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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8320132" data-attributes="member: 42582">I'm not sure if you're inviting original thoughts, or wanting links to other sources. If the latter, apologies and I can come back and sblock this post.About a decade ago now I had to speak at the philosophy and film club associated with a British philosophy department. I was struck that the convenor of the club asserted, without argument, that a film that celebrates or valorises wrongful conduct cannot be an artistically great film. I disagreed then and I still do.I also think it is possible to admire the ideas and work of someone without admiring everything about them. I admire philosophers such as Wittgenstein, Frege and Anscombe without admiring all of their beliefs. My (one-sided!) relationship to George Orwell is complicated, and I don't just read it off my views about his political views.I think this generalises to fantasy. Fantasy can be entertaining, engaging, and emotionally compelling although it is deeply flawed in the world it presents or the perspective it adopts. For example, one doesn't have to be a romantic, or a royalist, to be moved by JRRT's story of Aragorn. In another recent thread I mentioned that JRRT's treatment of The Shire tells us nothing about relations of production; and Sam never seems to wonder why he has to address Frodo as "Mister Frodo" while the courtesy is not returned; but that doesn't mean a reader can't be moved by this tale of companionship, or feel Sam's sorrow when Frodo departs Middle Earth at The Havens.Everyone of course has their boundaries, although sometimes these can be surprising: I remember many years ago now watching the film Das Boot at the cinema and being surprised how easily I was drawn into this tail of submariners waging the U-Boat war against Allied shipping.I'm therefore hesitant to be too quickly judgemental about the tastes and boundaries of others. But I would find someone who can't identify connections, or denies connections - of trope, theme, etc - between fantasy storytelling and the real world to be most likely rather ignorant, or rather mischievous.</blockquote>

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