Fantasy Is Powerful Storytelling

High fantasy, low fantasy, no fantasy? When to use it, and why

‘Fantasy is for children.’
Maybe you’ve heard that. Or perhaps its stuffier cousin: ‘Fantasy isn’t real life, therefore it can’t be as powerful—or as literary.’

I disagree. In fact, the most affecting story you read this year might involve a talking lion or a glow-in-the-dark spren. The impossible, handled well, magnifies the truth.

First though, let’s define our terms.

Fantasy is fiction with impossible elements like magic or talking animals (e.g., Animal Farm or The Lord of the Rings), while speculative fiction explores altered but possible realities like dystopias or future societies (e.g., 1984); high fantasy is set in invented worlds, low fantasy brings the impossible into ours.

Here I argue that pure fantasy, like those I mentioned or any other created worlds, offer nuance and real story that is equal, and at times better, than pure fiction.

Critique #1 — ‘Fantasy is for children’

If you’ve read my pieces on drugs and currency, you know my go-to rebuttal: theme over visuals.

Percy Jackson tackles not fitting in and shouldering responsibility, exactly right for middle-grade readers. Does this mean all of it is?

Gonna let your kids read Game of Thrones?

GoT tackles betrayal, politics, trauma, redemption, as well as tossing in sex and violence galore. Same genre label, radically different parental-guidance label. I would imagine you see Game of Thrones as extremely adult.

Perhaps though, you still allege that fantasy does not deliver thematically on anything rising above a child-like story. Fair enough, let’s tackle that.

Critique #2 — ‘Real worlds make better, more literary stories’

Part of this is preference. I separate entirely simply enjoying the real world more, and declaring unilaterally that fantasy cannot do as good a job. Lord of the Rings is an extremely widely read classic that is lauded for its amazing storytelling. Animal Farm is too. Are they lesser stories for it? Especially in those cases, far from it.

In fact, let's prove it further by showing that in some cases, fantasy makes for a better story.

Let's look at Narnia.