Most people find it hard to understand why fantasy is my favorite genre. ‘It’s too unbelievable,’ they say. ‘It’s so formulaic. It’ll never help you later in life.’
I have to both agree and disagree with these statements. Fantasy is a very formulaic genre, but really, what genre isn’t? Mine just has more fantastical trimmings—which does prove them right when they say it’s unbelievable. But what I refuse to agree with is when they say reading fantasy will never help me in the real world.
Fantasy shows you something worth striving for, something to dream about. No, I will never practice any form of magic: that isn’t possible or real. But when I am reading I am more than just myself, more than my boring collection of memories. This is why most people would label reading as escapism. They do have a point, because sometimes it is fun to just forget about reality and go slay dragons and save the world.
But here’s the clincher. When you read you become the hero and their actions become yours. By becoming a hero so often while reading a book, you start to believe that you have those qualities inside you. When you pretend something often enough it has a chance to become real, and soon your pretended qualities of bravery, courage, honor, and assuredness might work their way into your ‘real’ personality.
So why are readers of fantasy derided? Why are we told that our genre is unbelievable and worthless, that real life stories are far more worthy and—above all—realistic and better able to inspire? A reader of biographies will always be superior to a reader of fantasy. A watcher of documentaries will always be superior to the watcher of action movies. And yet—just what is it they’re feeling superior about?
I will give you an example: there was a book recently published called ‘Three Cups of Tea.’ You might be aware that there is now a controversy surrounding the author of this book and the book itself. It is being said that he lied about his experiences and lied about donating all the money he received to actually building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The book and the man and his mission are now derided as fakes—people feel betrayed for trusting in him and now they’re doing their best to tear him down.
This is fascinating, is it not? Here was a ‘true story,’ that turned out to be not so true. But what of its original effect? When the book came out people were inspired. They wanted to donate to building schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They wanted to do it because of the story of a man who lived through hardships and came out the stronger; the story of a man who battled injustice and anonymity to make a difference in the world. They wanted to become better people because a story showed them how they could.
But then the story was revealed to be only partially true. What does this mean? Does it mean that a fake story has just as much ability to inspire as a true one? That lies can equally motivate someone to good deeds as truth? That the impact of fiction—if it is believed in—has the same impact as non-fiction that is believed in?
Because at that point it all comes down to the power of belief, not the veracity of the story. So I ask again: just what is it that other people find to feel so superior about when their ‘true stories’ are revealed to be just as accurate as our ‘false stories?’
I do not mean to say that all people are this way. I do not mean to vilify readers of biographies and watchers of documentaries. What I wish to do is expose a prejudice that very much exists and shouldn’t. When it comes to personal tastes and enjoyments there is no ‘better than,’ there is only ‘instead of.’ You like reading 20th century poetry because it inspires you? Good for you. You prefer James Joyce to Robert Jordan? Fine with me. I would far rather read Piers Anthony than Charles Dickens (sorry Dickens, I know you’re a classic, but I can’t stand you). Some people love Shakespeare. Others love Tom Clancy. What does it all mean?
It means that as members of the human race, we don’t feel good about ourselves unless we’re better than someone else.
Wait, isn’t that the description of a bully? Someone who belittles or hurts someone else in order to feel a sense of self-worth?
Then I don’t think it inaccurate to say that we are a race of bullies, a race of people who are so insecure about what we like—about what we think we should like—that we feel the need to make everyone around us just like us because it feels safer and we feel a sense of validity about who we are as people.
What is your favorite genre? Is it Historical, Drama, Fantasy, Biography, Classics, Mystery, etc? Or do you not like to read at all but prefer to watch the news and follow politics? Or do you hate politics but watch indie/art house movies? Or do you think that a movie isn’t good unless it has explosions and gore in it?
Keeping all this in mind, I would like to tell you something important:
It doesn’t matter.
I will repeat: It doesn’t matter.
Life is not about being ‘better than.’ Personal tastes are not an indication of self-worth. We are all different, and yet we are all still the same. We are all afraid of many things, we are cowardly, we are weak, and we are selfish. But when we hear and read of others who have transcended their mundane qualities, we are driven to emulate them. We want to be like them, and their lives show us how. We all wish to be inspired, but we all search for inspiration in different places. It is never bad to believe in honor, courage, and causes that are worth living and dying for—no matter how we hear about them. Just because something doesn’t exist doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it, and just because something may or may not be true does not mean we can’t believe in it.
I would like to include a quote from Secondhand Lions, a truly great movie. For those of you who haven’t seen it, this scene is very important. Throughout the movie a young boy has been told fantastic stories of his great uncles’ adventures. He loves the stories but he has been lied to all his life and he needs to know if the stories are true or not—whether or not he should believe in them. Uncle Hub tells him this:
‘Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.’
I will admit that this used to be a hard concept for me to grasp when I was younger. True was true—how could something not true be true? How could lies be true?
Now my older self can counter that by saying: because sometimes it isn’t the words that are important, but the message behind them and how it makes you feel. There are so many lies in this world, but what truly matters isn’t whether or not you believe in them, but how they make you act.
How are you going to act?
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