Not All Who Wander Are Lost

I wanted to start a quest with my readers here. A journey into the Fantasy genre. A trip to explore its origins and evolution and how Fantasy went from a niche genre into a moneymaking juggernaut. Those of us who grew up on Dungeons and Dragons, Tolkien, and the myths and legends of the past were outcasts, nerds, or freaks, know that Fantasy used to be the relatively exclusive domain of recluses and introverts.

It is also the domain of an intelligent, literate, and thoughtful fanbase that adores historical legend and the fundamental core concepts of good vs. evil. Indeed, many fully embraced the monomyth concept espoused by Joseph Campbell without knowing it. The idea of "the hero's journey" is a fundamental aspect of storytelling in the Fantasy genre at its core.

Although the Fantasy Genre has always been a mutt genre as defined by today's media. Media companies are attempting to capitalize on the trend and throw all sorts of things into this bucket. The simplest definition I've read is that Fantasy features magical or supernatural elements that "do not exist in the real world." With that definition, Fantasy can come to mean many things and encompass large chunks of Horror and science fiction under its banner. Wikipedia describes it as Speculative, involving "magical elements" and typically set in a fictional universe. Under this definition, Star Wars and Dune would both qualify.

I prefer a more tightly bound definition that evokes our present world and draws on myths already held dear by our cultures. Tending to lean heavily on Fantasy as myth-based, I refer to Tolkien as probably the master template, although this does not exclude other Fantasy based works that are less well-rooted. And by that, I mean works in a similar vein to Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. However, classified today as children's stories, they are inherently rich in fantasy elements and contain elements of myth as a basis.

In any event, we can debate what constitutes the genre until the elves come home, but I decided to utilize this definition as the basis for my journey into the realm of Fantasy. I wanted to provide a survey of Fantasy media in film and books to the degree possible, a survey that would likely take years. A study that would also be chronological since Fantasy builds on the works of others before it.

The long-range objective is to provide a sense of history and understanding of these works from a literary and cinematic perspective. This review may also give us a basis to rediscover and understand why we love the genre so much.

So I invite all of you to join me each week as we review motion pictures and literary works and trace the origins of Fantasy to the present day. I will only portend that I will examine some works in film or books, and select works based on the following criteria.

Availability - I want to review the actual work and have that same opportunity availed to everyone else for this journey. So works that are not readily available will likely only be referenced where necessary.

Definition - That it meets my definition of Fantasy, it is not my intent to review Horror or Science Fiction works, although some works may contain elements of the horrific.

So join me each week as we chart this journey through the history of Fantasy. We will start with our first film next week. Going back to the start of talkies in 1927 and sifting through the films available to you, we will begin our journey with Alice in Wonderland from 1933 with Gary Cooper as White Knight, Cary Grant as Mock Turtle, W.C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty, Edward Horton as the Mad Hatter and Sterling Holloway as Frog.