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The Difference Between Urban Fantasy and Magical Realism
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- Опубліковано 13 сер 2024
- Is Urban Fantasy a Sub-genre of Magical Realism? Learn what each genre is and decide for yourselves if there is a difference at all. Hear both sides of the argument and choose a side.
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Urban fantasy existed way before Harry Potter. Check out the work of Charles de Lint and Emma Bull from the 80's. Especially the Borderlands stories and books. And you can easily argue that things like Dracula are urban fantasy, but the genre did get it's name in the 1980's.
Correct! Harry Potter put it on the map, more movies came out following the books and that genre kind of blew up after that. It's been an easy reference most people get to explain the difference in the genres. Thanks for sharing additional notes on the topic!
@@ChalkItUpEd Harry potter never put urban fantasy on the map and didnt really do anything for this genre cause its not really urban fantasy its real world magical school genre. it also is claimed by its fans to the be the pioneer of magic school genre and everything else that does magical boarding schools hidden from non magical humans trope is a rip off of harry potter when worst witch, book of magic and wheel of time and many other magic school books predate it by decades and they did all those tropes before it.
JK rowling took a lot of tropes from worst witch as much as she denies it why you think the author of wosrt witch sued her because of the ideas she stole from her and then denied ever reading or knowing what worst witch was when worst witch was a big british kids show in the 80s and 90s that jk rowling definetley would of had knowledge of and took alor of ideas from neil gaimes book of magic a black haired, green eyed boy with glasses and a pet owl who becomes a magician after he learns of his magical heritage, tropes in worst witch that jk rowling clearly copied = A magical school hidden from non magical humans with a magic veil. A potions teacher with black hair and wears all black who hates the main character but secretly likes them, the main character always stumbling upon mcguffin or always finds them selves stopping the enemy that saves the school. A blonde rival who makes the main characters life a misery at the school who is a much better naturally talented student than the main character, sports based around broom flying in worst witch its a sport in which you have to race to the end of the course beating others to throw a hoop on a pole. A best friend who is a book worm that the main character always gets in trouble.
four houses with four coresponding colours that students are sorted into. An invisibilty spell and a spell that transforms them into other people. Spells are said in rhymes in order to be cast, An order to establish and keep the rules of the magic schools all over the world exactly like the ministry of magic. Harry potter really did nothing new not to say its not a great book series i liked most of them and i love the first few video games and am looking forward to hogwarts legacy.
@@ChalkItUpEd Harry Potter is definitely not Urban Fantasy. The Dresden Files are Urban Fantasy. Harry Potter is just fantasy that happens to take place in the modern world, albeit the modern world is not really involved as much as the fantasy Hogwarts.
It's called Urban Fantasy because it's a fantasy that takes place in a modern city, a modern urban area. Harry Potter largely takes place in a school. And not a modern one at that.
heck Harry Potter wasn't the first urban fantasy with a wizard named Harry.
The concept has existed for maybe centuries, but only received a "proper name" in recent decades. Elsewhere I point out the example of the original Captain Marvel from the 1940's in which talking tigers and such interact with humans in real life cities, and no one seems much surprised by this (to the extent I know about).
I think a big difference is whether or not the magic has any origin or reason. There is a lot of explaining in urban fantasy, but magical realism is like, “it’s a thing, don’t waste your time with theories.” Bc a big part of magical realism is the theme that “sometimes good and bad stuff happens and you don’t get an explanation, you just have to deal with it,” which comes from its roots in Latin America.
Yes absolutely. In Magical Realism there's no reaction to the fantastical elements- they just exist, no explanation or backstory. We go over this in our Magical Realism specific video
Related to the mythos difference argument, I’m wondering if another difference is that magic realism doesn’t have an actual system to its magic. There’s no way to predict or explain why something happens unlike Harry Potter which has a set of rules for its magic.
Absolutely! Truthfully there's no magic like wizards and witches in Magical Realism. Only fantastical elements which seem normal to everyone else in the story.
A good example of Magical Realism is Penelope (2007). There's one magical element, but other than the quirky nature of the film the world is normal.
Yes! Great example! It would classify as Magical Realism if that one element of magic wasn't there. Since there is, it's considered fantasy. But, it's so close one could argue it is Magical Realism.
Rowling was so NOT the first.
The movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks was based on The Magic Bedknob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons (1943) and Bonfires and Broomsticks (1947) by English children's author Mary Norton.
Urban fantasy has been around a long time.
