It's unfortunate that medieval fantasy tales have reached this point, but it's more unfortunate that the opinion of the masses do not agree with the claim that is about to be made. That claim being the fantasy stories are on a decline in terms of quality, and ironically the problem stems from the man who once breathed new life into and is now no longer able to influence it with his works anymore. This man of course is J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkienism while not in any way negative by its own right, has led to the disappointing state of story telling within this genre. This is by no means a criticism of Tolkien's work. He is one of the best world builder's of his time if not of all time. His attention to detail is without equal in this day and age and no one's fantasy work has been more expertly studied than his. Looking at the different cultures, geography, characters, and social norms of Middle-Earth, the amount of work, effort, and sheer love of story telling is within every aspect of every story within this universe. Simple locations such as a barren cave, or a small stronghold seemingly in the middle of nowhere appears more important or somehow has vital importance simply by how it's played off. As stated before, Tolkien clearly has a talent for bringing out a made up universe and incorporating enough elements to make it feel as alive as possible. However, it is this blinding success of his work that has led to the genre's downfall. Usually when some form or type in a media/medium reaches mass appeal, it dies out and what's left gives content creators of this type a bit more freedom and how to express this. What I mean by this, I'll use the example of vampires in popular media. After the ever popular Dracula we see vampires go by one after the other almost likes clones of each other, but in today's view they have taken on different elements, traits, and standards than what was previously defined as a "vampire". Medieval Fantasy however, does not allow for this. In the place of evolving and crafting new interpretations of familiar aspects, Tolkienism instead has made the genre become reliant on a very rigid and very specific set of rules. A perfect example of this problem would be the concept of dragons. Dragons are by far the most damaged by this system of Tolkienism. If one wanted to write a fantastic tale about dragons, you better make them as real as possible. Wings must always be a part of the front limbs/arms, a rough/leather-like hide, and can not have too much of a neck but not too small as well. Indeed dragons are the most restricted in the genre, and Tolkienists take pride that their view of dragons is much more life-like than the story tellers of say, the far-east which either have them as nothing more than giant snakes with wings or they are criticized for having too many fantastical elements to them (four limbs plus wings, furry hide, too slimmed). And it is this very structured set of rules that is throttling the genre. You can't branch out from what Tolkienism has defined or your work will be criticized as being too fantastical; however isn't that ultimately the point of the genre? Create a village with houses made of flowers atop tress, that will be condemned. Create forests that have you imagine a world full of vibrant colors of blue, green, red, and it will be criticized for being too child-like. Do you have a universe where goblins, orcs, elves, and trolls aren't the norm? Tolkienism says that's silly and your story will be called such. What's the point of letting your ideas run wild if your imagination truly has to be limited? THIS is why western fantasy has been on the decline. Imagination is suffocated by rules, restrictions, and scenarios that shouldn't have to be taken into account. Every piece of media that has focused on this genre has been jumbled copies of one another in their attempts to ride the coat tails of Tolkien's success. Yet they only are able to reach half-fame if that. By God if the man were alive today writing a new world, it would be his advocates and fans of Middle-Earth to be the first lash out against him for not adhering to the restrictions he unintentionally placed on the genre. Earlier I commented on the dragons of the far east and how their designs greatly differed (the latter variation ironically coming as inspiration from the west's original idea before the great shift for realism), the difference in the story telling there is that artists know that they don't need to be restricted by a set idea of what something should be like. We KNOW what a dragon looks like and as long as it contains enough elements for us to recognize it as a dragon, the other aspects can be embellished for the sake of the story. Writers of these worlds would do wise to deviate. In the form of art, rules are meant to be broken, and imagination is king. There will be no true great success until stories begin to shape themselves rather than let what has already been shaped around decide what they'll be like. It is through deviation that creators are able to finally look at these stories from a birds eye view and see what could make them better. However this will never come if you simply take one universe, scramble it around and call it another. When change finally does come to this genre, what will happen to the authors of today and where will these fantastic stories take us next?
what
Just rememberIf it doesn't have wizards, it's shit.
We'll always have fanfiction.netThe peak of modern writing
Ehhh, I see where you're coming from, but there's always been good and bad stories and authors. I could name some authors who've done great creative work in fantasy settings without being overly derivative of Tolkien or his world. Then on the other hand you have the guys who bash out big dumb fantasy epics. It's just a matter of nosing out the good stuff.
Define a wizard, and after that tell me if a wizard HAS to have those traits. Quote from: THE BOAT ecks two on April 24, 2016, 06:39:36 PMJust rememberIf it doesn't have wizards, it's shit.
I do agree that those stories are out there. However, I must say that the more popular stuff (Skyrim being the big example) heavily relies on Tolkienism. To the point where stories that don't are becoming ever more niche. Quote from: Elegiac on April 24, 2016, 06:43:29 PMEhhh, I see where you're coming from, but there's always been good and bad stories and authors. I could name some authors who've done great creative work in fantasy settings without being overly derivative of Tolkien or his world. Then on the other hand you have the guys who bash out big dumb fantasy epics. It's just a matter of nosing out the good stuff.
Quote from: THE BOAT ecks two on April 24, 2016, 06:39:36 PMJust rememberIf it doesn't have wizards, it's shit.Or elves
Elves that exist outside of hentai films are misplaced and never treated properly.
Why? Because they're not Shota twinks? Quote from: THE BOAT ecks two on April 24, 2016, 08:12:37 PMElves that exist outside of hentai films are misplaced and never treated properly.
Because it's not rape if it's an elf.
Elves are human like you uncaring bastard. Quote from: THE BOAT ecks two on April 24, 2016, 08:44:15 PMBecause it's not rape if it's an elf.
Elves exist solely to sate the carnal desires of man.
This is why Elves are racist as shit. Quote from: THE BOAT ecks two on April 24, 2016, 08:54:40 PMElves exist solely to sate the carnal desires of man.
What are you, some kind of Elven rights activist?
Yes, Elves unironically have a rich culture and having them blend with the other races of our society would better us all. It's fucking Dwarves that are a cancer to our world. Quote from: THE BOAT ecks two on April 24, 2016, 09:01:17 PMWhat are you, some kind of Elven rights activist?
The dwarves are a proud and industrious people. Elves are nothing but hippie shits
It's like you're completely uncultured and uninformed. Elves are NOT hippies, they simply preach treating the land with respect, unlike Dwarves that scurry into the ground like rats digging for gold just to line their pockets. Quote from: THE BOAT ecks two on April 24, 2016, 09:04:11 PMThe dwarves are a proud and industrious people. Elves are nothing but hippie shits
Industry wins wars, not prayers to the tree god.
Tolkienism and the decline of fantasy tales
