Today's ponderable

[swan_tower]

I'd like to talk about portal fantasies. Or rather, I'd like you to talk about them.

By that term, I mean the stories where people from this world go into another, more fantastical world. Narnia, for example. Once upon a time, these seem to have been more popular; now, not so much. And if I had to guess, I'd say that's at least in part because of the way a lot of them were transparent wish-fulfillment: Protagonist (who is an emotional stand-in for the author, though only in egregious cases a Mary Sue) goes to Magical Land where things are more colorful and interesting than in the real world. And maybe they stay there, maybe they don't.

Talk to me about the portal fantasies you've read. Which ones stick in your mind? What was your response to them, both as a kid and now? Which ones did the wish-fulfillment thing extra transparently, and how so?

(Yes, I actually have a special interest in the bad examples of this genre. In fact, if you approach this entire question as an academic curiosity of the structural sort paired with a authorly eye toward writing a deconstruction -- not a parody -- of the tropes, you'll be on the right track.)

Portal fantasies. Talk to me about 'em. Good, bad, ugly, laughably naive. What's your take?

Comments

[moonandserpent.livejournal.com]

One notorious example that I haven't seen reference to on here is Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series which is a classic of the D&D players go to a fantasy world, type. It's also interesting in that it's grim-n-gritty wish fulfillment. You get the sense that even though the characters are going through hell, that Rosenberg still really wishes this would have happened to his D&D game.

Also Rick Cook's The Wiz Biz where a computer programmer ends up in a fantasy world only to learn that magic there is a LOT like C++. It's played mostly for laughs and wins points for what happens when said programmer brings through his hardcore SCA buddies for help... only for the SCAdian weaponmasters to all get soundly trounced by the real weapons trainers of that world.

TV-wise, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention (the original) Life on Mars. LoM was about a modern cop who ended up taken to a 1970's past that may or may not have been a secondary world, the past, or a delusion. Notable (aside for being awesome) for having the process of the character trying to decide if it was wish-fulfillment or not.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Somebody mentioned Rosenberg upthread, but this has grown like kudzu and I can't even catch up with replies, let spare the time to search it out. :-)