Mary Robinette Kowal - Five Spellbinding Films You Never Knew Were Fantasy
Typically, fantasy invokes images of trees and elves and magic. We picture movies of enormous scale with quests to save kingdoms or even the world. Genre classics such as The Dark Crystal and Stardust show lands and social structures that are totally made up (a.k.a. secondary world fantasy). But fantasy is a bigger genre than that and covers everything from epics like The Lord of the Rings to intimate flicks such as Like Water For Chocolate. What those two wildly different movies have in common is an escape from the laws of the natural world. While Science Fiction comes with baggage from the real world attached, fantasy promises that anything is possible. Let's take a quick spin through five movies you might be surprised to learn fall into fantasy's domain.
1. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
I know, you're thinking that the production design is teeming with mechanisms of brass and wood -- "Look at the Nautilus," you protest. "Surely this is scifi." Ah, but look closer. There are multiple supernatural elements in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen too. Take Stuart Townsend's picture of Dorian Gray, which keeps him young and invulnerable. That's magic. Or turn to Peta Wison's Mina Harker, who survived her encounter with Dracula but is now a vampire -- vampires and magic and paintings, oh my! What you're looking at is a form of fantasy called Steampunk, which features Victorian or Edwardian fashions with intricate steam-driven engines. Interestingly, the sub-genre almost always comes with a supernatural element. Remember: Just because there's technology doesn't mean it's not fantasy.
2. Like Water for Chocolate (1993)
In Like Water for Chocolate, simple acts like cooking take on mythic proportions as they give outward expression to Tita's (Lumi Cavazos) emotions. When she cooks a dinner with the roses that her lover gives her, the meal creates such passion in the guests that everyone is thrown into a frenzy of longing. While not specifically a spell, this heightened level of experience is a constant of magical realism. Stories told in this realm tend to be smaller in scale, revolving around a single person, yet containing an odd break from natural law. Something as small as a single tear in cake batter can set off a wave of melancholy. Suddenly, the ordinary becomes fantastic.
3. Shaolin Soccer (2001)
Here we don't seem to have any of the trappings of traditional fantasy. Shaolin Soccer is set in present day China and the characters all have typical troubles: Unsatisfying jobs, annoying bosses, and the fear that technology is rapidly making them obsolete. But they also have magic. The Shaolin monks each wield what amounts to a sorcerer's spell, ranging from "Golden Leg" to "Lightning Hands," which allows them to break the laws of nature. Just watch one of their thrilling soccer matches and you'll see what I mean. Gravity? What is this strange thing you speak of?
4. The Sixth Sense (1999)
While this movie has elements of horror, in many ways it is even more a dark urban fantasy. Haley Joel Osment's Cole Sear has a sixth sense, one that ordinary humans don't have. As the trailers say, he sees dead people, which you've got to admit is unusual. With all its ghosts, the film quickly crosses into the realm of the fantastic. The "sixth sense" is a power that would feel right at home in traditional fantasy, except in that scenario Cole would need to use it to save the world rather than just his own sanity. To top it off, the resolution at the end keeps the movie from being hardcore horror which would've left you hanging on your seat (and waiting for the inevitable straight-to-DVD sequel).
5. The Lake House (2006)
On the surface, this screams romance, but the gimmick here is, frankly, fantastic: Kate (Sandra Bullock) and Alex (Keanu 'woah' Reeves) are separated in time by two years yet living in the same house. The only thing that connects them initially is the mailbox: Put a letter in and it appears two years later or earlier for the other person to retrieve. Sound familiar? Think of a certain magic wardrobe that would allow people to travel into a foreign land without much time passing on the homefront. Magic boxes, magic doors...these are memes of fantasy.
Since we've just skimmed the surface, why don't you share some of your favorite examples of fantasy movies that aren't often labeled as such?
Mary Robinette Kowal is the winner of the 2008 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. She is also the art director at Shimmer Magazine and a professional puppeteer. Her columns appears Fridays.
I LOVE LXG. I've also cosplayed from it-
http://ladracul.deviantart.com/art/Mori-25432587
http://ladracul.deviantart.com/art/BOO-25313130
Although, I think I was more fond of Richard Roxburgh as Dracula in "Van Helsing". :)
The bit about The Sixth Sense made me think, Hmm. I guess the comedy Ghost is a fantasy too!
Would Adaptation count? There's certainly some unreal things going on in that movie, but maybe that's just the mind of a demented screenwriter!
Pan's Labyrinth? It hovers between dark fantasy and horror most of the movie, but I think the ending makes it more fantasy because of the epiphany, however ambiguous that might turn out to be.
LaDracul: Very nice!
Boo: Yep, I'd call Ghost a fantasy too.
Clayton: You know, I haven't seen Adaptation yet. How does it break the laws of nature?
Aliette: I'd definitely count Pan's Labyrinth, although one could make the argument that it's not fantasy because the fantastic elements are in the girl's head. I like the ambiguity there.
What about Michael-- the John Travolta as everyone's favorite raunchy angel movie? And Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind--a film I love--perhaps not a 'traditional' fantasy, but definitely a sf/fantasy film.
