Skip to main content

Fantasy, Hollywood and its Contender


The link between fantasy and Hollywood is absolute. Decade after decade West comes up with more films from the genre to add to their pile of classics. The credit for this lies in their rich heritage of fantasy literature. Authors from different ages have created worlds that are magical, fantastical, and magnificent beyond measure. These worlds have friendly beasts, historical magic schools, fellowships, and even scissorhands. There seems no end, which means it only gets better.
The credit for this diverse history of fantasy does not lie in just the hands of literature. In cinematography, the vision is of utmost importance. Not every novel that is a good read turns out to be a good watch, for example, Percy Jackson. The fantasy novel series has been a classic for years, yet when directors tried their luck and converted the books to movies, they failed. So, as a whole, both literature and cinema in the west have worked together to shape the genre of fantasy.

Hollywood and its contender

When compared with the other cinema giant, Bollywood, Hollywood shines. Just like Hollywood, Bollywood too has a considerable amount of picks in this genre, the only difference is in the quality. Bollywood fantasy films have suffered to find a place for fantasy in India. After numerous attempts, India still does not have a fantasy film that may have gathered global recognition. 
Part of this can be blamed upon the lack of fantasy literature in India. The monopoly over publication is not a new topic of discussion. The other reason behind this lagging genre is a mix between lazy screenwriting and unwillingness to experiment. 
Bollywood has, year after year, created films along the tried and tested route of cinematography. The unsuccessful fantasy films kept on piling up as filmmakers stuck to similar patterns and refused to experiment. Even when they tried creating a fantasy, they picked up cues from the West. As advanced as the West is, India is decades behind when it comes to cinema technology. Instead of picking up their willingness to experiment, Indian filmmakers copy plots, even direct films scene to scene from a Hollywood classic. 
It's very simple. Not everything that works in the west is bound to work here. The audience is different. The people of this country are different. India is a land of history, mystery, and traditions. There are a plethora of story ideas, myths, and legends to create fantasy after fantasy, that too of top quality. 

Fantasy, Hollywood and its Contender: Final Words

Many will say that fantasy will never find a home in Bollywood. I agree to disagree. Indian cinema has proved that it is capable of creating quality content through films and TV series like Tumbbad, Sacred Games, and Paatal Lok.
Hollywood has always had the advantage of having a strong literary fantasy background, making it a strong contender. The trek to reach quality fantasy content in India seems much too long, yet with a vision, willingness to experiment, and the right approach, it seems quite doable.

About the Author

Sharon is a full-time writer and part-time coffee tester and dog petter. She is often found reading fiction and obsessing over dogs. Sharon currently works as the content head at Binge Mad, a TV, Movies, and Books blog

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Indian Fantasy: Literature and Cinema

  In Indian literature, fantasy is often inspired by mythology. Generally, most fantasy novels are based on the rich Indian mythology. Take Amish Tripathi and his celebrated works as an example. Everything he has written falls under the category of fantasy and has been inspired by mythology. Thus it won’t be wrong to say that India has its own style of fantasy literature. Unlike dragons, witches and wizards, in Indian literature, we find war between different gods, Lok’s, and sometimes even different dimensions. As grand and expansive as the Indian mythology is, you’d think that the work Indian authors produce in the fantasy genre would be immense. Here I am to break that notion. Besides Amish Tripathi, there is no other author who has written fantasy novels and has received global recognition. To some extent, I find Midnight’s Children a fantasy as well, but this is where the quota ends. The lack of Indian fantasy novels is felt not just in the book stores filled with autobiograph
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Supernatural Is One Of The Best TV Shows

  If you don’t know what Supernatural is, you’re probably from another planet. Just kidding! But seriously though, the show aired back in 2005 and is now on its last, 15 th season. Someone who has been following them since the beginning, this year is turning out to be the worst one in a century. With Supernatural ending, oh, and the pandemic, it seems that an era is ending. The show, Supernatural began as a TV series in which two young men, who are brothers, did a few things like, and I quote, ‘Saving people, hunting things, the family business.’ A simple ghost here, a vampire’s nest there, that’s how things went for the first few seasons, and to be honest, it was fun to watch a pair of guys doing the shady yet brave work. But as the series progressed, there was a shift in the usual family business. When the show began, the two protagonists, Sam and Dean, got together to search for their father who did not come back from a hunt. Sam, in college and looking forward to a future in l
Post a Comment
Read more

Noir Through The Ages (or lack thereof)

If you’re hearing the word ‘noir’ for the first time, you are not alone. In the simplest of terms, noir is a style of writing. Whether it is a genre in itself is a topic of debate that is ongoing. Noir essentially comes from the German Expressionist cinematography. Its rise was seen during the Second World War years and came to be known as the ‘Classic Period’ of film-noir in America. Something that was seen commonly across noir cinema was a black-and-white style of visual, hardboiled crime fiction, and an influence of German cinematography. Films like ‘The Big Combo’, ‘Odd Man Out’, ‘The Third Man’ are some classic examples of noir during that age. - The Big Combo (1955) Noir through the ages After noir, which shone through the 1940s and 50s, came ‘neo-noir’. Movies like ‘Chinatown’ ‘Sin City’ ‘Blade Runner and ‘Memento’ fall in this category. The essential difference between noir and neo-noir is that neo-noir adopts the ques from the original noir style but is alte
Post a Comment
Read more