The Dragons have looked at rivalries and snobberies between different genres in previous episodes - it's endemic and baked in to the creation of literature. But they've never fully tackled the 'mythology' that has specifically risen around writing fantasy. This week Jules and Madeleine delve into how these strange and often nonsensical pieces of 'wisdom' came about, and why they stalk the genre to the extent that some fantasy writers deny they write fantasy even now. Does fantasy engage with important themes? Does it have value beyond mere entertainment? Can it cause the reader to lose their ability to tell between reality and fantasy? The dragons tackle all this and more. On the slab this week - Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 200: The F-word Revisited - Faeries in Urban Fantasy
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 199: Troubled, Dead or MIA - Parent-child Relationships in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 198: Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey - Time Travel in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 197: The Trouble with the Victorians - How a Single Era Influenced Our Opinions
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 196: Tale as Old as Time - Why Fairytales Endure
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 195: Key & Codex - Secret Societies in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 194: Creaky Floorboards & Locked Doors - Learning Tension and Suspense from Gothic Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 193: Tragic Heroes and Unexpected Children - More Tropes We Love in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 192: Fitted Breastplates & Feminine Mystique - Sexist Absurdities in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 191: It's Harder that You Think - Writing Sex Scenes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 190: Art and Artifice - What Jane Austen has to say to a Modern Readership
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 189: Last One Alive - Final Girl Tropes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 188: I'm Not Gay, I'm Just Evil - The Queer Coded Villain Trope in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 187: Designer Flu & Superhumans - The Conspiracy Theory Trope in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 186: Going Through Changes - Shapeshifters in Myth and Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 185: This is Not Forgiveness - Redemption Arcs in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 184: Auguries and Omens - Bird Symbolism in Myth and Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 183: The Future We Deserve? - Learning Hope From Science Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 182: Full Immersion Fantasy - the Appeal of RPG
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 181: Of Their Time - the Changing Faces of Diversity and Prejudice in Speculative Fiction
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