Modern Fantasy: All Gloom and no Fun... (Rant)

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Ketzal
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Modern Fantasy: All Gloom and no Fun... (Rant)

#1 Post by Ketzal »

I decided to make this a topic after getting into a discussion with a friend who's working on a fantasy novel. I bring this up because one of the things he wanted to do was make sure that it wasn't seen as a book for kids, so he had some bits here and there that were shockingly dark, if a bit realistic. It got me thinking about a lot of fantasy in media nowadays, and it's pretty clear that things have gotten DARK.

Now don't get me wrong, dark and gritty fantasy has been a staple for a while now, but it feels more and more like that's all that people want. When I think about fantasy, I think Dragon Age, the Witcher, the Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, even the Codex Alera series (novels made by my favorite author). It seems like harsh and realistic fantasy is all over the place, and while I can appreciate the complexity that it can bring to an otherwise whimsical setting, it feels like it's going against the whole point of fantasy.

I mean, fantasy is supposed to be a departure from reality, right? So why are we trying so hard to make fantasy more realistic? I look at games like The Witcher 3, and while I can appreciate the amount of work put into establishing the lore and world setting, I can't help but feel downright depressed at how horrific it is for anyone to live in that world. Every stop you take in that game, there's SOMEBODY suffering or dying, or there's another monster that's ravaged the countryside. Yes, that's probably what would happen if a setting like that actually existed, but it doesn't, so why does it need to be like that?

I will say that I'm not calling for dark fantasy to get reworked into more lighthearted material. That would be missing the whole point of why those were created in the first place. I'm just saying that it feels like dark fantasy has just taken over media in general without much lighter fantasy to balance it out. I'm definitely up for a complex and morally grey story from something like Dragon Age, but not all the time.

What do you guys think? Am I just missing out on lighter fantasy that's already here, or do you think I have a point?

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Re: Modern Fantasy: All Gloom and no Fun... (Rant)

#2 Post by Warrl »

Well, for a fantasy RPG, the fact is that the game needs encounters - and if it's computerized, well, combat encounters are VASTLY easier to automate intelligently than social interactions.

(The first time this was really super-annoying to me was... well, I forget which game it is, but at one point you encounter a young sorceress fleeing from a bunch of wizards. It soon becomes apparent that the young sorceress is rather an unpleasant person and probably is being very justly punished. Unfortunately, she is a designated ally. You cannot harm her. She isn't even a valid target for attempts. And once she kills the wizards, she'll be grateful for your assistance and become part of your gang. Even if your assistance consisted exclusively of fervent attempts to get away from her.)

So, in a computer fantasy RPG there's going to be a lot of combat. To justify that, either there's a war on (hard on civilians), there are a lot of monsters and other valid targets around (hard on civilians), or YOU are a monster (hard on civilians and less popular with gamers). And this influences a lot of non-computer-RPG fantasy.

(A Practical Guide to Evil manages to have its main character hit all three of those. And yeah, it's hard on the civilians.)

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Re: Modern Fantasy: All Gloom and no Fun... (Rant)

#3 Post by tony1695 »

I think you could argue that media reflects reality. In this case, people have a dimmer, more pessimistic view of the world, and the stories simply echo that.
Older fantasy stories have a very black and white mentality, because at the time that's how many people viewed the world. But as information became easier to acquire, and we were able to really see how bad things were on both sides, it shifted more to grey and gray. Now, in the age of vast databases of all the information you could ever want at your fingertips and entire organisations dedicated to showing us how horrible the rest of the world is, it really isn't surprising that the stories are being gloomier and darker.
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Phaing
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Re: Modern Fantasy: All Gloom and no Fun... (Rant)

#4 Post by Phaing »

tony1695 wrote:I think you could argue that media reflects reality.
You can argue that, but I will have to argue against it.

Media shows what is being made up by the people that work in it. Their only firm connection to reality is trying to guess what will sell, what will make them the most amount of money... and what their Bosses will approve.
That's about it.

Case in point; no TV or Movies show a successful long-term relationship or even one that ends happily.
This is because nobody in Hollywood is capable of having one these days, and therefore they assume that this must be the reality everywhere for everyone. In fact, their greatest delight seems to be in destroying anyone that is happy, apparently for the vicarious thrill it gives them to make everyone as miserable as they are.
tony1695 wrote:Older fantasy stories have a very black and white mentality, because at the time that's how many people viewed the world. But as information became easier to acquire, and we were able to really see how bad things were on both sides, it shifted more to grey and gray. Now, in the age of vast databases of all the information you could ever want at your fingertips and entire organisations dedicated to showing us how horrible the rest of the world is, it really isn't surprising that the stories are being gloomier and darker.
Then that should lead to a more realistic view of the world, but we also have massive disinformation campaigns going on all over the place. It is hard to tell what is real and what isn't, and what is pure propaganda.
You have to use a lot of your own judgement, consider the source and always be skeptical.
"If you’re going to tell people the truth, you'd better make them laugh; otherwise, they will kill you."

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