Home » Film & TV » Film & Society » The Return of Fantasy

The Return of Fantasy

© Rachel Lindley

In a world of so much darkness, crime, sadness and disease, movies serve as a portal into another world. In the winter, movies warm us with their tales of love and goodness conquering evil. In the summer, movies cool us down with big action movies and breathtaking effects sequences in cool theaters.

One genre that has lived through the ages is Fantasy. Most commonly hand in hand with Science fiction and horror, fantasy can join in elements of sci-fi at times like with the Star Wars trilogy. Traditional fantasy in the sense of sword and sorcery usually has elements of fantastical magic, elves, dwarfs and a beautiful princess waiting to be saved. This harks back to the fairy tales of Snow White, Cinderella, Rumpelstilskin, Robin Hood and many others. The timeless stories go farther back in time than the written stories passed on through the ages so it’s a bit hard to trace the very first fairy tale.

Nevertheless, fantasy is one of, if not, the most popular genre in literature (next to drama, that is). With the arrival and popularity of this past summer's Shrek, Harry Potter and the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, fantasy is back in the spotlight as both films are 2001's most anticipated movies of the year. Harry Potter alone generated a total of $93 million over the past week and is already very rapidly approaching $200 million. It's no surprising considering the widely popular J.K. Rowling books have touched both adults and children with stories of a young wizard and his friends.

The same formula will most likely work with J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings due to the ongoing successes of the trilogy. Many children grew up reading the popular fantasy series and have come to love them even as adults.

So, does this mean that fantasy has returned? The 80s could be considered the boom in fantasy films with the arrival of Star Wars (1979), Excalibur (1981), Conan The Barbarian (1982), Ladyhawke (1985), Ridley Scott's Legend (1985), The Princess Bride (1987) and George Lucas'Willow (1988). Unfortunately, the 90s didn't fair well with fantasy fare such as First Knight (1995) and Kull the Conquerer (1997). One could say it did well on television with the Renaissance's successful television series Hercules: The Legendary Journey's and it's even more successful spin-off Xena: Warrior Princess.

Nevertheless, fantasy is an alive genre due to it's literary predecessors and built-in fanbase. There are many stories to be told in many far off lands by aspiring writers. Unfortunately, the big budgets and risky business make it hard for writers to sell their ideas. My advice: put it on the backburner. For you never know whether or not you may be successful in another medium.