Tried watching a bit of Dark Crystal (didn’t know it was based on a Jim Henson thing) but I don’t think I can do this anymore. I can tell a lot of TLC has gone into this, but this LOTRish formula about vaguely elvish and vaguely orcish things warring over McGuffins needs to die.
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I’ll admit I’ve never really liked fantasy much. It’s just so endlessly recycled in terms of archetypes, plot mechanics, and even surface world building (there’s only so many ways to do a Sword of Power). SF at least seems to evolve in fits and starts and get new gadgetry.
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Disagree. Nearly all storytelling invokes the there's covered by Joseph Campbell and others. I think your issue might be a related to a desire for novelty.
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Have you read Lois McMaster Bujold's fantasy?
Like you, most fantasy irritates the heck out of me, but she manages to imbue her worlds with some actual innovation that isn't just either recycled Tolkien or <hot political issue of the day>.
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With fantasy/sf It often feels like McLuhan style regress. The narrative substance fades while the surface aesthetics remain. Maybe loss of narrative substance increases in correlation to the expressiveness of gerne aesthetics which leads to abundance of mediocre fantasy/sf.
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