“FANTASY IS ESCAPIST, AND THAT IS ITS GLORY. IF A SOLDIER IS IMPRISONED BY THE ENEMY, DON’T WE CONSIDER IT HIS DUTY TO ESCAPE?. . .IF WE VALUE THE FREEDOM OF MIND AND SOUL, IF WE’RE PARTISANS OF LIBERTY, THEN IT’S OUR PLAIN DUTY TO ESCAPE, AND TO TAKE AS MANY PEOPLE WITH US AS WE CAN!”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
Given a chance our minds can cultivate a bountiful harvest of spectacular and uncanny worlds. But starved of opportunity our minds suffocate and struggle to even live in our own world. Fantasy, sci-fi, westerns, drama, comedy, make-believe; all labels for anything fictional. But who says non-fiction is real? The history books that taught us and are teaching our children are inaccurate. Thanks to the internet, news is reported so quickly now that something remarked on as fact quickly becomes fiction once the truth shows its tardy head. Dare I say “reality” can’t be trusted anymore – at least not when CNN quotes someone named @HottMama77 from Twitter.
Books, graphic novels, movies, TV, radio, web series, Netflix, Hulu, stories told by our grandparents. Fiction or non-, “entertainment” has a place in our lives actually it has a responsibility in our lives. It is defining our culture. We look back and see Native Americans as harmonious with nature. Viking as barbarous. Romans as ingenuitive. What will history say of us? Look forward to look back – and see what our future sons and daughters will see. Are we proud of that? Ashamed? Or completely indifferent? Because I see our generation as passively sitting by and watching the page of history turn on us. We are the reboot generation, we are the generation who stood on the shoulders of greatness and did nothing with it.
Spider-Man, Batman, Hamlet, Othello, Nicholas Nickleby, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Tom Sawyer, Sir Gawain, Beowulf, The Tramp, Bilbo Baggins. Those who came before us created masterful works of art: written, filmed, inked, drawn, and splattered. And we have seen these pieces of greatness, we have studied them and grown up with them – they have been a part of our lives for better or worse. And in response, after being inspired by masterpieces, all we can do is reboot and rehash those characters and stories 3 or 4 times in as many decades.
I ask you – Nay! I beg you, as a global community with the ability to think of great pieces of fantasy. Become the escapist, create and breath life into new and interesting pieces of art! Do not be satisfied with “reality” television. Do not be satisfied with the “trash”. Do not be okay with yet another version of the same character/stories you grew up with – instead create and inspire those around you. Encourage growth and intelligence, not plagiarism and ignorance.
Colin Carlton 