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Not many people wish to even humor the notion that fantasy books may, in fact, be bringing harm to their readers, especially not fans of the fantasy genre like myself. The idea that something we love may actually be detrimental to society is a rather horrible thought, to be sure, comparable perhaps to wondering if a beloved friend is secretly a murderous psychopath.

But as an aspiring writer of fantasy, I feel it is a necessary question to ask myself. Do these creations of mine have the potential to hurt my readers?

Perhaps so.

It is difficult to deny that fantasy books, more often than not, perpetuate escapist philosophies, whether through the texts themselves or simply through the act of reading them. And while escapism is not necessarily always a bad thing, neither is it necessarily always a good thing. There is a fair amount of gray area here.

Fantasy also has the tendency to oversimplify the world in which it takes place. Classic fantasy stories are often deeply rooted in the concept of "Good vs. Evil," that there are inherently evil creatures in the world who deserve nothing less than annihilation for their inhumanity, as if to imply that the world in which we live should be viewed like this as well. Granted, the oversimplification of society is not a trait specific to only the fantasy genre, but it is a terribly common thing, at the very least.

However, none of this indicates that fantasy books are bad as a whole. Fantasy encourages the creative and the imaginative, and the basic virtues of "right and wrong" are difficult to ignore. More complex fantasy tales may also reflect aspects of the real world in a way that would be much more difficult within other genres, and surely, the potential for education - academic or otherwise - is of some value, as well.

But when it comes down to it, the real responsibility here falls into the laps of fantasy authors, not the genre in which they write, because they are the ones who communicate with the reader, who try to convey a sense of believability and reality among the mythic and the fantastic. Ultimately, any "message" gleaned from a book of fantasy is the triumph or failure of the person who wrote it. To not acknowledge this truth is to not acknowledge the writer's responsibility, regardless of genre.

Learn more about this author, M. J. Galleon.
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