Case Study: TeSi Fantasy Writers

[Juan E. Sandoval]

This is just one of many possible (brief) case studies which will take a slice of the database and look at correlations, specifically within a given development level. This one will be focused on TeSi ll-- Unseelie Males and their over-representation as filmmakers/fantasy authors.

TeSi ll-- Gene Roddenberry

Known for: Star Trek, Star Trek: Next Generation

TeSi ll-- George Lucas

Known for: Star Wars - Episodes 1-6

TeSi ll-- James Cameron

Known for: Avatar, Terminator 1-2-3, Aliens, Alita Battle Angel, etc

TeSi ll-- J.R.R. Tolkien

Known for: The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, etc

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The above four men alone are responsible for an enormous chunk of our geekdom in the 20th/21st century. All of their greatest works share overlap in subject matter, including a Sci-Fi focus, with Star Trek and Star Wars in particular, but films like Alien and Avatar are of the same domain. And while it may appear erroneous to include Tolkien in this admixture, I believe he's of the same kind, but just in a different genre of fantasy.

Technocracy

All of these men are vast world-builders, focused on making "real" an unreal situation. There is a focus on either high-fantasy, or science-fiction, and yet the world is taken seriously/practically as an exploration of the human experience when faced with different technocratic circumstances. I'd like to share with you guys an eerie video of two twin shades resonating with each other:

It's as though they were identical brothers, it really blows me away. We see in the above discussion that James Cameron and George Lucas, being twin shades, share the same interests but also for the same reasons. They are, like other high Je+Pi authors (i.e. Frank Herbert / George R.R. Martin) exploring the question of "what happens" in a narrative sense (Pi) when we apply a certain kind of sociopolitical structure (Je) on human beings.
Except the way these men handle the question of human nature is through the Delta quadrant. Unlike Herbert/Martin, these men interweave fanciful ideas into their works in order to broaden, and also explore, the implications of human nature in said fictional conditions. One could say sci-fi is storytelling of a hypothetical sort, to reveal humanity in yet-unseen circumstances which we may need to face in the future.
In this sense, the narrativism of Te+Si authors appears to have Pi caution involved as well, since it represents the problems and dilemmas of "what do we do, as a society, with a technocratic future?" The Delta Conductor types here are channeling ethereal Ne+Fi imagination (not forgetting that they do possess the functions, even if not fully conscious) as they paint this story for the audience. They are Ne hypotheses funneled through a Te engineering/logistical vantage point.
Even Tolkien, in addressing a high-fantasy genre, interwove these elements in-- as he discussed his depiction of Isengard as emblematic of the machinery of the industrial revolution, and how it's handled by our society. The same story is repeated by Cameron in Avatar with the humans tearing down trees (as did Saruman who had a "mind of metal") to expand empires. Both dramatize the consequences of this.

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What I take away from this case study is that it is not only the Fe+Ni types that are looking at society and formulating political commentary on the human condition. Indeed, each quadra does this in a different way. And it appears to be the Je+Pi combination that does this sort of social narrative-tracking, and the Delta Conductors excel at dramatizing this in creative and fanciful ways.
What do you guys think of these four men?
Are you fans of their work?
What do their works represent to you, and what do you think it represents for our culture?

[Rua]