Thank you for this!!!
Oh my goodness! Of course! Thank you for watching!
I think an early version of magical realism would be the old original Captain Marvel Fawcett comic character, who lived and worked in real cities but had super-powers: All a small young boy had to do was say "shazam" and he became a powerful full-blown adult super-hero able to fly, move mountains etc, who interacted both with realistic human characters as well as talking tigers, and such. An ancient wizard had given him these powers, but no one really knew anything about that. I remember when I first encountered this character, who, for years greatly eclipsed Batman , Superman and pretty much every other super character in popularity back in the 40's/early 50's, I was intrigued by this peculiar mixture of the mundane/everyday and the extraordinary in such a nonchalant way: No one seemed to be surprised by the strangest goings-on: Some of the stories were set in real places, like Cleveland, Detroit, New York etc, and would feature stories that involved the actual majors, governors etc of these cities.
Note: Capt. Marvel's powers come from mythical/historical/ancient beings: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury, the first initials of which, together, spell "shazam".
(Btw, not to confuse this Capt. Marvel with the modern re-imagining of this character developed by Marvel comics.)
This explains so much! Thanks. I've been trying to understand what urban fantasy is.
Yay! So glad this could clear things up!
Anne Rice authored well over 30 novels, with her 1976 debut novel, Interview with the Vampire, acclaimed as one of the best-selling novels of all time. Ergo, she started the new genre of urban fantasy. Harry Potter series is classed as low fantasy.
Anne Rice yeah would be more fantasy/horror urban fantasy when it's set in modern times. She is a favorite other of our other team member. Harry Potter"s genre classification has been a big debate in the literary world for a long time and arguments have been made for different genres throughout the years. It's probably not the best example to use because of that, but it's a book many people have read so for a high school lesson it's helpful to use it as an example, with that warning of people don't agree on the genre BUT it could be classified as... Today, we believe you're right it is considered low fantasy which is a whole other video haha. Thanks for your additional notes it's always helpful!
People say magical realism is when the magic “is just accepted,” but that’s not really accurate. For example: people accept that Superman exists and flies and has magical powers but Superman is not “magical realism.”
Magical realism is where the magic itself is “realistic” vs “fantastical.”
So… if a witch in urban fantasy casts a growth spell on a tree- it will grow in front of your eyes. If a witch casts a spell in a magical realism story for growth on a tree, someone will check it every day and be amazed by its growth.
Also a witch in a magical realism story will probably look like a normal person but maybe have a distinctive style (like Stevie Nicks as an example) but not necessarily. However, she’ll be dressed “realistically” for the most part.
I've been wanting to write action horror like Supernatural,Hellboy, and Trese. I've been wondering what genre would it classify it as.
Depends on whether your setting is fictional or nonfiction. Action Horror is totally an viable definition for a genre. Hellboy can be classified as an Urban Fantasy or an Action Horror. There's a tons of genres those can fall into. I'd narrow it down based on your own storyline.
@@ChalkItUpEd Maybe a alternate history. A modern world where people know the supernatural exists, but most people either don't see it or deny it.
@@zionleach3001 that sounds like Magical Realism 100% love that concept
Genre definitions are for reviewers and publishers to worry about. As you say they had to create a new definition for Harry Potter. Neither JKR or her readers care about that.
Love the video, so many valuable insights to ponder
Thank you!
The concept, the idea, is an ancient one. Only the name is recent.
Very interesting theories about this subject. I never could get to the bottom of the Urban Fantasy genre so thanks for clarifying it. I wonder whether the debate about what constitutes this or that genre in this regard is more about what is considered real literature and what is not. Maybe Harry Potter wasn't considered serious literature at the time and so they came up with Urban Fantasy to distinguish it from the likes of Marquez, Angela Carter or Rushdie.
Ooo what a great theory. That would make a lot of sense.
Nice!
Urban Fantasy is a fantasy world set in a world that has similarities to modern world but has elves, drawves, dragons and magic sorcerors and demons and vampires and mythoglogical gods, for example final fantasy 7, 13, 15 and devil may cry,shadow run, mortal kombat, Hell boy. The thing most people confuse with urban fantasy is paranormal real world fiction which is a a real world with supernatural themes like supernatural show, buffy, vampire diaries. Harry potter never invented urban fantasy theres entire urban fantasy books, games, movies and anime and shows that predate the harry potter series by decades.
