Sunday, December 18, 2005

Our elves, our selves

"The real world is messy," says Donna Casella, a professor of film, fantasy and pop culture at Minnesota State University (Mankato). "Crime often pays, and some people die for no reason. In the alternative reality of elves, things can be fixed."

Elves and their otherworldly cousins -- fairies, dwarves, gnomes and other creatures of the fairy kingdom -- have endured for centuries in folklore, literature, movies and pop culture. Elves steal our hearts with their magic, mischief and mystery and help us understand ourselves.

(Via The Anomalist.)


Regardless of the empirical reality of so-called "aliens," ufonauts have become the elves of the technological age. Their ultimate aim seems to be some sort of melding of worlds, a reconciliation. In the folklore of the "Grays" and their kin (recently reiterated in the SERPO claims) we encounter a recurring theme of interstellar comradeship and the "miraculous" acquisition of out-of-this-world technology.

What's playing: Johnny Cash

1 comment:

Paul Kimball said...

Mac:

Johnny is on my CD player now too, along with the excellent soundtrack to Walk the Line.

Paul