I can't help but notice you mercifully excluded Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III for George up there. That brought me a good deal of mirth and I thank you for that.
But, on a more serious note, I thought the video of George and James talking to each other was great, and really helped drive home your key points. Tbh, the only works of these men that really resonate with me would be Tolkien's LotR and The Hobbit (and the Hobbit more so for its brevity and charm), and Lucas' Star Wars Episode IV (which I find to be a masterfully executed story). Episode V is an excellent movie but I think it lacks in the sort of archetypal truth one finds in IV. And VI is pretty good too. Star Trek I have very little knowledge of.
I personally felt that Cameron's Avatar failed to make any kind of nuanced point, instead contenting itself largely with rehashing American history: Colonists = Bad, Native Americans = Good, with state-of-the-art-visuals designed for massive box-office gross. And I should be clear that I would never want to get away from the fact that what happened to the Native Americans was a legitimate tragedy whose ramifications are still felt in the present day. But also, if we're being honest about history, European-exclusive diseases were largely responsible for the horrific death toll that colonial forces imposed on Native Americans, and not large-scale military campaigns designed for economic gain as depicted in Avatar. And it even seems to me that the focus in Avatar on material wealth and exploitation of resources/Nature truly undercuts the far more horrific cultural genocide strategically perpetuated by the U.S. Government and by constitutionalized governments around the world as they encounter their own native populations and treat them with the same heavy-handedness the uninformed attribute uniquely to America. One has only to examine the workings of present-day Brazil to understand my point.
Last point regarding the video above: James Cameron analogizing the 'good guy rebels' of Star Wars with Al Qaeda I think is wildly irresponsible. Cameron's initial analogy to "mujahedin" is sensible enough, and George's analogy to the Viet Cong makes logical sense to me as well, but James equating the 'good rebels' one finds depicted in Star Wars with Al Qaeda's shockingly violent religious fundamentalists, men who primarily terrorize and enslave their own populations, I think is so off-base from reality it's disturbing to me.
Oh yes! And this thread reminded me of a trend I have noticed many examples for, and could likely be a thread of its own: FeSi II-- (and SiFe II--) Fitness Gurus/Instructors.

[marcus aurelius]

From this list, I'm only familiar with Cameron's Avatar, the Star Wars franchise, and Tolkien's works, which I'll discuss in increasing order of how much I like them.
I hold great disdain for Cameron's Avatar for similar reasons to @Rondo, the sloppy and shallow thinking that it represents, and also because it's boring as sin.
I've always found Star Wars to be mediocre, honestly. It's entertaining and all that, and I like some of the ideas of the Sith vs Jedi theme, but I've never watched a Star Wars movie and been really blown away. I've been told that the extended universe is better, but I haven't read any of it so I can't speak on that.
I recently finished reading The Silmarillion for the first time and I'm still in awe, so that's how I feel about Tolkien. The world-building is immense and delightful, and a few of the subplots almost made me cry. Tolkien really understands the human condition on a broad scale; cultures and nations rise and fall, decisions have effects that linger for generations, and people find small ways to make their lives tolerable even in atrocious circumstances. It's crazy to me that Tolkien started writing this massive legendarium, with bloody wars that shifted the very continents of the world, and then later decided "you know what, i'll use this as the setting for a children's story about some short hairy boys". Like, what??
From the microscopic to the macroscopic, Tolkien knows how to write a damn good story. We need more art like this.

[Mandy Horine]

Whoa. I’m excited to come across this forum post.
I am currently writing my first fantasy novel. I’m about 40,000 words in. I started writing last year and finished the first draft of a romance novel but have always loved fantasy so dove head first into it at the start of this year.
I’m surprisingly not a big fan of sci-fi so no Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Avatar for me, but I’ve always been very interested in witches, fairies, vampires, magic systems, etc. I’ve got so many book ideas in my head but I can’t get them out fast enough. Lol
In my current fantasy novel I cover many topics such as climate change, mental illness, betrayal, corrupt “government” etc so I relate heavily to their work in that sense. It’s a way to point out current thinking and environment to get people thinking while they keep an open mind to the story.

[fayest42]

It is so interesting to see these trends. For me personally, I'm not particularly interested in sci-fi or fantasy. My husband loves it (not sure what type he is, but my current hypothesis is Se-lead). There are a few I like, but they tend to be unusual for the genre - the movies Her and Primer come to mind as examples. What particularly stands out to me about this trend though is the conductor's interest in large-scale stories that are about the movements of whole cultures/nations/worlds. Those stories have never been of interest to me. I'm much more interested in stories about individual people and their lives. In fact, that's something that Her and Primer have in common. They also share a strong quality of realism despite being science fiction, which is also a quality I enjoy in movies.

[Author]

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