# Why is fantasy so popular at the moment?



## smallblondehippy (Jan 20, 2012)

Anyone wondering why fantasy has become so cool? Back when I was a kid, people used to make fun of me for reading Brooks, Donaldson, Gemmel, Tolkien and the rest. Seems that now everyone's at it. Even my fantasy-hating friends are reading Game of Thrones and loving it. So what's the deal here? Why's it become so popular? Any ideas?


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## morantis (May 8, 2012)

I working within a government think tank for several years and we were down the corridor from an FBI group that had put together a huge psychological profile on what kind of books and movies are popular under what circumstances.  It was based on years and years of study.  According to the report fantasy and super hero movies are very popular when society is in an uncertain area or deeply in war.  The more unpleasant the general feeling of society, the more deeply they escape into a fantasy world when moving to movies or literature.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

My guess would be that the Lord of the Rings movies and the Harry Potter books and movies got the ball rolling.

Game of Thrones is just pushing that along as the show is very popular and got people to read those books.


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## KTaylor-Green (Aug 24, 2011)

Not saying that there is nothing in what morantis has posted. It sounds like a valid idea. But I have to agree more with mooshie. And expand on it a bit. I think advertising plays a big part. Big, splashy ad campaigns get almost everyone's attention. You see a fantasy movie advertised, think it looks interesting, view it and think, wow, that was great! Are there anymore out there like that? And off you go searching for something similar. You also share your experience with friends and family who also share their finds with you. And on it goes!


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## Todd Trumpet (Sep 7, 2011)

1. Cyclicality: Back in the day, Westerns dominated both the movie and television landscape. Nowadays, there's nary a tumbleweed blowin' through.

2. Critical Mass: People move in flocks. "HARRY POTTER" whetted a lot of young appetites.

3. Geek Cred: Comic books, video games, the net - it's hip to be E = MC squared!

Todd


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## John Blackport (Jul 18, 2011)

Also consider the semantics --- for better or worse, the publishing industry has expanded the _definition_ of fantasy quite a bit from where it was in, say, 1980. It now includes Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, which used to be very thin on the ground. But now they're everywhere.

Think of it this way: milk is pretty popular. Most people drink it. A lot of people who aren't crazy about it still drink it, just because they find it everywhere. The milk market's fairly saturated, demand for it is not going to suddenly double. But if you suddenly change the definition of "milk" to also include "gasoline", "Coca-cola" and "pancakes" --- voila! The popularity of "milk" goes through the roof!

The more traditional, "epic" fantasy about an imaginary world under threat from a monolithic Dark Lord who wants to destroy it for no good reason, who can only be stopped by a clueless, orphaned peasant boy just coming of age and travelling vast distances with the help of his grandfatherly mentor and a wisecracking band of misfits . . . is not quite so popular now as it once was. It will resurface from time to time in different forms, but for the most part I think it's had its day.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

I don't know that I'd agree with that.  With the success of the LOTR movies, Harry Potter books and movies, the Game of Thrones series and books I'd think that traditional epic fantasy is the most mainstream it's ever been.

It might not be as popular in the bookworm set as it once was I suppose, but it's definitely more mainstream than in the past when people thought that stuff was only for nerds who played Dungeons and Dragons.


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## RobertLCollins (Feb 1, 2011)

My guess is that it's due to a combination of factors. The success of the Harry Potter books showed there was an appetite among younger readers for fantasy. The financial and critical success of the LOTR films helped. Something else to consider is the expansion of genre romance books. Up to the 1980s romance readers weren't interested in fantasy (or science fiction) elements in romance novels. That changed in the 1990s, maybe because younger romance readers had grown up with SF/F movies and TV shows.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

It's the same reason that the "nerds" and "geeks" of the world are now suddenly wealthy and popular.  It just happens.  Things change.  All of the people who were picked on when they were in high school are now in charge of creating the TV shows and movies and they are saying, "No, this stuff is cool."  The rest of the world is just catching up.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

morantis said:


> According to the report fantasy and super hero movies are very popular when society is in an uncertain area or deeply in war.


Events like 9/11 cause lots of mental and social unease, and fantasy is a good escape. When I growing up, the science fiction and fantasy section at the local Crown Books was mostly science fiction, now the local Barnes & Nobel is filled with fantasy. I even remember a quote the horror writer Graham Masterton five or six years ago who claim his readers want to see more "fantasy" elements in his books.

Personally, I find fantasy a tougher nut to crack than science fiction, and I don't read as much from the genre.


