Last week looked at Domestic and Adventure stories. This week we are looking more directly at the fantastical. We’ll look at a couple of chapters of books as well as some critical writing.
When thinking about fantasy, we have a few milestones. The first is J.R.R. Tolkien’s work. Tolkien is most famous for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and its precursor written for children, The Hobbit.
Tolkien is credited with creating what we sometimes call “High Fantasy” or “Epic Fantasy” – stories that center on a true battle between good and evil. When you think of many of the tropes of fantasy literature, many find their roots in Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings had a profound impact on the shape of fantasy literature.
Tolkien’s work was inspired by the fairy and folk tales that fascinated him as a child. He was educated at Oxford and was part of a literary circle called the Inklings, in which C.S. Lewis was also a member. Tolkien served in the British army during Worl War I which shaped some of the themes of his writing. Tolkien was a philologist, and with his fascination with languages and their development he created a number of different languages for his fantasy world.
Please read the first chapter of The Hobbit published in 1937.
Tolkien began sketches of the first books of The Lord of the Rings around the same time but continued to work on them intermittently for the next decade. They were not published until 1954. In creating Middle-Earth, the fantasy world in which the books take place, Tolkien wrote an immense amount of material, some of which would later be published as The Silmarillion by his son.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first movie of a trilogy based on the trio of The Lord of the Rings books.
The Hobbit is a much simpler story, but due, in part to the success of the first films, was turned into its own trio of films.
Throughout, the main star was probably the country of New Zealand where the movies were all filmed.
Have you encountered Tolkien’s work before? What strikes you about the excerpt or the film trailers? What kinds of things do you expect to see in a fantasy story? (Respond- all)
9 thoughts on “Fantasy and Children’s Literature”
I don’t think I have aside from The Lord of the rings and the Hobbit. In the first video it’s mentioned “you will find your courage” and in the second video it’s mentioned “It gives me the courage.” heroes trying to save the world and the ring holding lots of meaning. In a fantasy I would expect to see magic, supernatural powers, myths, legends, and spells.
Have you encountered Tolkien’s work before? What strikes you about the excerpt or the film trailers? What kinds of things do you expect to see in a fantasy story? (Respond- all)
I have never encountered his work before. In fantasies there is usually a protagonist and antagonist and unrealistic plot containing magic, myth or something out of the ordinary. These trailers were really thrilling to watch, and made me want to watch these movies. The safety video is interesting because it makes you feel like you are in the movie.
I have encountered The Lord of the Rings before but had never watched it because fantasy, historic figures, gods, and adventure isn’t what I normally watch. I did, however, found it very fascinating and interesting to watch. And as the others have mentioned, I would expect there to be magic, imaginative creatures and myths that are used throughout the storyline as well! I think that both of the film tralers have a lot of action in them and we know that there is an ending to it from the begging that will only happen if they succeed in acomplishing their mission that was assigned to them from the start to do. I also liked how the main character that is always assigned to hold this big task is sweet, not big or masculine to be frightened of, but mostly a regular person!
Honestly, I can’t recall if I had because I think the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were something that I most probably read in elementary school or middle school so other than those two books I don’t think I have encountered any of his other works. When it comes to any film adaptation of a book or book series I always expect to see the most important elements of the storyline and how it will look. When watching the trailer for The Hobbit, I am looking for those elements and it strikes me when I see something that’s brought to life like the cave trolls. These are things I can point out now because when I was younger this was not something I would’ve watched, but since I am older now, I would watch it.
I remember watching the lord of the rings when I was younger. I loved fantasy movies/books. What strikes me about the excerpt/film trailers are the speech, and tone, as well as the background sounds. It hypes up the film and hooks the audience. It sounds intense and suspenseful. The kind of things I expect in a fantasy story are creatures, magic, and most specifically a weapon or object thats usually what the villain/heroes are after.
I’ve watched lord of the rings! Nothing really struck me in these trailers because growing up I was familiar with this genre in regards to the costumes, dialogue, scenery and etc. I loved the fantastical adventures, mythical creatures and magic often used. In a fantasy story, I often think of there being magical violence, sorcery, a villain, worlds that we want to exist in real life but don’t, talking animals and creatures.
I never heard of Tolkien’s work before Im not a big fan of movies or books like this. In the first video its about the ring and it says ” you will find courage”, In the second video it is taking back whast theirs and it says ” and it gives me courage” it seems as the themese are similar having courage and fighting in each one. In a fantasy world i would expect magic, villian and monsters.
To be honest I haven’t watched any of Tolkien’s work however Ive heard some things about it. I do know that its a fantasy and mystical genre other than that I don’t know much.
Have you encountered Tolkien’s work before? What strikes you about the excerpt or the film trailers? What kinds of things do you expect to see in a fantasy story? (Respond- all)
I honestly never encountered or watched Tolkien’s work before because I was never a fan of such movies or books. I was never a fan of fantasies in general. His work is definitely different because fantasies are usually different.