I got into a talk with another person about Medieval Fantasy. Specifically the Light Novel books and TV Show 12 Kingdoms which I have mentioned before, and it brought up an interesting point that I thought might make for some relevant discussion. . .
While I do remain a fan of it. The problem I have with it (The 12 Kingdoms TV Show) is that, the fantasy world has been locked in medieval stasis for Millenia. People literally rule by divine right, regardless of their actual qualifications, the gods of this world are (usually) cruel and not the least bit virtuous, the majority of the people inhabiting it are ignorant superstitious peasants with no access to anything greater than their hoe and farm animals. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh judging a Medieval Values system with modern standards. But at least I know in my world that Medieval history would eventually give way to modern history, progress, and all the benefits it brings. Like equality of the races and sexes, government of the people for the people, the gods not interfering with our lives for disrespecting them, the general petty-ness of rulers having real checks and balances, computers, refrigerators, flushing toilets, and all the little things we take for granted in today's world.
But in 12 Kingdoms? The laws of the gods of this Chinese-Inspired world mandate that the state ultimately owns all property since the state literally is the gods, and due to the giant monsters roaming the wild, and a lack of fossil fuels and natural resources, the Industrial Revolution can never realistically happen. This makes it impossible for democracy to develop according to the inherent unchanging laws of this world. There's literally no way for the fantasy world to move forward or improve socially, technologically, or politically just because the fantasy elements keep stagnating everything. It'll be this way for the people unlucky enough to be born in this world, and their children, and their children's children for the rest of eternity. In my opinion, that's the cruelest fate you can really put on your fantasy world. Eternal retardation, an endless cycle with no hope of scientific or political progress even alleviating the horrible reality. Why would I want to read about a world like that?
You see this touched upon slightly (Though rarely outright addressed like it is in 12 Kingdoms) in other High Fantasy stories. . . Nerdwriter did a video about how Raeghars Dragons in Game Of Thrones/ASOIF made the changes in government that technology enabled impossible, because the Supernatural elements in Westeros keep making it so that progression can never happen. One of my favorite Fantasy series as a kid The Divide Trilogy had the main character Felix accidentally introduce the printing press to the portal world he visits, to disastrous results for both the Medieval Society of the world and the Environment (trees became a resource for Paper). For Berserk and other Darker Fantasy, the supernatural elements are just so brutally overwhelming, that anyone who invents anything ends up dead before he can develop anything powerful enough or in vast enough quantities to fight the Supernatural Elements.
None of this is surprising. It's called MEDIEVAL Fantasy for a reason, and the Medieval Ages in our world were not a nice place to live. It's no secret that the genre has become less about Idealism and Romanticism, and more about Cynicism and Realism. Which isn't necessarily bad, a variety of worldviews should be encouraged especially when it comes to a genre as tired and wrung out as the Constructed Fantasy World. But when realism and cynicism is applied to the Tropes and Cliches of a fantasy world it tends to be kind of f***ed up and horrifying when examined in deeper detail.
But lately I've become rather disenchanted with the whole concept of modern Medieval Fantasy in general. There really is no hope for anything to ever get any better for anyone who isn't a Noble in most Medieval fantasy. Even if an evil ruler is deposed, eventually one of the children of the good ruler that replaces him or her will be just as bad. Or there will be an eventual debate over succession that will cause another war. If any scientific progress is made another Cataclysm or Orc Invasion will happen that will set them back to square one. If anyone questions the divine right of the king they are stomped down or punished by the gods. Repeat Ad Nauseam forever.
In books like The Heroes or A Song Of Ice And Fire there is no indication that anything the characters do will ultimately matter in the long run, and even if it does, what's the point? There's always going to be peasants getting slapped down by their abusive Royal Handlers. You could chalk this up to human nature, but even inside Fantasy worlds themselves, this isn't true. There are dozens of people in some of the darkest of Fantasy Novels who are decent, moral, and good. But when you have no real end in sight, it just becomes this abusive wheel where it seems like good people don't exist for any real reason.
You can make a constructed world vivid in detail and history, have lovable characters, make me root for them, make me cry when they die, cheer when they succeed. But if it's never going to get any better for the constructed world, and ones that come after the characters in the story that will have to live in it, why should I care? If their struggles aren't going to change anything in the long run, then why should I even care? Why did I even bother reading about their struggles to begin with? To remind myself of how much better I have it in my world by comparison? Where is the meaning, the grander message in the story if their struggles will be made meaningless by the very nature of the world they live in?
The very concept of medieval stasis says there is no hope or purpose beyond the moment, and really no point to the characters actions. That argument simply is defeatist at best, and outright evil at worst. It's symptomatic of a larger lack of optimism and hope in the genre itself. People in today's world are finding it harder and harder to believe that things have purpose anymore. The biggest criticism I personally have with most modern 'realistic' fantasy stories in general isn't the violence or murder or swearing, or showing that the world is a horrible place. The problem is that it doesn't provide any ways to make the world any less horrible. The very real world problems of the typical realistic medieval fantasy world don't have any solutions, realistic or fantastic.
Even Tolkien had a point to Lord Of The Rings and an end to his worlds medieval stasis. The elves leaving Middle Earth is sad, but at the very least the magical elements leaving the world allowed the men of Middle Earth their turn at ruling changing the world. Since Tolkien intended Middle Earth to be an "Alternate Past' for our world, you can see that all that struggle eventually did pay off at least as far as comfort and convenience goes.
I'm not asking for Fantasy writers to stop writing about Medieval Pre-Industrial Worlds, or even to actually show the medieval fantasy world becoming a world like ours with technology and machines. I'm asking to give their fantasy worlds a CHANCE to improve themselves, a chance to become a world like ours. Where, while things aren't perfect, we can at least say with some confidence that it's better than our ancestors had.
We all hope for a better life for our Children, it's safe to say that the characters in Fantasy world would hope for that too.
Submitted July 15, 2016 at 11:10AM by RaygunnerRei http://ift.tt/29NkubH Fantasy
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