Birdman, Garc��a M��rquez, and Gonz��lez I����rritu

The best tribute to author, Gabriel Garc��a M��rquez, at this year’s Academy Awards (other than being mentioned in the��In Memoriam��segment) was the big win for

Garc��a M��rquez’s beautiful, mythical, and mystical stories and Gonz��lez I����rritu’s disturbing and dark film both fall into the genre of magical realism.

From Wikipedia: Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is literature, painting, and film that, while encompassing a range of subtly different concepts, share in common magical or unreal elements that play a natural part in an otherwise realistic or mundane environment. Magical realism is the most commonly used of the three terms and refers to literature in particular.��

It’s an acquired taste and I’ve been happily immersed in the genre for several months reading books by both Garc��a��M��rquez��and��Haruki Murakami. I don’t know why I’m attracted to these stories of dysfunctional families, ghosts, and talking cats…but I am. Perhaps it’s because I’ve always believed in the miraculous and love how it’s conveyed through art.

I’ve only started querying my own novel, The Model Home, a story about love triumphing over greed and materialism. It falls into this lovely genre of magical realism and after last night’s win, I’m encouraged.

Birdman��is dark. It plays with our emotions and shows human nature at its very worst. But that’s where the lessons are. ��In the worst of times. I’m happy it won this year. It’s a great tribute to the author of the��greatest Latin American novel ever written,��One Hundred Years of Solitude,��and the entire genre of magical realism.

 

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