Why does the fantasy genre have such a bad reputation?

[FoolMoon]

I think it all comes down to what people think about when they hear the word "fantasy". most people, the non-fantasy readers, would probably go to creations such as Harry Potter and Twilight, and if i were to look at those as the sole examples of the genre i would keep my distance as well.

the truth is that popular fantasy literature that manages to market itself outside of the fantasy-lovers community is mostly childish, no-too-sophisticated light novels. because of that people tend to mistake fantasy childish. it mostly comes from misunderstanding the genre as a whole, outside of what as managed to push into what we call "pop-culture". most of the GOOD fantasy books are far from "childish", and Robin Hobb is a very soft one of that, would you give a ten-year-old one of George Martin's novels?

same thing goes for everything-what is common and well known is the thing people judge the whole by. fantasy just had the misfortune to be represented by children books and shallow teen novels. Lord of the Rings is no longer as common read as it used to be and if you'd ask a person if he ever came upon The Neverending Story they are most likely to reply about the movie. This is how it's like in this era, when the most part of the human kind is shallow, and its pop-culture is made of reality shows and surgically-engineered super-models. i, as a teenager [almost 18] can see that most people in my age group hardly care for anything that's not "mainstream" [fantsy included] and the younger ones... don't even read.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Fantasy just had the misfortune to be represented by children books and shallow teen novels. Lord of the Rings is no longer as common read as it used to be and if you'd ask a person if he ever came upon The Neverending Story they are most likely to reply about the movie. This is how it's like in this era, when the most part of the human kind is shallow, and its pop-culture is made of reality shows and surgically-engineered super-models. i, as a teenager [almost 18] can see that most people in my age group hardly care for anything that's not "mainstream" [fantsy included] and the younger ones... don't even read.

Lord of the Rings, though, is creeping around at the edge of acceptable literature. You can bet that there will be people who will explain why LOTR isn't really fantasy when it's finally accepted into the literary canon. Those kind of things always seem to happen when an sf/fantasy work is praised in the media.
I recently came across some books my Michel Houellebecq, a French author I would like to check out sometime. His book "The possibility of an Island" was shelved in the literature section, despite, you know, featuring human clones in the future. On the one hand, I was glad that such a story is apperantly accepted as literature, on the other hand, it's not recognized as sf. (Note: I haven't read the book yet.)

I also like your comment about The Neverending Story. The book has real depth, especially the second half, but I am always hesistant to say it's actually my favorite book because if people know about it, they've usually just seen the movie.

[joost]

Has anyone ever read 'Grunts!' by Mary Gentle? It mocks the fantasy genre by exaggerating everything. I found it very humorous!

[FoolMoon]

I also like your comment about The Neverending Story. The book has real depth, especially the second half, but I am always hesistant to say it's actually my favorite book because if people know about it, they've usually just seen the movie.

two months ago i had my Auryn tattoo [as i've cared to mention here] and although i had a few people recognizing it, most people commented things like asking me if i like snakes and some ignorant idiot thought it was the Death-Eaters tattoo from Harry Potter

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Just noticed this review over at SF Site: Earth Girls Are Deadly. It's a review of a self-published book and... not a very good one, by the sound of it. (Unless tentacle rape is your thing.) Seriously, why give attention to it at all? It only serves to drag down all of SFF.

(I always wonder why SF Site does self-published books anyway. Although we all know the stories of brilliant books that were rejected by publishers, it's usually a bad sign if you can't get your book past an editor. While there are always diamonds in the rough, I question this practice of SF Site.)

EDIT: Alright, I might be wrong about this book being self-published... sort of. Tuppshar press has only a LiveJournal as website and appears to be a publisher devoted to publishing porn novels with cheap-looking 3D CG covers. It's not quite self-publishing, but it looks pretty damn close.

[Farseer]

I wasn't quite sure where to put this...

Here is a link to a bit of a discussion on 'fantasy' and Australian fantasy authors etc that aired on ABC here in Australia a couple of days ago.

I have often raved about Emily Rodda's Deltora Quest series here on thePlenty (go and read it, even if it IS only for children!) and she is one of the authors featured, as is Fiona McIntosh. I thought it strange though that Emily is listed and introduced first as Jennifer Rowe. While her true name IS Jennifer Rowe, and she DOES write adult mystery novels under that name, the Deltora Quest series (as are all of her children's works) is written under Emily Rodda. It would be like featuring only the Farseer trilogy and speaking only with Megan Lindholm about it.

Still, our Tangle Leader, Robin Hobb, actually IS also mentioned in the program so you may still like to take a look even if you aren't too interested in the opinions of Australian fantasy authors.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Thanks for posting that, I'll be sure to watch it.

My fantasy-hating uncle came over for a visit yesterday, and it turned out... that he has watched Game of Thrones!

Me: Ohhh, I haven't seen the tv series yet but the book version is one of my favorite stories ever! What did you think of it?
My uncle: It was really good.
Me: Didn't you hate fantasy? Because that's what it is.
My uncle: Well.... this is a really good story.

I haven't pressed the issue any further, but we might be getting there one day. There is yet hope!

[Nuytsia]

Me: Didn't you hate fantasy? Because that's what it is.
My uncle: Well.... this is a really good story.

Heheheh that's it he's hooked now!

[moxy]

I'm not sure this post is alive, the subject is interesting though.
I've heard people say reading fantasy is like fleeing from reality. In a way we step into another world, but I wouldn't agree that it would justify "fleeing". I have a feeling a lot of people can't cope with the fantastic creations, the physics, just can't truly imagine anything different from the reality they're living? (and therefore look down on something they don't understand...)

['thul]

Pretty much everything here is active.

That is an interesting view, and it does seem quite logical. There are many incapable imagination, who thus cannot accept anything outside their world. Such people would logically look down upon fantasy.