The Magicians was an interesting read, especially for someone who grew up reading the Harry Potter series. Grossman has brought a dose of realism to fantasy. The whole mood of his book betrays what I would expect from a normal Fantasy novel. There are no real triumphant moments, or ecstatic highs from their adventures. And though there are mysterious nothing in the magical world is quite so wondrous as is usually represented in the fables from our youth. Every new discovery only disappoints Quentin, failing to ever fill him up. A particularly brilliant part in the book, I felt, was their arrival to Fillory for the first time. Everything about the place - from the nude woman resting in freezing water to the overgrown talking animals who were anticipated to be adorable - was way too eerie to enjoy. What Quentin thought would be perfection is really just weird and kind of scary. In a new and bizarre world with its own foreign rules we should probably expect nothing less. Fillory is a bit like adulthood. As children we dream of the freedom adulthood offers, the magic carpet ride. But coming out of adolescences and seeing the world for what it is can be a let down, and our sense of wonder is replaced with anxieties.
There was also no mission, or “Greater Calling” if you will, that thrusts the protagonists into any necessary heroic action. It’s the boredom of their new adult lives that causes them to seek out thrills in the land of Fillory. Again, this is more true to life than traditional fantasies. None of us are “The Chosen Ones” with a simple black and white goal laid out in front of us. We have to make our own choices in life and risk facing the unknowns ahead of our decisions.
I suppose one could argue from an Existentialist point of view this aspect of freewill makes Quentin more heroic than Harry Potter. Still, Quentin was unable to rescue anyone himself, he cost a girl her life to Martin “The Beast” Chatwin due to a bit of carelessness, and it was his girlfriend, not he, who in the end made the ultimate sacrifice. Yet in the end he’s changed by his experiences, and while he may not be happier when it’s all over he is a more content, more mature person. As an edifying fairytale, The Magicians is a redemption story, not a tale of good versus evil or about how power corrupts.
Admittedly, I don’t read an awful lot of fantasy but the genre seems to have put itself in a rut since Tolkein. To see Grossman shake up the genre is exciting. I definitely want to read the sequel, The Magician King, although I wouldn’t expect it to be very similar to the first novel, if at all alike. Quentin’s time with the Centaur’s has ostensibly made him an infinitely more mature person, and that much more likeable. With everyone grown and out of Brakebills somehow Grossman will have to find a way to use the magic of Fillory to comment on adulthood instead of adolescence.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Bizarro Fiction
For Bizarro fiction Channel Zero wasn’t as bizarre as I thought it would be. Compared to other dystopian works I don’t see the concept of it standing out in weirdness. The style the artwork was done in, however, was weird.
The book did make me wonder how probable it could be that the US would pass something like a “Clean Act” and I completely agree with how Brian Wood see’s the numbing effects of television on the country. Only the news media in Channel Zero had a state TV kind of bias but at least they were actually talking about relevant global issues. Whenever I see what some daft station like CNN or its sister station HLN is talking about it’s usually something like celebrity gossip or a “story” equally un-newsworthy. But it was mentioned in Channel Zero how everyone is to busy watching Seinfeld re-runs to care about any important political issues. I see this sort of apathy as a real problem, with the occupy movement getting bashed for causing inconvenience and getting relatively little attention from the mainstream news media.
TiMER was definitely bizarre, and while I am inclined to avoid the romantic comedy genre, I actually ended up enjoying this one quite a bit. At first I thought it was a critique of the idea of soul mates but wards the end of the film I was no longer sure of that. My own take on soul mates has been expressed by the brilliant Tim Minchin in his comedic song “If I Didn’t Have You”. That is: we’re not made to be with any one person, we just make the decision to work on strengthening a relationship with a particular fish in the see. And that really, so many marriages fail because we expect to find a perfect soul mate, so the relationship is easy. This seemed to be what the movie was going for at first as the Emma was going to give Mikey a chance. But then she was indecisive about whether or not to stay with him even though she wanted to she thought it was fated to end in disaster, which may be why a lot of the younger generations hesitate to marry.
Whether it was the writer's or director's intent or not, the idea of TiMER's came across as very strange, but really only because it makes the idea of soul mates look that much stranger.
The book did make me wonder how probable it could be that the US would pass something like a “Clean Act” and I completely agree with how Brian Wood see’s the numbing effects of television on the country. Only the news media in Channel Zero had a state TV kind of bias but at least they were actually talking about relevant global issues. Whenever I see what some daft station like CNN or its sister station HLN is talking about it’s usually something like celebrity gossip or a “story” equally un-newsworthy. But it was mentioned in Channel Zero how everyone is to busy watching Seinfeld re-runs to care about any important political issues. I see this sort of apathy as a real problem, with the occupy movement getting bashed for causing inconvenience and getting relatively little attention from the mainstream news media.
TiMER was definitely bizarre, and while I am inclined to avoid the romantic comedy genre, I actually ended up enjoying this one quite a bit. At first I thought it was a critique of the idea of soul mates but wards the end of the film I was no longer sure of that. My own take on soul mates has been expressed by the brilliant Tim Minchin in his comedic song “If I Didn’t Have You”. That is: we’re not made to be with any one person, we just make the decision to work on strengthening a relationship with a particular fish in the see. And that really, so many marriages fail because we expect to find a perfect soul mate, so the relationship is easy. This seemed to be what the movie was going for at first as the Emma was going to give Mikey a chance. But then she was indecisive about whether or not to stay with him even though she wanted to she thought it was fated to end in disaster, which may be why a lot of the younger generations hesitate to marry.
Whether it was the writer's or director's intent or not, the idea of TiMER's came across as very strange, but really only because it makes the idea of soul mates look that much stranger.
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