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## A.D.Trosper (May 15, 2012)

I think it has to do with a new generation growing up with different things.

Back in the day, so to speak, westerns were the big thing. It was on tv and in books. But then along came Star Wars and it changed the landscape of movies and television. As we progressed through the 80's and 90's, home computers sprang up, then pagers, then cell phones, Xbox and other games consoles. More Star Wars movies, Legend, Willow, etc fueled the gathering momentum.

People started looking at things differently. Then along came Harry Potter and changed the landscape again. Suddenly people were interested in fantasy. Lord of the Rings jumped in and made movies of the books, making the books more popular and the genre even more so. Eragon was written and fantasy got another shot of forward momentum, even though the movie was sadly disappointing. 

Then (whether you love it or hate it) Twilight was written and made into movies. And while not traditional fantasy, it still gave the genre a boost. 

Even the widely popular Shrek, contributed to Fantasy's continued popularity. 

People enjoy the chance to escape from reality. Urban Fantasy, set in this world, but with lots creatures that don't exist, provides that. Traditional Fantasy, takes it further by letting the reader escape this world completely and interact with a variety of fantasy creatures.

Also a shift in how such creatures are written helped. People found they could identify with the characters even if they weren't human. Vampires, dragons, elves, dwarves, werewolves, etc, are very different now than what you would have read about twenty years ago. Some don't like the change, but obviously a lot more love it.


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## charlesatan (May 8, 2012)

Are you talking about the book publishing industry or in mainstream in general?

If it's the former, I don't think it's significantly changed. Romance, religion, and mystery (http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/romance-novels-2012-4/index1.html) have been and still are the best-sellers, with fantasy and science fiction trailing behind.

If it's the mainstream, yesterday's geeks are now slowly running the corporations and infiltrating the media (the same way the baby boomer generation was making significant influences a decade or two ago), and films like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter help that. Although honestly, I still think it has further to go.


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## Verbena (Sep 1, 2011)

I don't know,but in our country,Harry Potter and The Twilight are the best popular western-fantasy books.
And recently,A Song of Ice and Fire is very popular.


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## Ciuri Di Badia (May 3, 2012)

Fantasy provides people with an opportunity to 'live' in their imaginations. it has a solace of its own


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## Steverino (Jan 5, 2011)

I see two hypotheses forming here:
1) It's a response to culture, anomie, whatever.  So say those FBI guys.
2) It's a response to works.  See Harry Potter and LOTR... want more like Harry Potter and LOTR.

It would be interesting to check the history on #1.  Isn't the chaos of the 1960s when LOTR really broke out?  "Frodo Lives!" spraypainted on bridges and whatnot?  

I'm going to cast my vote for hypothesis #2.  I believe this is a business shaped by imagination... and nobody knows what is even possible until some writer creates it.


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## Todd Trumpet (Sep 7, 2011)

John Blackport said:


> The more traditional, "epic" fantasy about an imaginary world under threat from a monolithic Dark Lord who wants to destroy it for no good reason, who can only be stopped by a clueless, orphaned peasant boy just coming of age and travelling vast distances with the help of his grandfatherly mentor and a wisecracking band of misfits...


I like the way you condensed Joseph Campbell's entire lifetime of work down to one sentence!

Todd

P.S. This storyline, BTW, will endure. It's like the Roach Trio of TV - Cops, Docs, Lawyers - they'll never go extinct. Fortunately, the "Hero Myth" has always had, and will continue to have, deep resonance... in whatever form it takes.


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## John Blackport (Jul 18, 2011)

Geemont said:


> Events like 9/11 cause lots of mental and social unease, and fantasy is a good escape.


There's definitely some truth to that. It always surprises me, though.

I'd think if people wanted to escape the stress of living in a world they feel is under threat, the last place they'd want to escape to would be _another_ world under threat . . . I'd expect them to flock to very tame comedies, or at least nonviolent dramas like _Downton Abbey._

Oh, well, it's not the first time people did something I neither wanted nor expected. . . and I'm sure it won't be the last.


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## John Blackport (Jul 18, 2011)

mooshie78 said:


> I don't know that I'd agree with that. With the success of the LOTR movies, Harry Potter books and movies, the Game of Thrones series and books I'd think that traditional epic fantasy is the most mainstream it's ever been.


Excellent point . . . maybe I was putting too fine a point on "traditional epic fantasy". GoT and Harry Potter broke the Tolkienesque mold in some important, creative and fundamental ways, but I guess most of us would still agree that they qualify as "epic"


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## Craig Halloran (May 15, 2012)

Fantasy was a small market. Plenty of room to grow.

