So it looks like they cast the new Conan. I find it interesting that they found someone who’s also an Austrian bodybuilder, and hopefully this is a demonstration that they’ll be faithful to the spirit of the original. I’m looking forward to this new low fantasy reboot (Conan and also Red Sonja), even though it’s simply another notch on Hollywood’s remake bedpost. The way I think of it, we’ve got nothing to lose–the genre’s been practically dead since the 1980s anyway, and it would be nice to see it redone from a modern perspective. I would also be nice to see some fantasy movies to counter the dominance of high fantasy propagated by Lord of the Rings.

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The genre shall be ours forever! Forth Eorlingas!

I should probably clarify what I mean by “high” and “low” fantasy. Generally speaking, high fantasy stories are like LotR and Star Wars, featuring an epic scope, black-and-white moral dichotomies, and lots of magic or the equivalent of magic, like the Force. Low fantasy stories like that of Conan the Barbarian tend to have more constrained proportions (such as being centered on one man’s quest for revenge instead of the salvation of the entire world), ambiguous morality, and very limited use of magic. It’s a great use of fantasy, and I’m glad to see it resurrected even if it’s all being done for money. Hopefully it will be worthwhile, as the Batman and Star Trek reboots have been.