The line between horror and dark/urban fantasy has always fascinated me, mostly because I have the hardest time differentiating between the two. Which is cool, I guess, since I like both and don't mind if one bleeds over into the other. Actually, I probably prefer them to be a bit of a mix.
Fantasy movies not labeled fantasy? Hrm. "Big" would be a fun one. "Somewhere in Time" comes to mind as another fantasy romance. I don't know if "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was labelled fantasy, but it's way up there for me. And I think the case could be made that "Pulp Fiction" is an urban fantasy, whether it was made to be one or not.
Thank you. :) You should see my Dracula ones. :D
How about Forest Gump?
I've always thought of Christopher Nolan's The Prestige as fantasy because of the way it handles -- and mishandles -- the wonder of a really good magic trick.
The film was more stylistic and had a larger cast than another film about a magician released at that same time, The Illusionist, with Edward Norton. I remember at the time wondering which film was 'better,' and giving up because while the films appear similar, they are, in fact, polar opposites.
The latter film stays true to the principles of magic in our world; it is a trick, and we know it's a trick, but we may not know how it is done.
The former story appears to take the same tack until right up to the very end, and we realize that the film plays a trick that cannot be genuine in our world.
Ebert raved about The Illusionist because it is clever, and because it plays fair with the world in which we live. The Inspector in this film notes "perhaps there is truth in this illusion." I found that fascinating. Ebert seems to have as well.
In short, somewhere along the way, the filmmakers gave us one genuinely amazing trick, but then upped the ante by taking the story out of our own world into one that looks just like ours, but which acts according to its own rules for the sake of the story. The in-joke of The Prestige is that there is no Prestige.
Some really liked that added twist. I was bitterly disappointed. Robert Ebert had the same problem with The Prestige that I had. He wrote:
He was suggesting in a roundabout way what I will say plainly; The Prestige looks and acts like a film about mundane magic in our own world, but is in fact a fantasy masquerading as something it is not. In short, the story of one-upsmanship becomes too clever. The central conceit was a lie masquerading as a trick. I think this is the worst way to employ fantasy, as a cheap way to achieve something fantastic. By giving us rules and then breaking them, well, I felt cheated.
By treating magic as 'real,' it became a cautionary tale about how deadly rivalry can be, that it is possible to up the ante beyond the place where reasonable men can find 'truth in the illusion.' In this place and time, a story about the wreckage of 'the win at all costs' mindset may be a timely lesson, but it was a disappointing revelation.
“By giving us rules and then breaking them, well, I felt cheated.” That happens all the time in real life and then becomes an ethical issue. So what sort of story, and how would it need to be presented, for such rule-breaking to be aesthetically acceptable and not dash ones expectations? Perhaps introducing the fantastic element earlier or differently in “The Prestige” would have made it more palatable, hard to say.
A similar problem may be looming for a fantasy yet to be filmed. The immensely popular “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” introduces elements crucial to the resolution of the plot very late in the story (remember, there were 6 full stories told before this conclusion). For example, the late timing contributes to the whole “Elder Wand” succession confusion. A bit of literary fleshing-out and foreshadowing early on might have helped. Now it’s up to the screenwriters to make it work. Talk about breaking rules….
Then there is “The Fountain”, the acting and visuals were wonderful, but either I missed something or the story just didn’t have it to begin with. Don’t think it will ever be shown on “Spike TV” (ohh, so that’s why I don’t like it). Maybe it’s just a matter of what each of us is willing to bend our expectations and suspend our disbelief for, because I did enjoy all the weirdness in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films. Yes, by saying “aesthetically” instead of “morally” above, I am trying to keep this question on-topic or at least related to the arts and entertainment. More to the point, shall we bait the hook and cast about for “Big Fish”, and see what bites?
The most fantastical element of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is the magical addition of Tom Sawyer, who wasn't on the team in the comic book series. Also, Connery attempting a British accent. Pure fantasy.
I would also throw in Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures." People forget the fantasy elements of that film, and only remember the grim murder plot. It was the "Pan's Labyrinth" of its day. And it features one of Kate Winslet's best performances. Worth a second look.
http://blogs.amctv.com/scifi-scanner/2008/11/mark-millar-frank-miller.php
I think LA Story with Steve Martin is a fantasy masquerading as mundane.
Now that's an interesting premise. What rules of the natural world do you think LA Story breaks? It's been so long since I've seen it, I'm blanking a little.
If you disqualify Pan's Labyrinth for possibly being in the girl's head, you'll have to disqualify from the realm of fantasy: The Wizard of Oz ("You were there, and you were there, and so were you!"), MirrorMask, and ... couldn't Labyrinth have actually been in the girl's head as well? (It's been a long while since I've seen Labyrinth.) I would consider the fact of the question of "is it real or is it in her head?" an integral part of a lot of fantasy, anyway.
I should look at the date and read your entries in order. I see you covered some of this two weeks later. Apologies. I have just figured out the way to see the articles in descending order by date.