Classical Genre [Tuesday, 1st Period]

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As the class entered the classroom, Rick gestured in the direction of the customary coffee and pastries, waiting for them to collect their caffeine and sugar before starting to talk.

"Morning kids," he said cheerfully, sipping from his own much. "Since we're looking at fantasy literature next week, I'll save most of my talking for then and keep things simple this week."

"Now, like sci-fi, you can have the same problems with defining what actually constitutes a fantasy work because it simply encompasses so much. Even before we get to the doorstopper novels that most people think of when you say the word, we're talking myth, legend, folklore, fairy tales, thousands of years of human creative endeavour. However, general rule of thumb goes that the story contains fantastic elements in an internally consistent and coherent framework, along with themes of inspiration from mythology and folklore. If you've got that, you can pretty much go wild."

"What this means today is that in addition to the usual talking about what you watched, I also want you guys to talk about what you think of when you hear the word fantasy in relation to a story. Tropes, elements, character types, the whole shebang."

"Now, onto the films. A lot of western fantasy films tend to fall into either the high fantasy or sword and sorcery subgenres. So you've got a lot of epic battles between good and evil, or swashbuckling heroics in search of treasure and glory. All taking place in distant, far-off lands, after all, there's a reason that half of your lists were shot in New Zealand, though Australia is now getting a look in with Passage of the Dusk Strider." Rick continued on in this vein for a while.

Finally, he pointed at a random student. "Enough from me, your turn."

[OOC: OCD up.]

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Comments

Sign In - CG [Week 4]

[cuff-me-once.livejournal.com]

Fantastically!

Listen to the Lecture - CG [Week 4]

[cuff-me-once.livejournal.com]

He does love the sound of his own voice our Rick.

Class Discussion - CG [Week 4]

[cuff-me-once.livejournal.com]

What you watched, what you thought about it.

Also what do you think about when hear the word fantasy?

Talk to Rick - CG [Week 4]

[cuff-me-once.livejournal.com]

He's here, and paying attention to the class rather than checking his email.

Talk to the TA - CG [Week 4]

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After she pings in.

OOC - CG [Week 4]

[cuff-me-once.livejournal.com]

Because the end of the world is one of the things you can't fix by buying a pony.