Fantasy
Syllabus - heavy reading
Your magic wand
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” - Arthur C. Clarke
Your wand = smart phone
Your spells = apps (not games), maps, Uber, ordering food, buying stuff (Amazon, ebay, etc.), instant delivery, weather prediction
Why Fantasy? Why is it so popular?
17th century Age of Reason
- Split in the way we looked at the world
Renaissance - holistic learning
- All disciplines integrated
Age of Reason - split
- Split disciplines
- AND made those that did not work with “logic” & “reason” no longer legitimate
Unfortunately this split mirrors parts of the mind - conscious, subconscious, unconscious
So the subconscious/unconscious parts of the mind were given short shift and we are more alienated from ourselves and our needs
Mythology & Mythos
Every culture has a mythos
Every culture/language group as an original myth
Foundation myth that at bottom gets into the basic ideas of Archetypes - Gods, Kings, Rulership
For the English speaking world, that mythos is Arthur
Reference:
Bettleheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. Vintage Books, 2010. ISBN: 9780307739636. [Preview with Google Books]
