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Old 03-02-2021, 03:59 AM   #28
Opellulo
 
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Rome, Italy
Default Re: [DF] What's Distinctive About the Default Worlds of DF?

Not a specific DF expert but my anthropological studies are kicking in... Many great writers and historians weighted in on what a "fantasy" and its underlining myths are and, while there is no clear answer, there are a lot of good thoughts on the subject, in very short and very incomplete version:
- For Furio Jesi, fantasy was a "technical mith": a rebuilt of a never occurred past that was serving (willing or not) a very clear ideology: since some of the most common tropes are divine right, hereditary rule, good vs evil, strength as solution, you can see what he was indicating.
- Umberto Eco was even more drastic: since he was one of the greatest experts on both medieval history and popular culture he added mainstream fantasy in his "Ur fascism" myths: a tale of a never happened "golden age" that was useful both as a tale of a "make back again" myth and as a fabled representation of the future past.

Now I don't personally think that every "Fantasy" is automatically a right wing fantasy (Even if Tolkien studies are attracting literature slackers since the '50 and the main defense against this idea are his personal history and the very troubling fact that he didn't believe in metaphorical readings of his works) but for sure you can point out that the genre has very skewed stereotypes, some of which were already pointed out in this topic.
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