Growing up, I have always been nrought up with Christian beliefs, as a small child I went to Kids church every Sunday and knew nothing else. From the age of about 12 I stopped going to church but still have a belief in god. I personally am not against fantasy but as a small child my mum never approved of it. I never had books with witches in them as mum tried to keep that kind of thing away from me. Although, I was allowed to pretend to be a magician, after all it's completely harmless pretending to make a ball dissapear and it drops out of my sleeve or from wherever I'm attempting to hide it. Halloween was also another thing that my mum never encouraged, the one year I did do it I dressed up a princess. In all honesty I have always been a bit of a wuss when it comes to scary things, i easily get frights with scary movies and simply have no desire to watch them. When Harry Potter came out, I watched it like very other kid simply because it was the 'cool' thing to do, I have never been against it I just never found a passion for it like so many others. So I think my mum's christian influence and thoughts against witch craft and things similar effected me so much as a child that I just have no desire for those types of books or movies. Like I said I personally have no problem, in all honesty I can watch most things but it doesnt mean I thoroughly enjoy it.
Hi Jazz, thank you for sharing such a personal story on the blog.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to see what your take is on the Le Guin text. Perhaps you can talk about how you perceive the values shown by the characters in the Earthsea book. Are they different or similar to yours? In what way?
How do you think your worldview and upbringing influences your reading and understanding of this book?
You can just reply to this comment, which will save you from having to write another post.
I know what you mean, Jazz. My family is entirely Christian and my parents did the same thing. There was no such thing as Halloween for us and weren't allowed to watch Harry Potter as kids. As we grew up though, they became more lenient because we know better now not to take fantasy seriously. However, because of this upbringing, I became more interested in fantasy and horror. I just never found anything 'wrong' or terrifying about it. It didn't compromise my beliefs. It was purely entertainment for me, personally.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this thoughtful reply, Julie. I think part of growing up is to discover that you have to find your own path when it comes to what beliefs you choose to embrace or discard. It can be difficult to find a happy balance sometimes!
DeleteHi everyone, sorry I never replied. With me I have never had an interest with fantasy because of my upbringing but unlike you Julie, it carried on - it's just not that interesting to me, I like real things so for me personally fantasy is just so 'ho hum'
DeleteHi Jazz, if you could reply to the questions I asked above this week, that would be great. Thanks
ReplyDeleteSorry for not replying. Really sorry. Like I said before, no matter the story line and the events that occur I just never find it 'that' interesting. I mean I don't cringe at watching it but the whole thing of Jed going to that 'magic/spell school' I forget what it was, just, it seems so childish to me. Maybe I am gettting too old before my time but watching Earthsea I felt like I was watching another version of Harry Potter when I was ten or so. I apologise that I am so dismissal of Earthsea but I truly found it quite a boring text. I do know one thing, when people like the old lady who healed people are portrayed gruesomely and witchey like and exaggerated into their character I tend not to enjoy it as much, yet when they are seen as normal people I can accept it - monster like get ups and make up on characters that obviously are not made to look like humans also I find myself not wanting to give them much time. It just doesn't interest me. I completely think this is because of the sheltering I had had.
DeleteYes, Jazz, time to reply. but I would question Julie's statement that we 'know better than to take fantasy seriously. My point is, if Fantasy has such a profound effect on the imagination, hitting on archetypes etc, with that wish fulfilment element, maybe we should take it seriously. There is more to 'entertainment' than meets the eye is one of understandings of the course.
ReplyDeleteI think it is because fantasy has such a profound effect, especially on children, my parents said not to take it seriously. Considering the themes involved in fantasy such as magic or super powers, we were taught to believe that there is no such thing as and the only entity capable of altering reality is God. And of course, there is more to entertainment than we see and I, as an adult now, know that. But as an impressionable child, if I had seen Super Man jump off from somewhere high and believed that I was capable of that too, heavy consequences would arise. I think that was the value my parents were instilling. For me to know what is real and possible for me to do and to know what is beyond my human capabilities.
DeleteI agree, yet I think again I was different, for example I could watch superman and there would be no negative response from my mum because she loved it too, and magic she had no problem with really. It was more witch like characters and gruesome plotlines that mum didnt approve of - witches were completely 'out of bounds' kind of thing and to this day I still don't like them not because I am scared of them because I obviously know they are not real but again doesnt interest me - its a fake world
DeleteI come from a similar background.
ReplyDeleteBoth my parents are Christian, but they are divorced. I grew up mostly with my Mum who had very strong feelings about how 'evil' a lot of fantasy is. My Dad was more open to me reading it.
It confused me quite a lot because my Mum would let me read things like the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, because it was supposed to mirror Christian Ideology. But when my Dad bought me Harry Potter, she took the books while I was at school and burned them.
Both stories had witches in, so has a young teenager, I didn't understand the distinction between good and 'evil' fantasy.
As a Christian adult, I love fantasy and plan to spend my life writing it. I like to think that a lot of fantasy has great encouraging morals, and it's for this purpose that I read and write it.
Anyway I hope that the fantasy week didn't give you too much hassle. I know it can be difficult to read things you're uncomfortable with. Certainly as I was reading the Earth Sea Saga I could feel my mum in the back of my head telling me how 'evil' that magic and summoning in those books were. I didn't enjoy that part of it, and so skipped over a lot of it.
Wow your mum being so intense on it has made you sort of rebel against her thoughts then if you love to write fantasy - funny isn't it?
DeleteYeah xD That just about sums up my mum and I's relationship lol. I like to decide things for myself
DeleteThanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI am also Christian and growing up my parents weren't so strict on me in terms of what I watched and read, but there did come a point where their minds were changed and like Che my much loved Harry Potter books were burned. I have to say I also had the same thoughts and was confused as to why I was allowed to read one book that had aspects of fantasy and magic but not another.
I think my parents were unsure themselves and I kind of rebelled. I read and watched what I wanted. I found that my exposure to fantasy was not harmful in any way to me or my beliefs and it has become my favorite genre. I did in the beginning look at it as purely entertainment but I think it was to justify to other Christians why it was okay for me to watch and read it.
Now though I have become more confident in my views about fantasy and yes I still love it for the entertainment but like Che said there is a lot more to it. It is always uplifting to read a story where the shadow forces never win because good prevails, stories where morality matters and I find that a lot of fantasy has these attributes. I also now write fantasy and of course my beliefs become very much a part of my writing. Have you ever read any of Ted Dekker's books? He is a christian fantasy writer. I think after reading his work I became a lot more comfortable with how I myself looked at the fantasy genre.
Hey Kirsty, it was interesting to hear this from you too. I am totally going to go check out some Ted Dekker! Even though it's Jazz you're talking to haha x)
DeleteThis is all really interesting and quite nice to hear that others have had the same kind of thing happen. Growing up I was really the only kid that didn't read Harry Potter, I watched it secretly but still got scared haha. I hate to be so negative (possibly my mum coming out in me haha) but personally I would rather read things that can physically happen - like sure sometimes I have fantasised about being someone else, but never about unnatural things, I think it's all really ground into me - one thing, I don;t think fantasy is bad, not at all, there is just no interest.
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