[the phantom]

LOTR is "subversive"?

Fantasy is "subversive"?

Hmm... I'm not so sure.

Child mentioned someone she knew who had a bit of Frodo in them. I also know people who, at times, remind me of characters from Tolkien's world. I can think of several characters that I can identify with. I read and find myself saying "Yep, I probably would've done the same thing" or "I can understand where he's coming from".

I also can, for the most part, picture every area of Middle-Earth when it is described. It's easy because I can always think of someplace I've been that looks like it.

What I'm trying to say is... ME doesn't seem all that other-worldly to me. It's just a slightly different world- a cooler world- our world with some Elves and dragons sprinkled in.

Davem said this-

The fantasy writer says ‘In this story there are dragons - if you cannot accept that, go away. I will not explain how they ‘work’ - how they fly & breathe fire. All I will say is that there are flying, fire breathing dragons in this story.

That's the way it works. I know people who can't stand fantasy and it is because they just cannot accept the type of writer's statement that Davem illustrated. (and I always have a tendancy to look down on these simple, robotic individuals who seem to have such a limited imagination)

But people like you and I have no trouble accepting such statements, so what is so "subversive" from our point of view?

It's subversive to those other people, not me.

I have an easy time accepting ME and identifying with the people and places of ME so it really doesn't seem to be subversive at all (do you follow?).

My guess is that in the statement that people are afraid of dragons, dragons are meant to be a metaphor for subversive elements

Yes, indeed. I believe you were looking at the whole dragon thing a bit too closely, Davem.

Are Americans (& Canadians) afraid of dragons? Are they afraid of monsters?

If they were real, then people would be afraid of them only in the sense that they would not want to be eaten by one. I imagine that most Americans and Canadians would love to see one and might be willing to take a bit of a risk to get a peek at one.

I know I sure would. I'd try to talk with one. Think of Bilbo and Smaug when he told Smaug that he just came to see if he was really everything the stories said he was. That would be the first thing I'd say to a dragon (followed closely with a compliment).

So, are Americans afraid of those things - wisdom & magic?

Of course not, silly, but we are afraid of places where football isn't football.