Fantasy: Difference between revisions

Urban, or modern, fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is characterized by setting or place. The location is almost always a city on Earth. Urban fantasy is the opposite of high fantasy- which is established in a fabricated world. Urban fantasy consists of contemporary settings featuring supernatural elements. These stories can exist in a historical, modern, or futuristic period, but the majority of the story must be mostly based in a city. Urban fantasy can include aliens, issues of human and non-human beings coexisting peacefully or otherwise, and/or the involvement of paranormal or mythological creatures. <ref>"Urban Fantasy." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 1 July 2015. Web. 3 July 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_fantasy/></ref> Urban fantasy depicts the influence of modern society on the fantasy elements included in the story, such as an alien driving a truck or a wizard using a telephone booth. Magic is an aspect that is out of the ordinary for the vast majority of the people in the story, and the majority will live normal lives that are ignorant to the fantastical elements around them. Urban fantasy often crosses paths with gothic punk, horror, magical realism, or paranormal romance. <ref>"Urban Fantasy." TV Tropes. Web. 3 July 2015. <http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UrbanFantasy></ref>

Gothic fantasy can also be referred to as “dark fantasy”, and combines fantasy elements with horror. Authors sometimes label their work as "gothic" or "dark fantasy" to move away from the gruesome connotation of the horror genre itself. This combination is typically a fantastical world mixed with a disconsolate, shadowy atmosphere and/or feelings of trepidation, anxiety, and horror. Gothic fantasy can allow the stories to be told from the monster or creature’s point of view or can be used to lend a sympathetic view towards supernatural beings. The gothic subgenre branches off from romantic fiction and can contain similar elements. Gothic works can possess feelings of excess that border on melodrama, a mystery to be solved, or twists and turns that convolute the plot making it nonrealistic. <ref>"Dark Fantasy." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 16 June 2015. Web. 3 July 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_fantasy></ref> The settings provide the reader or viewer with images of darkness and decay. There is implied violence or gore, but it is never blatantly shown so as the give the impression of that which is frightening; there is nothing concrete. This aspect lends to the uncertainty and building of suspense common in gothic fantasy. Elements of the supernatural are a must: curses, haunted houses, ghosts, witches, vampires, and beasts. The gothic typically features repressed fears, memories, or desires to make the story more gripping to the characters. Secret passages and rooms, creepy, startling sounds, and screams heard off in the distance make for works that keep the viewer or reader on the edge of their seat. <ref>Rose-Shaffer, Mary. "Exploring Genre: Dark or Gothic Fantasy." SFRevu. 1 November 2008. Web. 3 July 2015. <http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=8327></ref>

The grim and dark tone of these stories gives this genre its name. Grimdark stories are often set in dystopian or amoral societies with a violent, realistic setting. These fantastic works move away from the uplifting and idealized. Grimdark illustrates how bleak and brutal life is at the moment or was in the past. The narratives do not re-image history or past events, but instead express pessimism or disillusionment. Grimdark features some similar characteristics of dark realism texts and the agency of the protagonist is that they are characters that must choose between good and evil, but they are just as lost as the average person- they have no special insight to how the world works. These texts are based on human nature; elements of jealously, murder, adultery, pride, revenge, and tragedy are all extremely common in Grimdark. While set in fantasy worlds, there is more focus on the psychology of the character than the surroundings <ref>Witvliet, Philip. "Grimdark Defined." Grimdark Reader. Web. 3 July 2015. <http://grimdark-fantasy-reader.blogspot.com/p/grimdark-defined_4656.html></ref>