Movies and special effects (CGI) brought the fantasy to life. Much of the same trend is going on with Super Heroes. Now that you can actually see the magic or the power on the screen, it's easier for people to get into. Now they can SEE how COOL these stories and characters are.

But, Harry Potter is what truly brought fantasy into the light. LOR helped, but Harry Potter was the boon that started it all.


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## rweinstein6 (Aug 2, 2011)

I think being that any book is an "escape" for a reader, fantasy books can be even more of an escape for readers. Think about it. Fantasy books that are set in other worlds are an escape from the woes of our world. Got a sucky life? Read a book about someone's life that's worse. Or, read a book about a wonderful world you wish you could live in. Or fantasy books where people have magical powers like flying or shapeshifting or conjuring fire--maybe when readers read those kinds of books, they put themselves in the characters' shoes and feel, in a way, as if they have control over something that they normally wouldn't. Who wouldn't want to be Harry Potter and be able to cast jinxes on their enemies?


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

John Blackport said:


> I'd think if people wanted to escape the stress of living in a world they feel is under threat, the last place they'd want to escape to would be _another_ world under threat . . . I'd expect them to flock to very tame comedies, or at least nonviolent dramas like _Downton Abbey._


Why do you think _Downton Abbey_ is so popular at the moment, both in the US and UK? Ditto for other nostalgia dramas like _Mad Men_ and _Boardwalk Empire_ in the US and the new _Upstairs, Downstairs_ and _Call the Midwife_ in the UK. It's nostalgia for a time when men were men, women were women, clothes were more elegant and life seemed simpler.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

Partly it's that times are tough. Partly also -- I believe -- it's a movie-driven phenomenon. And this has to be a golden age for fantasy movies, since CGI means absolutely _anything_ the scriptwriter imagines can -- without exception -- now be put up there on the screen, as real-looking as your hand in front of you. Hence the massive success of _Avatar_ ... people saw it not simply as a movie but a spectacle, a visual experience on a huge scale.


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## Joseph_Evans (Jul 24, 2011)

I work in a bookstore and the fantasy section has always been successful, the only thing that has had a dramatic increase in sales recently is George R.R. Martin because of the TV adaptation. I'm a David Gemmell, Maggie Furey fan too, but I don't think the fantasy section on a whole is doing any better than before, I think the statistics are just up because of Game of Thrones.


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

Because everyone wants to be cool like me.  What?  That's not it?


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Katharina said:


> Eh...not so much in the UK anymore. The second season is rather bad.
> In fact it's awful.


Well, I never cared for _Downton Abbey_ anyway (I watched one episode and decided to pass on the rest), so the hype always mystified me.


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## jwest (Nov 14, 2011)

I'm definitely going with the Game of Thrones. Over the last year I have used friends as beta readers, and their consensus was, "Fantasy ... I just don't get it." Now, in the last few months, they have all made a point of mentioning how awesome Game of Thrones is. Suddenly fantasy is all they want. I guess seeing the story on TV is making converts


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## John Daulton (Feb 28, 2012)

Craig Halloran said:


> Fantasy was a small market. Plenty of room to grow.
> 
> Movies and special effects (CGI) brought the fantasy to life. Much of the same trend is going on with Super Heroes. Now that you can actually see the magic or the power on the screen, it's easier for people to get into. Now they can SEE how COOL these stories and characters are.
> 
> But, Harry Potter is what truly brought fantasy into the light. LOR helped, but Harry Potter was the boon that started it all.


I mostly agree, especially with the CGI thing, but the last Harry Potter part is akin to the kind of glorification of Fred Astaire that forced someone to point out that, as cool as Fred Astaire was, Ginger Rogers was doing it all backwards... and in high heels.

Harry Potter cashed in on a universe made possible by Tolkien, yes, but also by Burroughs, Wilde, Stevenson, Verne and even Poe, Melville, Hawthorne and Twain (not to mention all the great mythology of the world)... and then kept alive by writers like Brooks, Niven, Zelazny, Cherryh, Goodkind, Donaldson, Anthony and so many more--and totally ignoring the impact of D&D which literally stands as the root of all things video game these days just about (and games like Realm, U.A, Everquest and World of Warcraft did more than a little for all of this as well).

