth. In Percy Jackson, the Greek gods and goddesses are modernized, along with several greek figures in history. For example Daedalus is an old, cantankerous architect who's every plan is recorded in his laptop, and Ares is a killer looking biker. American Gods is said to even explore popular culture in american, personifying our greed and other vices, that sounds ridiculously entertaining.  

Spiritual Education& Fantasy

I am surprised to know several of my friends have never read the Harry Potter books or watched any of the Star Wars, OR Lord of the Rings, quite a disappointment, they've missed a lot. So much of those stories are tied into our culture no a days, it seems impossible to me that anyone doesn't know about them. My sister passed on the Harry Potter books to me, one by one as the came out, after she read them within days. I also remember watching 'The Golden Compass' when it came out in theaters as well as 'Chronicles of Narnia'. I happened to watch 'Chronicles of Narnia' with a very religious boyfriend, and therefore afterwards found out many, many things about the movie and books- which he had read- that I never would have guessed were in there. He even read 'The Golden Compass' despite it's anti-religious undertones(or overtones, they are quite obvious) he enjoyed it, mostly the fantasy quality about it. Which is something I also stuck to in the book. The fact that you can have a spirit animal is fascinating in itself, but again, my draw to fantasy is the extraordinary worlds it creates, and this book, along with Narnia, created so many for me.

Narnia itself could represent that aspect of fantasy, that there are other worlds out there, just waiting to be explored, and sometimes all you have to is open a closet in an old house, or fall down a rabbit hole... Now kids can imagine all there wildest dreams come to life in this world were anything is possible, as long as they do not sin at least. This tends to lead to evil trying to overthrow you and all, for example the gluttonous nature of Edmund leads him to naively befriend the White Witch.

Those types of lessons are underlying in the books. I think it is helpful and totally appropriate for young readers to be exposed to that kind of thinking and values. With television shows and pop culture in general getting raunchier, sexualized and violent as it is today, children need some classic value-teaching shows, movies and books especially. I'm not even confident children read good wholesome books anymore, they probably all involve werewolves or vampires, because apparently they are the only things that can keep there attention. That might be heavily generalizing, and I certainly hope it isn't true. Fantasy books teach us to use our imagination for good, teach us simple and good values and expand our knowledge and vocabulary. The more stories and worlds we experience the better storytellers we will become, and we will have a brighter future.  

Fantasy: The Hobbit

I was so excited when I saw this one the list for books at the beginning of term. Of course I'd already seen all three Lord of the Rings, and has heard about the animated 'The Hobbit' 2-D movie- whose style was interesting, but quite odd. I enjoy the fantasy genre the most. I completely agree with Tolkien in that fantasy is a necessary escape from the grueling and harsh nature of reality. I lose myself in the stories of fantasy, anything that can take me to another world, some where unlike the one I live in everyday and I love it. Happy endings don't normally happen in real life, things often don't turn out, or we fail, but in movies and books we can escape that. That's why I hate scary movies, I go to the movies to escape reality, not have it thrown in my face in the most gory or mind-trippy way possible.

Our discussion about the heroes journey is one I've heard before, but will never get tired of hearing. Every time I hear about the hero's journey, I learn more and more. I like this classic story plot, and I enjoy watching it, as well as creating my own. I have a comic, and while learning about the hero's journey the way we did in class, I realized what my story was lacking, and how I could improve it, if I were to re-draw it. I lacked the initial 'calling' of the hero, in my story he just, went off on his own, when I believe it would have been much more engaging if he had a reason. Also I noticed I automatically seemed to understand the hero's journey, even without directly meaning too. There were several points/stages in the image of the hero's journey showed during class that I noticed were in my story. For example the duality struggle, the struggle with one's self, like the classic, Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde, before you can defeat the villain, you must face and conquer your own evils.

Most of the books I've read before this class were fantasy, one of the reasons I was interested in this class to begin with was to break out of that style a bit, and explore other mediums. Horror was interesting, the books seem milder then the movies. My younger sister is the real hard-core book lover, and she would often give me the books after she read them- which is how I got into Harry Potter.

The Hobbit was cute, surprisingly easy read compared to other books we've read recently. Though the songs/poems were, in my opinion, annoying, they almost reminded me of book I read in AP English that would go on and on and the poems would be pointless, almost like they were trying to fill up space, basically I didn't get their purpose. In The Hobbit they almost introduced the new characters, but I still was reminded of pointlessness and became annoyed, and there were so many. I saw the movies of Lord of the Rings first, so it was interesting to finally 'get' some of the hints they were making in the beginning of the movie, and now I have some insight into Gandolf and Bilbo, who seemed to be complete minor characters- at least Biblo- in 'Lord of the Rings'. It was nice though being able to perfectly imagine what each of the characters looked like, and the environments as well, though some would say it would have been better to imagine it on my own, I liked the images that popped in my head.

One more note about something we discussed in class was the sexist undertones, I could feel them in the story now that you mention it. I suppose though I wasn't really paying attention to that and therefore didn't notice it. However I remember during the last movie, one of the big bad guys, had a legend about him: no man could defeat him. So what happened in the end? A women ended up killing him in the battle! I thought that was almost completely contradicting the sexist nature, that a women would go into battle and actually be the one to kill the big bad guy. Only problem is I'm not sure if that's entirely cannon as I have not read the Lord of the Rings books.

