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Mothwing ([personal profile] mothwing) wrote2009-01-11 09:01 pm
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Fantasy Rants

I discovered something awesome today: Fantasy rants by limyaael on InsaneJournal, and I find myself nodding emphatically while reading a lot.

The collection of IJ memories above is a collection of essays and rants on this my favourite genre, in which she shares some of my main gripes - for example the fact that all queer couples must angst and end in tragedy, the fact that in gender equal societies, males and females both just so happen to take on our traditional gender roles and that things domestic are just not considered to be as important as warfare, the stereotypical, boring use of music in Fantasy, a plea for making heroines more human 3D, or the typical problems which arise when writing about oppression and oppressive socieites (she also includes a part on race and class).

There are a plethora of interesting topics she addresses, this is just a random selection of things that immediately struck me.
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[identity profile] fennyfen.livejournal.com 2009-01-12 04:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Read all of those and a bit more. Those are amazing - well-written and thought-provoking. She brought up a lot of points that I've thought of but have been unable to phrase coherently, and a lot of new ones I hadn't considered. Fascinating read. When I have some more spare time, I have no doubt I'll be back. xD

[identity profile] fourthage.livejournal.com 2009-01-12 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Aren't they great? I keep hoping she'll start up again.

[identity profile] krakelwok.livejournal.com 2009-01-14 01:30 pm (UTC)(link)
98,9999% of all modern fantasy is just authors rearranging mythological motifs. Bad authors will also weave in popular movie and literature clichés. looking at it like that, Rowling would technically qualify as a bad author, I guess. The trick must be to find out what makes her better than hacks like Stephenie Meyer nonetheless.
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