Like I said in an another post, in another thread that seems to have missed the whole point of the story, the Faraway land IS real. This is not a story about a dream or the fantasy of a dying boy. This is a fantasy story that does not obey the rules of our reality. Nor did Astrid Lindgren write in order to make a point or convey a message. She just created beautiful worlds (not escapes from our reality, but her own, different ones) and taught simple values that seem to be lacking from so many books and movies nowadays. (And Mio wasn't abused, for God's sake! He was just lonely and his adoptive parents didn't much care for him. This is not Oprah's show, for crying out loud!)
I think Tolkien put it best, when he challenged the ridiculous idea of suspension of disbelief, substituting it with the notion of subcreation, claiming that through his or her works, the artist "...makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is ‘true’: it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather, the art has failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from the outside".
Looks like we've forgotten how to enjoy tales and imagination is fast waning, too. Does everything have to be "real", explained in categorical tones, black and white?
Frankly, that diminishes the amazing works of one of the very best children's writers of all times.
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vaire_h
15 years ago
But for those who cannot see beyond the limitations of "realism" - if Mio/Bosse had frozen to death, they would've found him in the park and there wouldn't have been a message on the radio, saying that a boy had gone missing, would there?
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RonAltman
15 years ago
Dear Vaire,
You deny the entire concept of escapism? This is like denying reality, because it exists, our primary world is the basis of every venture we take.
If we take a trip into a secondary world, a fantasy world, we start out in reality. I think that a movie like MIO must hold up to a comparison, because it starts out in harsh reality. And the escape is a theme in the story, period.
Tolkien's stories start and end in the fantasy world, it doesn't mention the existence of another reality. It is its own reality.
But if a writer takes a step from reality into fantasy, he/she does so for a reason, and that is worth examining.
This has nothing to do with people unable to "enjoy" these trips/stories, with "waning imagination".
You also write: "She just created beautiful worlds". I cannot believe that a writer finds it satisfying to create such a world, without conveying a message, be it as simple as juxtaposing good and evil, like Tolkien.
My opinion.
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vaire_h
15 years ago
I do not deny the concept of escapism, I just strongly believe that stories (or at least, the well-created ones, as opposed to the scribbles produced by so many "writers" today) lead an existence of their own, which is separate from our reality. We, as human beings may start from our reality, but that is the whole point of the "subcreation" that Tolkien talks about - a writer is like a God creating his own world, in a way.
You said it yourself that Tolkien's world is its own reality. So is Mio's - in its reality, there exists a faraway land and it can be reached, even if you start from Stockholm:)
As for the "message" bit, that we are taught to look for in books(for shame!) this is what Astrid herself had to say about it:
"What message are you trying to put across with your books? What about a character like Pippi Longstocking? How can a children’s book author educate and influence young readers? What should a good children’s book be like?
To answer those questions, let me simply say that there AREN'T ANY MESSAGES in my books – not in Pippi or any other book. I write to amuse the child within me, and I can only hope that, in doing so, I might be able to amuse some other children as well. I can’t begin to answer what a good children’s book should be like (and why is it people never ask what a good adult book should be like?) My only guide-line when I write is “truthfulness” (in the artistic sense of the word).... As I’ve already said, I don’t consciously try to educate or influence the children who read my books. The only thing I would dare to hope for is that my books might make some small contribution towards a more caring, humane and democratic attitude in the children who read them. But even books that provide nothing more than pure reading pleasure is needed. “Thank you for brightening up a gloomy childhood” were the words on a scrap of paper an anonymous woman once pressed into my hand. That’s enough for me. If I’ve been able to brighten up even one gloomy childhood, then I’m satisfied."
Such a lovely human being; I remember how sad I was when she passed away, even if I'd never met her.
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RonAltman
15 years ago
Your Lindgren quote convinces me... thanks for discussing this!
Sometimes it seems we put meanings into stories that deviate from the author's intention.
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vaire_h
15 years ago
Yeah, we sometimes do that and I kinda blame the tendency in schools to always try and find the "message" and discuss what "the author wanted to say". There is a funny story how once a critic told Astrid Lindgren that Ronya, the Robber's Daughter was a religious book, because the robbers were twelve, like the apostles and that the forest was an allegory for the world. Astrid says he was so disappointed when she told him that such a thought had never crossed her mind:)
This being said, the good thing about stories is that while I can read one thing into a tale, you may see something else entirely and both of us will be equally right.
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ephemereality
15 years ago
One shouldn't maybe deny the subsconscious of the author though. I just wrote that Pippi was maybe a way for Astrid to put her own words into the feminism debate and it's interesting to note the second wave of feminism occured just a few years later after Pippi was published.
On the Swedish Wikipedia site about Pippi Astrid herself says "boys, boys, boys, but then there was as girl". For me as a child Pippi was empowering, she was the epitome of the tomboy and did what she wanted and showed that girls too can, something many previously didn't even consider as a possibility.
Pippi was even more emphasized through the dualism of Annika and Tommy, who were children who always did what they were told, and I also think this is important.
Even if Astrid's main goal was to tell a good story for children, one should never deny that she must have ideas with these stories, consciously or not. Pippi was a conscious movement from her part, she wanted to write a story about a strong girl who did what she wanted and really turned the world upside down while doing so, since it was inconceivable at that time for a girl to act out like that.
Of course, one can do an analysis of the author's true intent which may or may not be true. Regardless, I think it is say, stupid to overlook the fact that Pippi was a way for Astrid to show that girls can. She was born in a society where women were still heavily supressed in many ways, whether she was consciously trying to achieve it or not doesn't matter. I think it's too much of a coincidence, especially if you add the comment I read on the Wiki page.
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zeta1983-1
14 years ago
What the author writes reveals their subconscious and how we interpret it reveals ours. There can be no message but everyone will take away from it based on their own perceptions and biases.
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