Fantasy Phobia

But I would like to draw attention to a neglected fact: the astonishing intensity of the dislike which some readers feel for the mythopoeic. I first found it out by accident. A lady (and, what makes the story more piquant, she herself was a Jungian psychologist by profession) had been talking about a dreariness which seemed to be creeping over her life, the drying up in her of the power to feel pleasure, the aridity of her mental landscape. Drawing a bow at a venture, I asked,'Have you any taste for fantasies and fairy tales?' I shall never forget how her muscles tightened, her hands clenched themselves, her eyes started as if with horror, and her voice changed, as she hissed out, 'I loathe them!' Clearly we here have to do not with a critical opinion but with something like a phobia. And I have seen traces of it elsewhere, though never quite so violent. On the other side, I know from my own experience, that those who like the mythopoeic like it with almost equal intensity. The two phenomena, taken together, should at least dispose of the theory that it its something trivial. It would seem from the reactions it produces, that the mythopoeic is rather, for good or ill, a mode of imagination which does something to us at a deep level. (Of Other Worlds by C.S. Lewis 71-72pgs)

Whew, thanks for staying with me folks.

I Posted all that to simply say this. Among the Christian community the Mythopoeic is one of the most derided forms of reading. I think reading Fantasy novels ranks about where smoking does among Christians. Only recently with The Lord of the Rings films do you see any breaks in this trend.

Why are most Christians against Mythopoeic writing and reading?

I think the confusion set's in when the Christian reading a book mistakes a worlds "Magic" with the "Divination,ect" practiced in our Reality.

In Elfland there are "good witches and bad witches." You find Harry Potter and Voldemort. You see Galadrial and Sauruman. How does the Christian in his mind understand the "Good Witch" in OZ. I think where the logic of Elfland (or our reality)starts falling apart is when you over think things. If you are in OZ, Glinda is the "Good Witch." If you transplant Glinda in Kansas, well who would she be? I don't know and neither do you.

I would say that Glinda the "Good Witch" is the marker for the all the powers of Good that are at work in our world. One thing is true Fantasy stories or the Mythopoeic are never morally ambiguous. The Evil Wizard is Evil, he is not Gray he is Black. The Good Witch or Wizard is always intrinsically Good. These stories about the classic struggle between Good and Evil, could help the Church out a great deal. If we will stop overthinking the Magic of Elfland.