As a Literature Major VERY interested in Fantasy, I'm sick and tired of people telling me that I'll love magical realism. Magical realism doesn't make any sense to me. It's so wildly different than any other kind of fantasy, and it legitimately irritates me so much when people assume that just because I enjoy fantasy, it therefore means I'll enjoy what I consider a VERY niche kind of genre
Makes perfect sense. Fantasy so very different from Magical Realism.
This is a convoluted explanation. The big difference is in intent and how the authors handle the magical system.
Like boring literary fiction, Magical realism focuses on character and society, using fantastic elements to illustrate something about a character or society. For instance, consider what Franz Kafka's *The Metamorphasis* reveals about middle-class society, which is all about conformity. That book's MC transforms into a giant beetle. Middle-class society has the man's family mistreat him: they hide him away, ashamed, and after he dies, carry on immediately as if nothing happens.
How and why the main character transforms into a beetle is irrelevant. Kafka does not care. There is magic, but characters don't exploit the system to their advantage. Instead, the magic just happens, revealing something about individuality, society, and conformity.
Contrast that with Jim Butcher's urban fantasy classic series *The Dresden Files,* where the mage Harry Dresden runs around Chicago fighting villains that would fit into Tolkein's middle earth. These are pure fun: great page-turning pulp fiction. In the books, the magician Harry has a cell phone... and a talking skull with immense knowledge of the magical realms. He drives a VW... into fairyland to fight evil sprites. And the spells he casts have a system behind them which he consciously exploits to win in battle.
The books are fun. There's a lot of action. Good plotting. And Harry's funny, snarky and sarcastic, a pretty well-developed character. And yet, unlike *The Mteamorphasis,* Butcher's books make me think of nothing outside the book. Instead, I turn a page to learn"What's next?." But instead of thinking about society and individuality, I'm contained within the pages of the book.
Other contrasts: Alice Siebold's magical realist *The Lovely Bones,* versus Patricia Briggs's urban fantasy series *Mercy Thompson* books. Both are great reads, but *The Lovely Bones* is just so much better. In fact, it's heartbreaking, telling so much about sexual abuse, and it;s aftermath, killing the victim's soul. indeed, it also kills the perps soul as well.
With Briggs, it's all werewolves, vampires, mythical creatures and adventure.
What if you wrote a book set in the modern world where everybody overnight turned into some sort of a fantasy creature (elves, orcs, dwarves, halflings, etc.) and now everybody is trying to go about their everyday lives in their new bodies while trying to deal with the chaos of this massive Event via social media, reactions from their friends, co-workers and potential discrimination and other issues developing among the new races (like the dwarves' bodies now being unsuitable to driving a car, or orcs being to big to fit into one). Would that theme be a mix of magical realism and urban fantasy or would it lean more into a specific genre of the two?
@@Nightraven26 Depends. There's no answer. Instead, I pose questions.
Is your intent escapism or a serious exploration of the human condition? Will you paper over the psychological, political, and societal conditions you expose and focus on the game-like action of the Event, or expose the divots?
It also depends on how deep and nuanced your understanding of those divots in our collective psychological. social and political world are. Are they deep... like say, *Bojack Horseman* was? Or are they just creepy fun... like, say, *American Horror Story?*
I loved both, but for different reasons.
These are the sorts of questions that make the difference. It's the difference between the magical realist *The Lovely Bones,* which dissects rape and guilt and their impact on victims, their families, and the perps, and a fun (if ultimately meaningless and escapist) urban fantasy *Good Omens...* another case of loving both, but for different reasons.
Urban fantasy goes back to the 80s at least.
Sort of, yes. Even though there were stories that could classify as urban fantasy before the term was used, the term "urban fantasy" began to present itself in the literary world in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
@@ChalkItUpEd still a good deal away from HP. Also, that simply goes to show that, occasionally, genres ate codified before a common name is given to them. There is also a sizable overlap between Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance (see Anita Blake, Smokies Stackhouse, and _War for the Oaks)
@@davidlfort not too far. The first Harry Potter book came out in 1997 and around that time Urban Fantasy went from a term used to a popular term, that's what we meant in the video. It's an easy reference for high school students to get so it's why we originally used HP as the main example since this is geared toward high school. However, our video was made before all the J.K. Rowling controversy. Maybe it's time to do a new video? We appreciate your help clarifying this.
Years later. The difference between 1990 and 1997 is the difference between sixth grade and graduation. Few years for those of us still kicking since then, but a huge cultural shift. The difference between the first year of Trump and the (possibly) last year of Biden.
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