The Mainstreaming of Fantasy

There used to be a bit of a social stigma to say you were interested in fantasy fiction.  When I was in junior high and high school, you weren't likely to admit you were into Dungeons and Dragons or loved The Hobbit unless you had a reason to believe the people you were talking to shared your view.

It seems that fantasy has lost that stigma. Maybe it can even be called mainstream now. 

This is probably partly due to the overall "normalization" of all kinds of geek culture, from video games (personally I never saw any stigma attached to video games - everyone played them, geek or no), to Star Trek and Star Wars, to superheroes.

But there are two people who I think were particularly important in gaining mainstream acceptance for fantasy.

Peter Jackson - his beautifully crafted Lord of the Rings movies were huge hits and were watched by millions of people who would never have read the books. And, importantly, the production values and attention to details were there so as to satisfy hardcore fans of the books as well.

George RR Martin - well, maybe this should be GRRM and HBO. I remember reading Martin's blog and seeing him rave about the HBO series "Rome", and wishing A Song if Fire and Ice could get the same treatment. Well, it did, and has become a massive hit and cultural touchstone.  As a friend once said to me, "I never thought I would watch a fantasy show, but it's like "the West Wing" with swords and armor.

So I would like to say thank you to these two, and the thousands who helped them, for helping to make my favorite genre fair game for party conversation.

Who else do you think deserves credit?