Bittercon: It's so Magical to be Homeless! The Romance of Urban Fantasy

[intertext]

This is really a lot of open questions and food for thought than a fully developed thesis. It just struck me, in my - admittedly somewhat limited - experience of urban fantasy, that the "urban" in "urban" seemed to reflect a somewhat limited and romanticized view of the "street."

Just to put my thoughts into a context here, my exposure to urban fantasy rests mostly on Charles De Lint, most of whose works I have read, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly and Neil Gaiman, whose Neverwhere I include in the genre. I would, or could, also include Justine Larbalestier's "Magic" trilogy and there are one or two others that I have forgotten. Amongst Emma Bull's work, I have read and enjoyed both War for the Oaks and her and Will Shetterly's Borderland novels, and my comments and questions here relate to all of those.

Anyway, it seemed that among these works, there is a common sympathy for and interest in the marginal, the scruffy, the downtrodden. Not that this group is in any way undeserving of sympathy or interest, but it struck me that these works definitely downplay the disadvantages of life among the disadvantaged and - yes - romanticize life for the homeless and the income-deprived. What I wonder is, is this some intrinsic part of a greater literary tradition? Are the authors riffing on folk-tales, whose heroes, if not princesses, tend to be clever thieves, disadvantaged or displaced innocents and so on? In some ways, what I'm asking is whether in fact this is the opposite side of the "Fantasy of Manners" coin - Fantasy of Bohemian Manners?

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere is the only somewhat anomalous example - its hero, if I remember, is an average guy who gets lost in a strange alternate or parallel world. And as far as that goes, I guess it's not really "about" magic or fantasy in an every-day urban setting. Does anyone write about magic among the stockbrokers? Or ER, except with magic?

Anyway - that's my pitch. Any thoughts?

Comments

[squirrel-monkey.livejournal.com]

Part of it, I think, is the attempt to assuage the guilt of the affluent when faced with the homeless -- if we imbue them with magical powers, cast them as protectors of our comfortable existence, then we don't have to feel bad for them or DO anything about it.

At the same time, from a writer's POV, it IS convenient to have a character who can operate on the fringes of the society, who doesn't have a job to go back to and can be portrayed as free from mundane concerns of mortgage and money.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Yes, good points.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Also, people without magical powers generally don't end up in fantasy novels.

Strictly as a generalization. ;-)

[superfoo.livejournal.com]

This is what I was attempting to say once I fully understood the topic and I fully agree. I also think in "fantasy" settings, imbuing the underdogs with special capabilities is really interesting in promoting the 'everyone is special' ideal and a crafty way of dealing with issues of poverty in fantasy worlds. Many readers probably feel a bit drawn to the "underbelly" of society (aren't we all?) and authors capitalize on this fascination and draw from mythology and fairy tales to make this work.

It's interesting that fantastical creatures choose to masquerade to be "under the radar" but readers now (at least this is my case when I read a fantasy/fairytale and an unfortunate character shows up) suspect something magical must be up. Like the beautiful nymph masquerading as an old lady in The Wife of Bath's tale. Mainly the ugly/bum approaching more fortunate characters is, in a sense, crossing an established line between "rich" and "poor". And when the person lower on the "scale" has something to offer a person in a better social position - well that just raises a whole bunch of questions about the correlation between wealth and morality, innocence and experience, etc.

Ugliness, to me and probably others, adds a certain interest to a character. It's a really interesting way of playing with binaries.

Plus, rich, beautiful, perfect characters are boring . . . unless they have something to hide. And vice versa.

I hope this was more on-topic, because I am genuinely interested in this conversation.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Thanks :) yes - interesting points! You might like to wander over and read sartorias's panel on the hero and how not to make him/her a Mary Sue or whatever the male equivalent is. You'll find all the panels in the bittercon community.

[superfoo.livejournal.com]

Ohh I will check those out! Thanks! I've mentioned it a few times but the novel I am in the progress of planning/writing stars characters who work in the underbelly of a post-apocalyptic/post-plague society. So this is why my interest in this is particularly avid.