Fantasy is dead

A while back I opened a blank document and wrote three words: fantasy is dead. Then I saved the document and let it sit on my HD until today. To put it in context, those words were written shortly after having seen the movie ‘the Golden Compass’, and you can probably guess what I thought about the movie. Two words: pretty, bad (the comma is entirely optional).

Let me explain a bit what I mean by the phrase fantasy is dead. Just to make it absolutely clear, it does not refer to books. Fantasy in book form is alive an well. The silver screen on the other hand is another story entirely. And here is why: there are only three truly good fantasy movies made since the turn of the century.

I can’t say that I have seen all fantasy movies made since 2000, nor do I wish I had. Though I have seen Narnia, I have seen the Harry Potters. I have seen the Golden Compass. I have seen the Wizard of Oz retelling, Tin Man (small aside: ‘the OC’, wth?). I have seen the Seeker: The Dark Is Rising. I did not see Eragon, but from what I hear it’s not a loss. Neither of these are one of the three, but they have a common theme…

To tell the truth, the three also fit well within the theme of the previously mentioned movies, but there have got to be some exceptions. Thankfully.

Fantasy movies are made to cater to a specific audience, namely the fans of the books. And at times the fact that there already is a fan base seems to green-light cherry-picking the best bits of the story (the scenic, majestic bits, the grand battle and the fight with the dragon). The rest the fans can fill in – they have read the book after all. Case in point, the Golden Compass.

Truth be told, the grand battles and the dragons are often important parts in a fantasy book, but there is no point in showing them without also knowing why they are important. If I have to use meta knowledge from the books to know what is going on, the movie is failing at basic storytelling. To quote my good friend Morghus:

At the mention of the movie-script I’ll try not to go off in an endless and furious rant. Suffice to say it made me sad. Very sad. Plot holes the size of Denmark tends to be noticeable.

Not all the movies I have mentioned are bad. Some are decent, some are half-decent. Some are fun. But I consider none of them truly good movies (the Harry Potter series is probably the one that come closest). However as long as there are series with a strong fan base, these movies will continue to be made. And I will most likely go see them. And at the end of the movie I will say my usual “The book was better”. It always is.