[lbo-talk] Reactionary fantasy and leftists (was Narnia)

[amadeus amadeus]

Alas, if only Bush was offering up Indo-European
pre-Christian polytheism in his invocations of "good"
and "evil." sigh.
It seems to me that most US-consumed media in general
works as Christian allegory or ideology of one sort of
the other; a good chunk of this is quite favorable
propaganda for the bourgeoisie. You'd think there were
thousands of individual Jesuses out there, achieving
miracles with their modest yet entreprenurial
upbringings....
--adx
--- John Bizwas <bizwas at lycos.com> wrote:
> On the list in the Narnia thread, it was stated:
> 
> >>I'm interested in the fact that most left
> radical-types I know really enjoy fantasy books,
> most of which are fairly reactionary, many with
> thinly veiled judeo-christian ideologies. >>
> 
> Most fantasy strikes me as more Indo-European
> pre-Christian polytheism and mythology (where the
> gods and demi-gods interact with the people, and the
> people who become legend then become myth and then
> gods). Tolkien's LOTR being the most popular
> example.  
> 
> Where the ideology seems 'thinly veiled' is in the
> pervasive, simplistic 'Manichaeism', where
> everything is either good or bad and, at least for
> the narrator and his readers, it's clear what is
> either good or bad. That seems to be on offer in the
> politics of the Bush administration, though I dread
> to call it 'pragmatic' in the way MBS does.  
> 
> Fantasy that avoids Christian allegory and religious
> fundamentalism seems more common than not. As for
> avoiding reactionary ideology and simplistic
> morality, writers such as Alan Garner (after his
> first novel, which was too much simple Manichaeism,
> after Tolkien and Lewis) and Ursula K. LeGuin avoid
> it.
> 
> Anyway recommendations for adolescents include:
> Alan Garner (Red Shift, The Owl Service, etc.)
> Ursula K. LeGuin (The Earthsea Trilogy--with a
> fourth novel linked to it). 
> William Corlett
> 
> F  
> -- 
> _______________________________________________
> NEW! Lycos Dating Search. The only place to search
> multiple dating sites at once.
> http://datingsearch.lycos.com
> 
> 
> ___________________________________
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
> 

"Mary Poppins is alive and well in Argentina, she sends her regards."
- Rod McKuen, The Mud Kids

		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/