This question was encountered by me at Deepak Sagar’s post in FaceBook posed by Nitin. I tried to answer this question and it struck to me that the space provided for reply was short and there is lot to write about, thus it gave birth to this blog!
Here Nitin discussed about Harry Potter and in later posts also cited Frodo of LOTR. In these fantasy novels, the above mentioned characters are very ordinary, do not have any extra talent or not even try to acquire such talents to counter their all powerful baddie. At the end they acquire extraordinary skills thru sheer destiny and defeat the invincible rival! Doesn’t it sound droll to you? They do not crave for publicity, instead publicity craves for them. And all the above they suffer for the well being of ignorant mortals and in return for their good deeds, they become immortals or legends!
Do these traits fit for fantasy novels alone? Nope, with slight alterations, they best fit for all commercially successful novels and films. Yes, films! The word film would have driven the message to your sixth sense. From Alchemist to Kane & Abel, Brave heart to American pie, you can associate yourself with any one character, live with them and also try to imagine a different situation to make the character look better and more successful than the original! ( Hey, you too transform into a novelist! )
Yes, everybody wants to be hero, leader, icon, celebrity, matchless, indispensible part of society, savior of human race, chosen by divine providence and so on, but it needs dexterity in real life which many find hard to accept it as it involves lot of hard and smart works, so they want it thru fantasy methods and their heroes in these films and novels achieve it no time or by fantasy methods. Thus, they believe they have achieved it when the character gets it, they succeed when their characters succeed, they are humiliated when their character is humiliated, and the list goes on. But these feelings are secretly harbored by many, nurturing them in privacy and openly exhibited by few. The few forming lunatics and the many becoming polished cosmopolitans!
So, could we conclude that these novel writers are cousins to script writers of films? Both write stories which appeal to mass, spin out money and fame for them. So, should novel writers be allowed to share the credit of language, society, culture and human development? Do we need to shun the gullible child within us? Aren’t we treasuring our favorite childhood toys till today and first recollect the tales of our hero when any kid asks us to narrate a story.
Every human has his own dream hero. This mannerism got ingrained with humans’ right from he started to think about success. When books were not popular, local bigwigs and folklore legends were role models. Before films, novel heroes were icons. Dreams were centered on film heroes whose position has been taken by legends in real life. Still we do like all and secretly wish to be like them. Let us believe that we are heroes, do not lose the power of imagination and achieve feat. Let us keep the child within us alive!
Courtesy:
Images - Internet
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