With The Golden Compass in theaters, the Los Angeles Times posted an article online about the recent wave of fantasy films. Writer Sam Adams goes over familiar ground in this discussion, such as how advancements in computer technology have encouraged the boom, but, intriguingly, Adams also mentions just how hesitant studios were to embrace any fantasy flick conceptualized with British children pre-Harry Potter. Studios apparently felt young American audiences would be unable to relate to British characters! For instance, though it’s not a fantasy, the 1995 adaptation of the classic Frances Hodgson Burnett book A Little Princess was relocated from London to New York for this very reason. There’s brisk discussion about the Harry Potter films (with a quote from producer David Heyman to boot), as well as the Lord of the Rings and Narnia films, too. What I dug were comments from Chris Weitz, director of The Golden Compass, and Guillermo del Toro, director of Pan’s Labyrinth, on the current fantasy trend that essentially dismissed the thesis that, thanks to our warring times, it singularly has to do with audience’s desires for escapism. To me, that would be slapping the entire genre of fantasy in the face. As if fantasy and fantasy films in particular didn’t offer more than forgetting recent tragedies. Del Toro gets passionate and reflective about this topic, saying: “The more we get technology into our lives and the more we demystify our beliefs, the more we create a void. As spiritual entities, we need to fill that with something, with some mythology or cosmology that allows you to believe in something beyond your next cellphone bill. . . . and the latest Nintendo game. I think that movies of the genre do that. They make the supernatural or the magical palatable to the supposedly jaded ‘here, now’ generation.“ Here here, del Toro, here here. Check out the article for more on this discussion, and the special features disc that accompanies the Special Edition of Pan’s Labyrinth for loads more del Toro insight.
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