Cracking Magical Realism

Photographed by Patrick Jackson and originally published on Joseph Nils Blog.

Whilst sitting by the river last night and watching tourists sink their feet into the dirty Mississippi, Patrick and I cracked the Magical Realism conundrum. Firstly, there is a lot of controversy over what Magical Realism actually is. Here are a few definitions from Wikipedia:

Magic realism, or magical realism, is an artistic genre in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even “normal” setting.

Matthew Strecher has defined magic realism as “what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something ‘too strange to believe’.”^[1]

Gene Wolfe said, “Magic realism is fantasy written by people who speak Spanish,”^[7], and Terry Pratchett said magic realism “is like a polite way of saying you write fantasy”.^[8]

For our purposes, we have a hyper real scenario set in the wasteland that is Chalmatia. The magic occurs in the imagination of the child characters. We the audience see what they see in their imaginations until we can no longer distinguish between what is “real” and what is “fantasy.”

In the beginning of the story, Destiny is standing on the line between childhood and adulthood. Her imagination is clouded by hormones and worry and a clear understanding that she and her brothers are in a world of trouble. She can only see the harsh reality. But when tragedy strikes, she is able to see more and more into that magic world. And it is that world that saves her and her brothers in the end.