J-Horror

I believe I've blogged about this before, but to reiterate, I dislike scary movies, or psychological horror. I cannot separate myself from the story, I get lost in it- which is why I actually love the fantasy genre the most. Movies like 'The Grudge' or 'The Ring' I've never seen, and never will. Even the movie we watched in class, 'Pulse'- not the older one with the narration- freaked me out immensely. I went home feeling as though I should be weary of my computer, or the walls, for if I turn on the light in the dark room, someone or something could be standing there ominously. Literally as I'm typing this I am scaring myself because I have to think about that movie again. It's all in my head.

Old japanese horror stories play on your values I notice. Like the belief that everything in this world has a soul, and that the souls sometimes do not disappear with the body after death. Also I noticed if you stray from your values, or what is right in culture's view, bad things tend to happen. For example with 'Pulse', the introduction of technology, the breaking of older, traditional values, leads to suicide, which leads to unrest.  

Zombies-'Monster Island'

The Zombie epidemic, not only in literal terms that we read about, or we see in books(or movies) like I Am Legend, or Monster Island, but the obsession we've developed for this genre, has spread like an epidemic.

I remember the first time I saw 'Night of the Living Dead', I was excited since I'd heard so much about it, and how lame it was. Normally I hate horror movies, I get scared really easily, but this time... it was no different. Unfortunately I was still very much terrified. I am a very visual, imaginative person, and when I watch movies or read books I tend to put myself right into the story. Others, I've discovered, have a mechanism where, when things get to their dislike, they can separate themselves from the story and be perfectly fine, with the safe thought of 'that'll never happen to me'. However I cannot do this and am stuck in this horrible and scary experience I just can't ever escape, even when I leave the theater or put down the book. I had nightmares about the zombies from the movie, I saw them in the dark when I tried to go to bed, that fake looking black and white dead person, with it gooey black blood scared the hell out of me. Plus the movie ended, not badly, but sad. I'm a Disney-ist who believes in happy endings and such so I dislike it when there isn't one, and everyone died, no one was saved. Kinda depressing.

So why are people obsessed with it? More recently I've stumbled upon the genre again, particularly during freshman year, when I think the zombie phase was at it's peek or beginnings. I think the appeal is not the zombies or 'living dead' themselves, but the survivors. The first chapter of Monster Island he describes the girls in a hilarious way, with miniskirts and school uniforms, and AK 47s! That sounds like a teenage guys fantasy to me! What guy wouldn't want to be in some epic battle with unlimited resources all around you, guns with which you can kill as many people as possible with, and hot chicks with guns fighting right along side you in all the glorious blood and gut and carnage. The thought that there would be the possibility of that happening, and that you could possibly be a survivor and get to have all that bloody 'fun' is the real appeal, in my opinion.

However in all truth it'd be terrifying, everyone you love die, the world around you fall apart, not knowing when you'll get caught and die, and lose your humanity. The struggle to define humanity was also present in the book I believe. Especially with the zombie-hybrid Gary, he always struggled with himself and the other zombies and the humans. He met a rather sudden and quite terrible end, he gave up his humanity because he eat that girl, he couldn't go back. 

Horror- 'Frankenstein'

This was one of the easiest books to write about/read, other then Interview with a Vampire, for me at least. Mostly because I've recently read it, during my senior year at high school, and it was easy to pick it up for the week from the library. Mostly what I feel now is exactly what I felt reading it the first time: extreme pity.

I feel unbelievable sorry for the monster, even if it is revealed he actually killed people. I naturally am a very empathetic person, so I couldn't help but feel terrible when the monster described just wanted to love or be accepted, but was shunned and screamed at.

The most moving part for me was when he hid and stayed in that family's barn/behind their house. All that time he spent watching them, learning all those things, helping them even. Then when he finally goes to confront them, they scream and run away! I felt so angry, after seeing what type of people they supposedly were, then having the cold fact that they turned out just like everyone else!

My favorite folk tale/story of all time is 'Beauty and the Beast'- not just the Disney version(which I do like, but that's beside the point) but the whole tale of someone kind and pure enough that they wouldn't care what the other would look like, and love them no matter what. That is the most beautiful thing in the world. Even the movie we watched in class was a very classic example of a beauty and the beast story. She was the only one who wasn't afraid of him, and was willing to help him. I haven't seen the rest of the movie, but I want to, I'm almost looking forward to a love interest plot. I suppose that was what I was expecting when I opened that book. That he'd eventually find someone, anyone who would except him, maybe not love, but at least accept him. But no, not even his creator loved him, kinda like saying something like, 'What if God hated you?' I don't think anyone can imagine living like that, to know that you should not exist, no wonder he was driven to kill!

That's another issue to be brought up, the fact that he did eventually kill people. The act of killing people, starting with Frankenstein's little brother, I believe, this made him a monster inside as well as outside. I like the fact the book plays on the meaning of 'monster'. You can look perfectly normal, beautiful even, but, if you kill another being out of anger or negative reasons, you are a monster. So in theory, the frankenstein monster wasn't really a monster, just another creature, until he took his first life. Maybe it could be argued it was an accident, he didn't know his own strength, but in the end, he really screwed himself over when he willingly killed Elizabeth, to get back at Frankenstein.

In the end he stilled loved his creator, even though his creator feared him, hated him so much. I wonder what would the monster have been like if Frankenstein had not run away after he created him, and instead had taught him right and wrong. Mostly I blame Frankenstein for this whole mess, he was the one who became obsessed with science and deciding to play God. Overall I see this more as a heavy tragedy then a horror story, especially since I was depressed and sympathetic throughout the whole thing.