Harry Potter is a great series, but it is to fantasy what Lasek is to optometry: awesome, but just what had to happen next. If it hadn't been Rowling, it would have been someone else.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

morantis said:


> I working within a government think tank for several years and we were down the corridor from an FBI group that had put together a huge psychological profile on what kind of books and movies are popular under what circumstances. It was based on years and years of study. According to the report fantasy and super hero movies are very popular when society is in an uncertain area or deeply in war. The more unpleasant the general feeling of society, the more deeply they escape into a fantasy world when moving to movies or literature.


I enjoy these theories as I've heard the same reasoning around the rise of apocalyptic fiction, dystopias and spy thrillers.

I've read fantasy for close to 40 years now and have never used it to escape from unpleasantness. I have seen fantasy and science fiction genres grow steadily in that time until they became pretty much mainstream. Science fiction came first with Star Wars, Star Trek, etc .... then came Batman and Harry Potter and off we went.


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## Colin Taber (Apr 4, 2011)

Joseph_Evans said:


> I work in a bookstore and the fantasy section has always been successful, the only thing that has had a dramatic increase in sales recently is George R.R. Martin because of the TV adaptation. I'm a David Gemmell, Maggie Furey fan too, but I don't think the fantasy section on a whole is doing any better than before, I think the statistics are just up because of Game of Thrones.


I worked at Borders for 5 years and would have to agree with this.

Fantasy has always been a strong genre, though you can have some variance depending on what geographical area you are in. Fantasy is also a genre which throws up surprise successes regularly due to the huge scope for fresh ideas as the boundaries of the real world don't have to limit a tale.

A generation growing up on Harry Potter, while as many people have been reminded of the genre through the Lord of The Rings movies has done some great groundwork for the maket over the past ten years. Game of Throne and the upcoming Hobbit films will do as much to keep the whole cart and caboodle rolling.


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

Because fantasy is totes awesome and it's becoming increasingly socially acceptable to acknowledge this.


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## Laura Lond (Nov 6, 2010)

I think The Lord of the Rings movies had a lot to do with it. Many people who used to dismiss fantasy as "blah, fairy tales" saw that this was something different, something not just for kids but also for adults as well. I know plenty of people still clung to their "blah, fairy tales" stance, but many ventured to go see them - and discovered something new, something thought-provoking, something they liked. It started from there.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

Geoffrey said:


> I enjoy these theories as I've heard the same reasoning around the rise of apocalyptic fiction, dystopias and spy thrillers.
> 
> I've read fantasy for close to 40 years now and have never used it to escape from unpleasantness. I have seen fantasy and science fiction genres grow steadily in that time until they became pretty much mainstream. Science fiction came first with Star Wars, Star Trek, etc .... then came Batman and Harry Potter and off we went.


I get rather irritated by the assertion that by reading science fiction and fantasy that I'm somehow "hiding" from the real world. That may be true for some, I suppose, as I remember some filker singing a maudlin song at being such a social outcast that he was forced to retreat into a world of fantasy and science fiction books. As for myself, whatever social outcastedness I have is the result, not the cause of my reading habits! I'm not turning my mind off, I'm turning it on.

If fantasy is getting to be more socially acceptable, I think it is because of fantasy being more profitable. The meme of fantasy being dorkish stops being pushed when there are financial interests that benefit from fantasy. I'm not delving into tin foil hat territory, but when there is money in fantasy, the entertainment industry puts out pro-fantasy messages, and people respond.


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## tahliaN (Nov 6, 2011)

morantis said:


> The more unpleasant the general feeling of society, the more deeply they escape into a fantasy world when moving to movies or literature.


That says it for me. I don't want to read about the real world unless it's got a touch of something 'other' in it, that's because I want to escape from reality, not read more about what I already know about. Mind you, I like magical realism too. It's got magic with the reality, something to spice it up or make you look at things a different way without leaving our world. Actually my new book is surprisingly real for someone like me, but it's still got that touch of magic. http://tahlianewland.com/give-me-a-break/


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## Kathelm (Sep 27, 2010)

> I working within a government think tank for several years and we were down the corridor from an FBI group that had put together a huge psychological profile on what kind of books and movies are popular under what circumstances. It was based on years and years of study. According to the report fantasy and super hero movies are very popular when society is in an uncertain area or deeply in war. The more unpleasant the general feeling of society, the more deeply they escape into a fantasy world when moving to movies or literature.


I've read the same thing, and the results are intuitive. Fantasy and Sci-Fi are all about showing what the world could be like, how if the rules were different or things went differently, society would have changed for better or for worse. The current state of the world will affect how appeal such speculation is--if things are great, then who cares what could go wrong or what could be better?

