Fantasies as guides to life
“The point of stories is not that they are objectively true, but that the soul of the story is truer than reality. Those who mock fiction do so because they fear the truth.” Cassandra Clare
Reading is my passion and, for this reason, two years ago
I decided to open a blog to share my love
for books with the entire world.
I am constantly reading, and the fantasy genre has
always held a special place in my heart. This genre is what turned me into a
booklover, and series such as Harry
Potter, The Mortal Instruments and
Hunger Games shaped me into who I am
as a person.
I disagree with who considers these stories as juvenile and pure entertainment, when they
have a much deeper message.
Lately, I found myself binge watching a bunch of
videos and Ted Talks about
Joseph Campbell’s theory
of the hero’s journey. It made me even more aware of the power that
these stories have: it explains how fantasy stories are more than just fighting
dragons and conquering the villain, because they represent what human’s life is
really about.
What
is the hero’s journey?
In the early part of the 20th century,
Joseph Campbell noticed that all hero stories followed the same pattern and
archetypes, and his
book has been the foundation for many of the greatest fantasies,
including Star Wars.
According to his theory, at the beginning of the
journey the hero lives an ordinary existence when, suddenly, he is presented
with a call to adventure. At first, he refuses it, but the call imposes itself
upon him and he has no choice but to accept it. He ventures out in unknown territory, which is
dangerous and full of risks. Once he is able to fight the villain, he returns
to his village to share what he has learned and to become a mentor for the next
hero.
Fight
the evil within you
Let’s try to explain the hero’s journey using a very
popular fantasy book as an example. In City
of Bones, Clary Fray gets a call to adventure when her mother
mysteriously disappear. She goes on the classic quintessential journey, in
which she meets helpers, finds her mother but, most importantly, she discovers
who she really is. The trials of the journey transformed her from average girl
to hero girl. She overcomes her insecurities and realizes her full potential.
During the journey, each hero will learn that, before
defeating the evil that exist out there, you must fight your inner demons.
Harry Potter has to deal with his desire for vengeance. Frodo has to fight with
the temptation of using the ring, and Luke Skywalker with the temptation of
joying the dark side. It is not just a mere physical adventure, but also a
metaphor of an inner journey towards happiness and your true self. Each story
follows this pattern.
Stories are the same because human beings desire,
dream and hope the same things, and that is why we find these characters so
relatable.
They are ordinary, flawed people but they show us our
greatest potential, and through them, it is possible to see a glimmer of what
we could be.
Everyone
can relate to this stories…I repeat, everyone
I know I only talked about the hero
using the male noun, but with the term hero
I refer to both genders. Modern fantasy fiction has a large number of great
female heroes, and this answer would be endless if I tried to lists all the
fantasy books that include great female protagonists! Earlier on, I mentioned
Clary Fray, but there are many more examples than a blogpost would ever be able
to contain. Just think about Katniss
Everdeen from The Hunger Games, or Hermione
Granger from Harry
Potter whom, despite not being the main character of the
story, plays an important role in the books and she has inspired so many young
girls. It is only thanks to her if Harry managed to stay alive for the entire
series, right?
Modern fantasy is full of great
female heroes that are an inspiration for girls and young women, including
myself. As I previously pointed out, these characters are far from being perfect,
but they are very reliable and they inspire girls to be the best version of
themselves. Although these books are works of fiction, these characters still
go through the same struggles that women go through in real life. They show us
how strong and amazing women could be.
I would like to stress a little bit
more the concept of relatability in fantasy fiction by quickly mentioning other
examples. In modern fantasy, you can also find a large representation of
various ethnicities (e.g. Children
of Blood and Bone is an homage to African culture) and there
are also a lot of LGBT+ characters (Six
of Crows by Leigh Bardugo and the Shadowhunters Chronicles books by Cassandra Clare). Things have
changed so much in this last decade, and it is almost impossible to read a modern fantasy book where an LGBT
character is not included. Therefore, when I say that everyone can relate to
these stories, I mean everyone,
whatever gender you are.
Italian
fantasy loves female heroes!
