Talk:Fantasy film

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Fantasy film article.
This is not a forum for general discussion about the article's subject.
Article policies
This article is part of WikiProject Films, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to films and film characters on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start
This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.
High
This article has been rated as High-Importance on the importance scale.

Contents

[edit] Older topics

I dispute that "The Green Mile" is not an example of a fantasy film. John Coffey's unique abiliites aside, the film and story as a whole just don't belong in this catagory. If there is no opposition, I will remove it.---Jackel 21:45, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I assume the double negative in the comment above is unintentional.

I've removed the following paragraph from the article, and want to explain why:

"More specifically, the requirements for a fantasy film can be considered to be:

  1. That magic be involved in some significant way.
  2. That a good deal of the film takes place in a setting apart from the ordinary and mundane world. Often, magic defines this setting. An historical setting (especially medieval) can also fulfill this requirement."

These "requirements" seem unnecessarily stringent, since they exclude excelent fantasy films with contemporary settings, such as "The Circus of Dr. Lao" and "The Indian in the Cupbord". Even magic does not seem to me to be a "requirement", unless your definition of magic is very broad. I might agree if you spelled it "magick". - Rick Norwood



"The final Lord of the Rings film, The Return of the King, was the first sci-fi, fantasy, or horror film to win an Oscar for Best Picture." ...Since Return of the King was neither sci-fi, nor horror, I'm having a hard time figuring out why we should consider it the first movie from either of those categories to win Best Picture. You could just as well say "Return of the King was the first sci-fi, fantasy, horror, slapstick buddy comedy, or direct-to-video adult film to win an Oscar for Best Picture." It IS the first fantasy film to win BP. Why not just say THAT?

Becasue sci-fi, fantasy, and horror are closely related genres, and buddy comedies are not closely related to fantasy. Rick Norwood 14:00, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fairsing edit

Good edit, Fairsing. Rick Norwood 20:17, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, there's some more to do cleanup-wise but basically the info in the article was solid to begin with. I'll probably put a little more work into the History section. Fairsing 22:12, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Draxiar Edit

Hello, I'm new here but I would like to add to the already comprehensive list of fantasy movies here. "The Mists of Avalon" from 2001. This was made for TV (TNT) and not released in theatres but I feel it is an excellent example of the fantasy genre. Also, "Prince Valiant" from 1954 was actually one of the movies that inspired me as a kid and set me down the path of embracing fantasy. So too was it with "The Vikings". Although it is really more of a historical fiction film, it could also be considered by some to be a fantsy film given the setting and feel.Draxiar 00:22, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I would also potentially add several "made for TV movies" such as Merlin, Jason and the Argonaughts, Joan of Arc, Lephrechaun, Jack, and any other of this kind. Enigmatical 00:53, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
I'll see your bet and raise you two new WP articles! Specifically, I've been annoyed myself that there wasn't any place to put information on fantasy television (unlike, say science fiction TV where there are several articles). So, I've gone ahead and created two new articles:
The latter "List" article has a heading for miniseries / made for TV movies, so you can properly list them there instead of on the Fantasy film article, which can be kept to the scope of fantasy film. This parallels the structure for Sci-Fi, where the film and TV articles are separate. Enjoy! Fairsing 05:13, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Good work, Fairsing. Rick Norwood 13:51, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I'm not a wikipedia expert but...

should we merge or separate the lists from Fantasy film and List of Fantasy films? I mean I was racking my head trying to think of all the films they were missing, then I noticed the list link at the bottom, and wondered why we were trying to start a list of movies on this page. Or am I missing some sort of more specific point? Vom 07:57, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Historically, the article Fantasy film listed only the most important fantasy films, and the article List of fantasy films tried to list all of them. However, as time went on, more and more fantasy films were added to the list here. My inclination is to 1) prune the list here and 2) put at the top of the list a "main article, list of fantasy films" tag. But I don't want to start a big fuss over which films are major and which films are minor. Rick Norwood 12:58, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
Vom, you raise a very good point. I think I agree with Rick Norwood. There might indeed be some fuss about which are major and which are minor, but of course this happens all the time in Wikipedia, and the process of generating consensus around this is, well, part of the process. So, I'd agree that many of the films listed here in the 1980s and onwards should be moved to the List article and just the most notable ones kept here. Fairsing 13:55, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Okay, if there are no objections, I'll move the link of the big list to the beginning of the History section and state that here are only some landmarks. Then I'll start shuffling some off to the other list. That should do the trick I think. Vom 07:44, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fritz the cat

I don't know this film except how others have described it to me. As far as I've heard, there aren't any fantasy elements in the movie. I guess in the sense that it features talking animals it might be considered that way, but as the article describes that alone doesn't usually qualify a film as fantasy. Otherwise, we'd have to include basically all animated films with talking animals. Thoughts? Fairsing 13:59, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

I added Fritz the Cat just in trying to show the fantasy of the seventies, which someone wrote that fantasy was all but missing from the decade, but I was a young lad then and it seemed as if fantasy was all the post-hippy rage, what the red-capped gnome fad, Smurfs, the Book of Faeries, D&D and whatnot. So I rewrote the stuff about saying the 70s really whetted the appetites of the fantasy to come.
BUT - I fully expect most stuff I add to Wikipedia to be edited away by those that know far more that I, and I only added it cos the talking pig movies were on the "Master" List of Fantasy Films. Vom 07:40, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
I have seen Fritz the Cat. Of course, I was stoned at the time, so my opinion may not be objective. Seemed totally realistic non-fantasy to me. Rick Norwood 15:15, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I've got a little list

I've put back a few films, and added one.

The Black Cauldron isn't that good a film, but it is based on one of the great fantasy series.

The Indian in the Cupbord isn't great, but is an unusual example of contemporary urban fantasy.

Holes is simply a great fantasy film. It isn't the big budget spectacular of others on the list, but its intelligence and originality are exceptional.

Nanny McPhee I have mixed feelings about, but it certainly had some very good parts, as the Bishop said of the egg.

If anyone disagrees, then take off everything mentioned above except Holes and I won't object.

I'm going to do a little pruing myself, now, but if I remove one of your favorites, feel free to put it back. Rick Norwood 15:32, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

I agree with keeping in Black Cauldron for the reason stated. The others I am neutral about, although I am skeptical on Nanny McPhee (haven't seen it, haven't heard much about it being outstanding in any particular way). Fairsing 15:46, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Holes as a fantasy film? I didn't read the book, but I saw the movie once and correct me but nothing fantastic or magical happened, just alot of Macgyver-like far-fetchedness. But feel free to point out any fantasy elements I don't remember. I admit it was commercially successful, which I suppose is sort of what this list is about--the more famous fantasy films.
Also, though nothing magical happened in The 13th Warrior, I think we should slant towards Sword & Sorcery stuff, because that's what most people think of when they hear the word "fantasy," so I'll add it back to the list cos it's a fave, and it has Norse language and was the first decently budgeted swordplay movie to come along in over a decade, at the time. It wasn't successful at the box office, but has since gained a cult following. It's also loosely based on Beowulf (2007 film), another movie coming out soon which I cannot wait to see; though, and I don't want to be snobbish, but I am no Neil Gaiman fan. Vom 17:29, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Holes is the story of a curse, which come true in improbable and surprising ways. It reminds me a lot of the Half Magic series by Edward Eager.

If you really love 13th Warrior, go for it, and see what happens.

Don't like Neil Gaiman! You must be one of a kind! Rick Norwood 19:20, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../f/a/n/Talk%7EFantasy_film_894f.html"