ANANSI BOYS / LADY IN THE WATER

                                                 CONTEMPORARY URBAN FANTASY


This book by Neil Gaiman contains dark predictions, mystical trickery, family dysfunction, and of course, killer birds.  The story deals with Animism and Witchcraft.  Animism is a type of religion that comes from Africa.  It consists of dealing with the real world and the world of the spirits filled with ghosts, demons, and magic.

The story describes two brothers, Charlie A/K/A Fat Charlie and Spider, who are completely opposite from each other and their dad who recently died.  Their dad wasn't a normal dad.  He was Anansi, the spider god of Africa.  He represented the archetype from which all tricksters were created.  Anansi was known as the spirit of rebellion who was very capable of creating turmoil/chaos and even confusing the devil.  This family was very dysfunctional.  Charlie never knew who his father really was or that he had a brother until his father died.  Charlie is mild mannered and Spider, his brother, steps into Charlie's life and takes over even to the point that he shows interest in Charlie's fiancee, Rosie.  Spider brings chaos into Fat Charlie's life.  This is an example of what happens when things in life are turned around.  Even though Spider causes problems for Charlie, he still cares for his brother.

Anansi represents a physical reality found everywhere in nature.  Another animistic apparition who appears is the Bird Woman.  She is an evil goddess who brings hordes of dead flamingos down from the sky as a curse on Charlie's brother, Spider.  These represent the myth and mythological figures in the story.  Lastly, this story shows how even gods can be as petty for revenge as humans and how mythology and modern times can impact life.

Movie:  LADY IN THE WATER (2006)

This movie begins with an apartment superintendent named Cleveland Heep who discovers a girl named Story swimming in the pool.  Story represents a Narf who is a character from a bedtime story that is being hunted by a creature called a Scrunt.  Story comes from the Blue World.  This story represents a real world situation combined with mythological characters.

Story's purpose for coming to the real world is to motivate a great writer to complete his work that will create a positive effect on the future.  The writer is Cleveland.  Scrunt is determined to stop her and prevent her from returning to her world and helping Cleveland.  The only one to stop him is the guardian.  The characters are all part of a bedtime story that is being played out.  At the end, an eagle appears and takes Story back to her Blue World.  Heep realizes that she has saved him from hiding himself away and continues to write.  Cleveland is able to overcome his sadness and sorrow from the death of his family with the help of the spiritual world.

In this movie, a suburb was inhabited by mythical creatures.  The message is that the creatures are desperate to communicate warnings to Man, but Man has forgotten how to listen.  The movie was about storytelling and it taught a good lesson at the end.