Tale Foundry

People often complain that movies are telling "dumber" stories in general as time goes on, but is that true? One possible explanation for this viewpoint may be that movies are just focusing more on "fun" stories than "smart" stories. In other words, they're focusing more on "genre fiction" than "literary fiction." Let's talk a little about why.

We see them all over the place here in America--on our cereal boxes, in cartoons, in parades--but what are leprechauns? Where did they come from, and why are they so iconic?

In the spirit of St. Patrick's day, we talk a little about our favorite creatures from Celtic folklore. There are so many though--we couldn't possibly fit them all into this video. So every day for the rest of the month we'll be sharing one creature or legend of Celtic origin on our websites. Visit our Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr for more!

What would it be like to live among humans as a creature of the fae? What would you do if someone offered you a chance to rejoin your people? With this story, we tie up our March theme of Celtic folklore! The elements of this story all come from videos and posts that we've shared over the course of the month, all of which you can find here: https://goo.gl/xgmQU0

Game of Thrones is perhaps the most influential piece of fantasy to arrive on any medium in many, many years. A lot of people will be getting their first taste of the genre through this show, so it's worth exploring what the show does with its reach, which is why we've dedicated this month to the show!

Game of Thrones (moreso the book series it's based on: "A Song of Ice and Fire") has a setting the scope of which we rarely see in fiction, and not just in terms of size. The sheer number of different and unique elements within the setting is absolutely staggering. It's incredible that any author could create a single, cohesive narrative arc that uses so much material. And yet, somehow, that's exactly what George R.R. Martin did. In this video, we try boil this incredible world down into three major components: Geography, Culture, and History.

Industry can be a dangerous thing. A lot of people drown beneath the tide of progress, without ever knowing what's happening to them. Sorry for the lack of visuals. We've been struggling to keep up with everything lately, so for the foreseeable future, we'll only be able to do a single animated background image for our stories. When we can get another artist on-board, we'll definitely spice these up again!

Let's kick the month off with a break-down of genres and how weird fiction allows us to subvert them in an interesting, marketable fashion.

Ready to feel simultaneously confused and inspired? Are you looking for someone to wring your creativity for every ounce of originality it can muster? Good. Because we know five different types of fiction that'll do that for you. Join us as we break down Steampunk, Fantastique, Slipstream, Bizarro, and Weird fiction.

"Welcome to the carnival of desire, where anyone can put on a lovely show, so long as they're willing to abandon their apprehensions." A story of alchemy, twisted compulsions, and the worst kind of claustrophobia.

Video games are still a fairly young medium. Understandbly, people are still trying to figure out how best to use it as a platform for telling stories. So far, most games just sort of stick to the traditional cinematic approach. But Dark Souls does something different. Something new and interesting. Something that has the potential to change storytelling across all mediums.

The Dark Souls games have a rather singular method of storytelling, but we could talk about the technical aspects of storytelling all day. In this video, we want to show you how Dark Souls tells its stories by breaking down the 6 key elements of its lore.

Watch through the eyes of an eldritch abomination as five individuals grapple with faith, ignorance, and curiosity, each feeding the beast with their hubris.

The USA is pretty unique in its youth. It lacks the deep mythological background many other countries have developed, but that doesn't mean the early Americans didn't tell stories. In fact, their fiction is some of the most self-aware we've ever seen. So let's talk about the "mythology" of America and what it means to the country today.

Some of our favorite American folk heroes, a few of them lesser-known, a few of them on adverts across the country, and all of them reflective in some way of the unique zeitgeist of a newly-developed country.

In this story we create our own modern American folk hero! But heroes aren't always everything they promise, and ideas can always be killed...

Things have been interesting for us since we've started this show. I thought it might be worthwhile to give you my two cents on what this all means to me. So here's a bit of my story. Perhaps it's more questions than answers, but maybe some of you will find it interesting all the same.

There's a lot more to these little pocket monsters than meets the eye. As a matter of fact, across all their games and animations and Pokémedia in general, they've got one big story that they're trying to tell us. If you're a fan, you might even be familiar with the story's main character...

After spending a video getting all technical and literary about how Pokemon is a transmedia story, we thought we ought to spend another video showing *how*. So buckle up. This is an odd one.

Have you ever felt more at home in the fiction you love than in real life? Rin is going through something similar, and it's shaping her in an interesting way...

Prepare to lose sleep as we shine a light into the dark parts of the internet! Let's discuss creepypasta, where it came from, and why people like it so much.

Let's get real dark and spoopy—let's dive down the rabbit hole and explore the different types of creepypasta that have come slithering out of the internet so far. Warning: video contains flashing colors and paranoia-inducing heebity-jeebities.

Do you ever get the feeling you've been staring at the computer screen for a little too long? Ever feel like your vision isn't adjusted for the real world anymore? Maybe that movement in your peripherals is more than your tired eyes playing tricks on you.

After almost a decade without a new Harry Potter film, Rowling's graced us with a fantastic entry into an all-new series set in the same world: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The film shines a light on something unique about Rowling's other work: the rather singular use of allegory.

We've talking about Rowling's use of allegory in her fiction — now it's time to see some actual examples before we set to trying her approach ourselves.