Here is my confession: although I
am Italian, I have never read a fantasy written by an Italian author. I know, I
know. It is a shame, right? Especially since there are a lot of amazing Italian
authors who write fantasy books. The most famous one is Licia
Troisi. She is mostly famous for her trilogy titled Cronache
del Mondo Emerso, published by Mondadori in 2004, and she has
also written other books set in the same world she has created. Her books have
received many positive reviews and they have been published in Turkish, German,
Portuguese, Spanish and French. The main character of her trilogy is Nihal, a
strong and powerful female character. She
becomes one of the most skilled warriors in the Emerging World and, thanks to
her talent and obstinacy, Nihal is also the first woman to have access to the Order of the Dragon Knights of the Land of
the Sun, obtaining a dragon named Oarf, who accompanies her in all her travels
and battles. Therefore, she is another example of how modern fantasy fiction is
full of female heroes.
We
are all the same!
However, I feel like the gender
aspect is not very relevant to the concept of relatability, because it is
possible to relate to someone that is different from you and goes through
different life experiences. You can relate to a male hero even if you are a
girl, because you might still share some experiences and you can find bits of
yourself in him. In his book, Joseph Campbell mentions the concept of archetypes: inside each of us, there is
a cast of characters, or human possibilities. The villain is not just a
villain. The hero, both male and female, is not just a perfect, heroic person.
He makes mistakes, and he is complex and broken.
He might be powerful, but he has problems. Therefore, the message of this post
is the following: the hero might have to deal with inevitable things that are
going to wreck his plan, just like you.
There might be stages in your life when you will find yourself in a new and
different world. It might be scary, but if you do not give up and keep going,
the obstacles you are going to face in life are going to change you for the
better, and they can make you stronger. As Hannah Montana says, “Life is a
climb, but the view is great”! (The Climb,
2009). You can find glimpses of yourself in these stories and in the
vicissitudes the hero faces, whatever gender you are.
So,
are you ready to accept the challenge?
As you can see, the most popular fantasy stories have
a much deeper meaning than what you are able to see on the surface, and that is
why books such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings are some of the most
famous and loved in the world. The stories that might seem pure entertainment
are actually guides to life, and we can learn so much through them. Like those
heroes, “we must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so to have
the life that is waiting for us” (Capmbell
& Osbon, 1995, p. 2). Just like your favorite characters, there
might be a point in your life when you will find yourself in a dark and
hopeless place, and you will have to strive in order to achieve your goals. I
hope this post will inspire you to become the hero to your own journey. Will
you accept the call?
This was also published in the following blog: https://keepmeposted17.wordpress.com/2020/01/22/fantasy-books-as-guides-to-life-by-clara-de-paolis/
List
of references
Alexander J, & Mabe J. The Climb [Recorded by
Miley Cyrus]. On Hannah Montana: The
Movie [MP3 file]. Burbank, CA: Hollywood Records.
Campbell,
J. (2012). The hero with a thousand faces
(3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: New World Library.
Campbell,
J., & Osbon, D. K. (1995). Reflections
on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion. New York, NY: Harper
Perennial.
Clare,
C. (2017). City of Bones: 10th Anniversary Edition (The Mortal Instruments). London, UK: Walker Books.
Hibbard, L. (2017, December 6). Hermione Granger: The Heroine Women Have Been Waiting For.
Retrieved from: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hermione-granger-the-hero_b_898414?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALFjTUyDTUP0OKR9rRt_gyms1ifKQ1-aIG3_VkDfLZ5AqrGVicAFQo26pWUCQEIt0t2D9qoyVxwtArPQg6BzxQY4ATmRUIK9uvRKtv2lJF-2pNyEQHhKnSUEnciqyZT-fuDhVnyuduJh6efKAqJ63Jr3dMbOuZwVP5TH0zqnpJEN
Tahir. S. (2018, October 18). Katniss Everdeen is My Hero. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/books/katniss-everdeen-hunger-games.html
TEDx Talks. (2013, May 11). What is
the Hero’s Journey?: Pat Soloman at TEDxRockCreekPark [Video File].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8XUVqjX_IA.
Trosi, L. (2004). Cronache del Mondo Emerso. Milano, IT:
Arnoldo Mondadori.
Vogler,
C. (2013, April 1). A Practical Guide to
the Hero with a Thousand Faces. Retrieved from https://www.raindance.org/a-practical-guide-to-the-hero-with-a-thousand-faces/.
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