[ SECRET POST #4436 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4436 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 21 secrets from Secret Submission Post #635.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Counterpoint: Medieval fantasy stories with settings and elements from non-white cultures of the same period.

Defeat pirates with a swashbuckling captain modeled after Zheng He on a massive treasure ship. Wander with an ascetic on a journey across the river valleys to beseech the gods of an Orisha inspired pantheon. Join a caliph and their army in defending the holyland from invasion by knights riding out of a plague-ridden wasteland.

The difference between fantasy and sci-fi for me is direction of time projection, the future obviously being scientific, but just because fantasy is in the past doesn't mean it has to exclusively use European elements.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, etc.

[(Anonymous)]

how is this a counterpoint?

"standard fantasy settings" are VERY much a stripped-down whitewashed version of medieval europe as imagined/transmitted to us by the victorians stuck in a blender with a somebody's vague memory of a DnD manual that was itself based on lovingly ripping off Tolkein lovingly ripping off the very european Eddas/Beowulf/etc

if it's doing cool multicultural now-western stuff, it's NOT Standard Fantasy With Elves and Stuff?

[(Anonymous)]

Because you can still have all the standard features like kingdoms, elves, and a magic system, just through a new cultural lens.

Hereditary feudal rulers, inhuman supernatural folk of the woods, and the practice of rituals and spells are universal to the middle ages of virtually all civilizations.

The problem isn't the Standard Fantasy story mechanics, but the cultural stagnation they're under. Sagas and epics where a wise man with magic powers leads a motley mixed crew of mortals and magical beings on an adventure to defeat evil is paralleled across the globe.

Journey to the West especially comes to mind.

[(Anonymous)]

That's... an oddly reductionist view of Journey to the West, tbh.

"Defeating evil" isn't the point? At least not in the original.

[(Anonymous)]

Defeating ignorance, then. I mean, I think it's a bit reductionist to imply that the heroes of Journey to the West defending themselves from evil demons hasn't been a big draw for its audience over the centuries, especially in stage productions and visual media where flashy fight scenes are so appreciated.

Besides, the "point" of LotR arguably isn't defeating evil either, but friendship and maintaining a fellowship in the face of war.