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- [man]Whew! Boy, it sure is hot!
I could go for a soda. Oh, "drink me!"
Must be new.
[soda thuds]
Hmm...
You know, that tastes pretty goo-- oh!
Oh! This is just perfect.
I've jumped into modern fantasy and now look at me!
I fell for the oldest trick in the book. "Drink Me" soda...
ugh! Well, I suppose it could be worse.
At least here in modern fantasy, I'm sure to meet charming characters, visit
far-fetched worlds, and encounter endless eccentricities. I'll try not to get
myself stepped on, run over, or licked! Beat it,
Fido! [dog barks] Okay,
I'm going to duck in here out of the traffic. [bell rings]
That's better!
Modern fantasy often includes extraordinary worlds of
miniature people. Not everyone is like me,
some small characters take the form of folkloric sprites,
elves, trolls, gnomes, or leprechauns.
Readers may come across tiny towns hidden within the real world or
find that the characters live in wee worlds all their own. Detail
oriented readers are captivated by the complexity of the little societies
found in stories like The Borrowers and Gulliver's travels.
However, modern fantasy isn't just about
little people. Authors include all sorts of eccentric characters
and put them in preposterous situations. [grunts]
[grunts] Whew!
Cats or people may fly, eggs may hatch into
dinosaurs or dragons, and you may even find lizards playing guitars on TV.
Some authors first place their characters in situations
in otherwise normal settings so that they appear more believable
to the reader. Then, they take the story beyond reality to
just plain ridiculous as in Mary Poppins, James and the Giant
Peach, or Pippi Longstocking! Other authors of
modern fantasy take a similar approach, but instead of creating impossible
characters, they invent a setting that's significantly different from the world that we know.
The challenge is in making the story believable to the
reader. They usually begin by placing the characters in a familiar
setting and then transport them to an extraordinary world.
For example, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory begins with
a common family living in a plain and simple home and moves to a
magical chocolate factory with Oompa-loompas and chocolate rivers.
Literary lore...can I please get a hand?!
Whoah!
Thank you!
As I was saying, literary lore is another kind of modern
fantasy story. It includes modern literary fairy tales,
which have qualities similar to folk tales. These
stories may be set in the days of kings, queens, and beautiful
princesses. They may have languages that reflect the manners of the period
and they could even have your everyday "Once upon a time" beginnings and
"Happily ever-after" endings. The difference between literary lore and
folktales is that folktales have been passed down from one generation
of storytellers to another, whereas modern fairytales are
written by a specific author. Hans Christian Anderson
who wrote the familiar tales of Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling, and The Princess
And The Pea, included folkloric elements that made his stories
seem like traditional folktales. Fractures tales
are a type of literary lore which mixes up traditional tales in a number of ways.
Unconventional revisions give the story a humorous spin.
The true story of The Three Little Pigs tells the tale from the
funny perspective of the Big Bad Wolf. You know, I've always
wondered why he wanted to blow their houses down. Why not just rent a bulldozer?
In these modified stories,
details of the setting, characters, or plot are changed
to make a familiar story noticeably different. Old stories
are often placed in settings that are more modern. One author relocated
Goldilocks and the Three Bears from the country to a big city.
Gender reversals are also common. For example, one author
turned Jack and the Beanstalk into Kate and the Beanstalk and Sleeping
Beauty into Sleeping Bobby. Fractured
tales are also altered when authors set a tale in a culture that's different
from the original version of the story. This is done to open the plot
to a diverse population as well as to give children a wide knowledge of other
cultures. For example, Tam and Cam is
a Vietnamese version of the story known in America as Cinderella. The story
known as Stone Soup has been written as Cactus Soup and set in Mexico.
Authors of modern fantasy, like all fantasy,
exercise reader's imaginations by dreaming up people, places,
or events that could not occur in the real world. You can find
them in the fiction section of your library or at your local bookstore.
I enjoy reading modern fantasy, but frankly I'd prefer to
be my normal size. There has to be a book about reversing the effect
of that potion around here somewhere. Hey, can I get another
hand, please?!
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Let's go to the spells and sorcery section.
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