fantasy fiction and religion

by Travis

From a USA Today article on Del Toro:

“I’m interested in monsters because, much like archangels and angels, they represent a portion of the human soul.”
“In adult movies, R-rated movies, monsters can signify many different things,” says del Toro. “But in the (PG-13) Hellboy mythology, they symbolize our imperfections and how we can embrace them. If we were more eager and willing to accept otherness, things would be better between people.” . . .
“I’m eager to explore themes that lend themselves easily to metaphor,” he says. “The fantastic is the only tool we have nowadays to explain spirituality to a generation that refuses to believe in dogma or religion. Superhero movies create a kind of mythology. Creature movies, horror movies, create at least a belief in something beyond.”  (HT to The Fire and the Rose)

Del Toro’s an interesting character on this subject.  As a “lapsed Catholic,” he turned down The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardobe, because he couldn’t see himself bringing Aslan back from the dead.

Thoughts on this quote?  Has fantasy become more popular because the concept of religion has become culturally taboo as a means of expressing a sense of the sacred?

{ 86 comments }