tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post6114256808366229768..comments2024-03-29T06:16:21.012+08:00Comments on Monsters and Manuals: The Exodus to, er, Made Up WorldsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-39729225866802894512012-07-31T09:24:39.324+08:002012-07-31T09:24:39.324+08:00Go search for fan fiction and roleplaying chats ba...Go search for fan fiction and roleplaying chats based on popular films. It is myth-making, because audiences embrace the film and expand on it, change it, in their own ways.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-3062979699582842212012-07-31T07:19:27.885+08:002012-07-31T07:19:27.885+08:00Good point - I'm not a big Superhero fan, but ...Good point - I'm not a big Superhero fan, but many of the films clearly go for a mythic portrayal.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01173759805310975320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-28264017398972468332012-07-31T02:06:24.408+08:002012-07-31T02:06:24.408+08:00Well, you may have heard that in Cervantes' no...Well, you may have heard that in Cervantes' novels, he is an old guy who gets addicted on the Renaissance equivalent of fantasy novels (chivalrous romances) and, like Tom Hanks in Mazes and Monsters, acquires the delusion that he is a crusading hero from the novels and goes traveling through a very unheroic Spain, with various misadventures that hinge on his misinterpretations and the more down-to-earth attitude of his squire Sancho Panza. <br /><br />His neighbors strive to free him of the delusion and at one point organize a bonfire of the books, but this is a device for Cervantes to argue (through the character of the curate) for distinctions between the more consistent and worthy romances, and the trashier and more implausible stuff. In the second book of the Quijote a main theme is that Quijote's madness allows him to see the moral universe more clearly, whereas it is the rest of the world who is mired in delusions. <br /><br />The multilayered, truly Baroque irony is that Cervantes is himself writing fiction, at the same time implicitly denouncing the effects of fiction through Quijote's madness, but later playing the other side of the argument. What's more, within the novel there are characters who themselves argue for and against the merits of fiction.Roger G-Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08594440701279968693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-37542393245292779702012-07-30T21:21:33.636+08:002012-07-30T21:21:33.636+08:00Well it's quite similar if one assumes that th...Well it's quite similar if one assumes that the absence of 'religious myths' leaves a person longing for other forums in which their imagination is 'relevant'.<br /><br />And besides, which is more of an 'action'? An action in an imaginary world or a perception-changing(in the real world) experience inspired by an imaginary world?Nadavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13379496050656646495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-80768627915533731982012-07-30T18:27:02.077+08:002012-07-30T18:27:02.077+08:00That's not quite the same as RPGs either thoug...That's not quite the same as RPGs either though, because the RPG has some concept of *action*, even if it is imaginary action.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-10354205920187156982012-07-30T18:26:03.690+08:002012-07-30T18:26:03.690+08:00"Read", even. Jesus."Read", even. Jesus.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-35499435196289518572012-07-30T18:25:50.713+08:002012-07-30T18:25:50.713+08:00Can you expand on that? I've never red Don Qui...Can you expand on that? I've never red Don Quijote.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-2389894342730804942012-07-30T18:25:24.884+08:002012-07-30T18:25:24.884+08:00There's also superhero films. I know they'...There's also superhero films. I know they're based on comics, but nobody took them seriously until this weird renaissance they're currently undergoing.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-11797243870689237062012-07-30T16:22:59.626+08:002012-07-30T16:22:59.626+08:00Wow, RPGs as a replacement for Religious mythology...Wow, RPGs as a replacement for Religious mythology. Maybe.<br /><br />I think I would argue that the Short Story is a more obvious replacement, along those lines. A passive medium but with a tight focus on getting an active response from the reader: either by teaching a lesson, or by giving a mind-expanding experience.<br /><br />Like Harlan Ellison who says about his stories "My message is always the same: we are the finest, most ingenious, potentially the most godlike construct the Universe has ever created."Nadavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13379496050656646495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-89629458872624471482012-07-30T16:06:37.776+08:002012-07-30T16:06:37.776+08:00Will give it a listen later if I get the chance; i...Will give it a listen later if I get the chance; it reminded me of the first TED Talk that Jane McGonigal gave. In fact, she might reference Castronova. She certainly refers to the "exodus to the virtual world".<br /><br />http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.htmlNathanRyderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17963023116440525852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-8307945842801506252012-07-30T07:38:19.385+08:002012-07-30T07:38:19.385+08:00Well yeah, but you know what I meant. Always good ...Well yeah, but you know what I meant. Always good to meet a fellow Econtalk listener, by the way. It proves you have impeccable taste.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-78209162026185635252012-07-30T07:32:27.740+08:002012-07-30T07:32:27.740+08:00I can't imagine Russ Roberts ever saying "...I can't imagine Russ Roberts ever saying "capitalism destroys the soul." :-)jdcllnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12896684155911314994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-28296039275779349042012-07-30T07:15:55.976+08:002012-07-30T07:15:55.976+08:00I process "escapism" as a slur since it&...I process "escapism" as a slur since it's almost never defined or contrasted to acceptable uses of the imagination. <br /><br />You see the same kind of panic described in Don Quijote's neighbors, and implicitly in what happens to the Don from reading too many books; at the same time Cervantes has other characters mount a spirited defense of fiction. But he's one of the few commentators ever to examine as well as depict and practice the difference between escapism and imagination.Roger G-Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08594440701279968693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-65126781122124586152012-07-30T05:54:33.841+08:002012-07-30T05:54:33.841+08:00I think the de-sacralisation of lived experience n...I think the de-sacralisation of lived experience nowadays may have something to do with the attraction of D&D, and more broadly of fantasy in general. Some films do speak to this need, though I'm struggling to think of more than a few over the past 30 years - the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the original Star Wars trilogy, the first two Terminator movies are some that come to mind. A couple decades before that and you get into the era of the mythic Western movies.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01173759805310975320noreply@blogger.com