It also helps that special effects have caught up with imagination, so fantasy films are more viable than ever. It's often easier to get someone to watch a movie or TV show than to read a book.


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## GPB (Oct 2, 2010)

I agree with much of what's been said, but I'll take a slightly different approach. Fantasy writers are producing books that appeal to a much broader demographic than was the rule 20 or 30 years ago. That was true of Harry Potter, it's true of urban fantasy and paranormal romance, Twilight...it's even true of A Song of Ice and Fire. In other words, a category becomes more popular when writers take the category in new directions that engage a wider audience.


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## Iris (May 16, 2012)

smallblondehippy said:


> Anyone wondering why fantasy has become so cool? Back when I was a kid, people used to make fun of me for reading Brooks, Donaldson, Gemmel, Tolkien and the rest. Seems that now everyone's at it. Even my fantasy-hating friends are reading Game of Thrones and loving it. So what's the deal here? Why's it become so popular? Any ideas?


I think that a great deal of it has to do with the economy, actually. When people feel insecure in their daily lives, they crave escape.

I'd be curious to see some sort of study on the cyclical mainstream popularity of fantasy with adult readers. My guess is that it coincides with economic downturns or times of war.

Edit: Guess I should have read the entire thread first, as I see I'm very late to the party on this idea.


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## Iris (May 16, 2012)

Kathelm said:


> I've read the same thing, and the results are intuitive. Fantasy and Sci-Fi are all about showing what the world could be like, how if the rules were different or things went differently, society would have changed for better or for worse. The current state of the world will affect how appeal such speculation is--if things are great, then who cares what could go wrong or what could be better?
> 
> It also helps that special effects have caught up with imagination, so fantasy films are more viable than ever. It's often easier to get someone to watch a movie or TV show than to read a book.


But there is always some market for well written fantasy and sci-fi because it allows us to evaluate what's happening in our society with a bit of distance; we can be more objective in a sense because the universe is somewhat unfamiliar, though the themes resonate in our normal world. It's a safer way to explore the things we ponder in the back of our minds in good times, but truly fear in bad ones.


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

...also never really understood the idea that fantasy is escapist.

I mean - look at the themes most fantasy books deal with.  Hardcore stuff!  

I would rather say that fantasy allows you to access aspects of life that are usually ignored. Important things which have been part of story telling since the very beginning, but nowadays are supposed to be "only for children".

(Of course, I also think that life is tough enough as it is, and what's wrong with escaping when you can?  Whether your drug is Romance or Fantasy or whatever, if it helps you survive...)


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## Iris (May 16, 2012)

Masha du Toit said:


> ...also never really understood the idea that fantasy is escapist.
> 
> I mean - look at the themes most fantasy books deal with. Hardcore stuff!
> 
> ...


I think it's both.

Yes, it's escapist, as we're transported to another world. I don't see the word "escapist" as any kind of pejorative. (Isn't all entertainment escapist to a degree?)

And yes, it allows us to explore eternal and important themes when it's done well. Something about the strangeness of the universe allows the very difficult themes to be tackled more directly than they might be in other forms of fiction.


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## bjm319 (Jul 23, 2011)

People want an escape as mentioned especially as the world become crazier and noting is better than a good read


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Todd Trumpet said:


> 1. Cyclicality: Back in the day, Westerns dominated both the movie and television landscape. Nowadays, there's nary a tumbleweed blowin' through.
> 
> 2. Critical Mass: People move in flocks. "HARRY POTTER" whetted a lot of young appetites.
> 
> ...


What he said.

Everything moves in cycles. Up and down, up and down. And, in some circles, fantasy never stopped being popular


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## smallblondehippy (Jan 20, 2012)

I agree with most of what's been said. I think the popularity of fantasy at the moment is due a large combination of factors coming together at the same time. It was probably kick-started by the Harry Potter series and the LOTR moves coming out, but then fuelled by all the uncertainty around in the world. I'm particularly interested in the idea that it's in part due to people wanting to escape because of the state of the economy etc. 

I'm wondering then, when the big economic mess gets sorted out (and it will, won't it?) will the interest in fantasy decline? If so, what genre do you think might become popular instead?


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

There was a decline in epic fantasy post LoTR movies. People were sick of it. It waned for a while. Then, the HBO movies were announced and the new GRRM was coming out, and interest got back into it.

People will eventually grow tired of the GRRM series or it will end or he'll die and not finish it, and fantasy will wane for a couple of years, until someone else writes a blockbuster. etc etc etc


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