The Los Angeles Times offers up a very nice article today, entitled “Fantasy films? There’s truth in there too.” Author Sam Adams looks at the recent success of the genre – as opposed to more serious, politically themed offerings, which have fared poorly – but he resists the urge to conclude that the popularity of LORD OF THE RINGS, CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, the HARRY POTTER, and even THE GOLDEN COMPASS are due to escapism.
Instead, he argues, “A successful fantastic film artfully mixes the familiar and the fanciful. […] Fairy-tale endings aside, the fantasy world is not always a pleasant place.”
Adams buttresses his argument with quotes from writer-director Guillermo Del Toro:
Del Toro, who set his violent fable “Pan’s Labyrinth” against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, says that social traumas often find their most potent outlet in the world of fantasy.
“There is definitely a pressure-valve factor in the fantastic genres,” he says. “All of them — horror, fantasy, science fiction — serve as a way to both face deeper issues and/or escape from them. But I think that the fantasy films made in a particular time are either a distorted or a faithful image of the time they were created in. They are a mirror to reality, even if you’re trying to escape it.”
The whole article is worth a read. Check it out.