Sword and Sorcery
There are other Sword & Sorcery lists on here but they are rather broad and, while the mix of mythological fantasy, High/Epic Fantasy and S&S would appeal to a broadly similar audience it does get away from the core of S&S. Before I define it, it is worth taking a look at High or Epic Fantasy as S&S was partly defined (a long time after its pulpy origins, partly inspired by Swords and Planet epics by luminaries like Edgar Rice Burroughs, unfortunately S&P films are thin on the ground) in opposition to its fancy pants (often literally) cousin.
High/Epic Fantasy tend to take place in imaginary land where a young soul receives a call to adventure. He is guided by an ancient mentor and aided by a motley band of adventurers in his quest which usually requires him to gain more allies and receive special powers/weapon as the adventure is ramped up from the smallest scale to the point he is battling that fictional universe's ultimate Bad Guy. This is clearly the plot of Lord of the Rings but, crucially, this is also the plot for Star Wars and many other films. That isn't a coincidence because, as described in The Writer's Journey, they tend follow the Hero's Journey myth structure that Joseph Campbell helped popularise.
And it is no coincidence that I've name-checked Star Wars here because it's huge success not only led to whole hosts of sci-fi rip-offs but people also looked into cloning its success in other genres. As Star Wars is science fantasy (again showing its pulp origins, compare that with the hard science-fiction of 2001 from Arthur C. Clarke one of the pillars of the Golden Age of Science Fiction, which brought in a more realistic, science-based take on what was previously a wild and wacky, but fun, genre) it shouldn't be a surprise that the canny cash-in merchants turned their eyes to fantasy. Epic Fantasy does often need a big budget (see Peter Jackson's Tolkein trilogies) there is a black sheep in the family who doesn't need such big cash commitments. In fact the Science Fiction encyclopedia states that Star Wars "arguably owes as much to sword and sorcery as it does to sf."
Sword and Sorcery stories are also set in an imaginary land but, in contrast, tend to feature an adult anti-hero (they may be a better person than their opposition but they may be more morally grey - think Han Solo more than Luke Skywalker) battling some kind of evil wizard or lord in adventures that, while often impressive, tend not to be on the same scale as Epic Fantasy (the difference in the names is a clue too).
The term itself emerged from a discussion between Fritz Lieber and Michael Moorcock, who both helped revitalise S&S fiction in the 50s and 60s, respectively. Moorcock was looking for a term to sumarise the kind of stories written by Robert E. Howard and those whowere inspired by him. According to the Science Fiction encyclopedia:
http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/sword_and_sorcery
See also
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls033658314 Star Wars rip-off
High/Epic Fantasy tend to take place in imaginary land where a young soul receives a call to adventure. He is guided by an ancient mentor and aided by a motley band of adventurers in his quest which usually requires him to gain more allies and receive special powers/weapon as the adventure is ramped up from the smallest scale to the point he is battling that fictional universe's ultimate Bad Guy. This is clearly the plot of Lord of the Rings but, crucially, this is also the plot for Star Wars and many other films. That isn't a coincidence because, as described in The Writer's Journey, they tend follow the Hero's Journey myth structure that Joseph Campbell helped popularise.
And it is no coincidence that I've name-checked Star Wars here because it's huge success not only led to whole hosts of sci-fi rip-offs but people also looked into cloning its success in other genres. As Star Wars is science fantasy (again showing its pulp origins, compare that with the hard science-fiction of 2001 from Arthur C. Clarke one of the pillars of the Golden Age of Science Fiction, which brought in a more realistic, science-based take on what was previously a wild and wacky, but fun, genre) it shouldn't be a surprise that the canny cash-in merchants turned their eyes to fantasy. Epic Fantasy does often need a big budget (see Peter Jackson's Tolkein trilogies) there is a black sheep in the family who doesn't need such big cash commitments. In fact the Science Fiction encyclopedia states that Star Wars "arguably owes as much to sword and sorcery as it does to sf."
Sword and Sorcery stories are also set in an imaginary land but, in contrast, tend to feature an adult anti-hero (they may be a better person than their opposition but they may be more morally grey - think Han Solo more than Luke Skywalker) battling some kind of evil wizard or lord in adventures that, while often impressive, tend not to be on the same scale as Epic Fantasy (the difference in the names is a clue too).
The term itself emerged from a discussion between Fritz Lieber and Michael Moorcock, who both helped revitalise S&S fiction in the 50s and 60s, respectively. Moorcock was looking for a term to sumarise the kind of stories written by Robert E. Howard and those whowere inspired by him. According to the Science Fiction encyclopedia:
This term – describing a subgenre of Fantasy embracing adventures with swordplay and Magic – is usually attributed to Fritz Leiber, who is said to have coined it in 1960 in response to Michael Moorcock's request for such a capsule description; but the kind of story it refers to is much older than that. (Other terms that overlap with "sword-and-sorcery" are Heroic Fantasy and Science Fantasy, the overlap being considerable in the former case, but all three terms have different nuances. See also Science and Sorcery.) Earlier terms with similar meaning are "weird fantasy" and "fantastic romance".
Leiber was a member of the Hyborian League, a fan group, founded in 1956 to preserve the memory of the pulp writer Robert E Howard, to which many professional writers belonged; the group's Fanzine was Amra. The members believed that Howard founded the sword-and-sorcery genre with his stories in Weird Tales, especially the Conan series of swashbuckling, romantic fantasies, beginning with "The Phoenix on the Sword" (December 1932 Weird Tales), set in Earth's imaginary past, and featuring a mighty swordsman, violently amorous, who often confronted supernatural forces of Evil.
...
there is no denying the colour and vigour of Howard's work. The essential, new element which Howard brought to the genre was the emphasis on brutal, heroic ambition in the Hero, who is seen ... quite without irony, as simply admirable.
http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/sword_and_sorcery
See also
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls033658314 Star Wars rip-off
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