Speculative Narratives are narratives that diverges from our world and ask the question, "What if?". They blend the base of our world with hypotheticals and questions about how things could be different and how small changes affect the whole.

Parable of the Sower engages in this in several ways. The first and most apparent way is in its setting, where people endure a declining America where privatization and social spending cuts have forced extreme self-reliance, where climate change and drug related violence literally burn communities and society down. These themes are very much based on Octavia Butler's own reality, an America in the 1980s where neoliberalism coincided with deindustrialization, resulting in urban decay and the breakdown of society. Parable of the Sower imagines what would happen if all these issues remained unaddressed and were left to fester.

Another way speculative narrative is engaged is in Lauren's idea of Earthseed and her establishment of Acorn. In the face of religious and social norms of the past, as well as the inhumanity of ultra-capitalism, Lauren creates an alternative. Earthseed is inspired by, but ultimately is a break from the ideas of the past, embracing change. Acorn meanwhile is a rejection of individualism and self-interest for compassion and community. Through Lauren, Octavia Butler provides an alternative to the stagnation and moral decline she saw, embodying the speculative notion of there being something different, a better alternative.

The Black Panther Party was established in 1966 in Oakland, California by activists Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The party advocated Black nationalism, socialism, and importantly self-defense and the right to bear arms, using the rhetoric that it was, "policing the police". These came about as a response to the poverty, police brutality, and racism African Americans faced, issues that persisted even after the passage of Civil Rights legislation in the 60s. The Black Panther Party was more than just an ideological group, it also had a community aspect to it, establishing social services in cities it operated, running things like childcare facilities and free breakfast for local black communities. The party was heavily inspired by Marxist ideas, explicitly advocating for socialism and framing itself as a revolutionary party fighting imperialism and capitalism. This far-left leaning combined with its stance on armed defense against policy brutality made the group highly controversial, and led to it being targeted by the FBI, who would infiltrate and subvert the group through the illegal Counter-Intelligence Program, often shortened to COINTELPRO. Ultimately, infighting and violent confrontations with authorities led to the party's dissolution in 1982, and Newton himself would die in a drug dispute in 1989. 

The Panthers would leave behind a controversial legacy, with their proponents hailing them as pioneers of black liberation and efforts to improve the lives of African Americans, their critics point to a history of violence, infighting, and antagonization of institutions. However, despite dissolving in the 80s, the Panthers have had an undeniable influence on black activism and movements for racial equality. The themes the Panthers centered on, resisting police brutality; social, economic, and political equality for minorities; Marxist critiques of America, all of these have persisted past the Black Panther Party and influence the modern left.

The themes found in Parable of the Sower reflect on these ideas, with criticism of capitalism and its adverse effects on African Americans, as well as the desire to separate and establish independent communities, away from oppression by government and business. Extending on this, the activism by the Black Panthers and the more recent Black Lives Matter movement both contain speculative elements. In both cases, there is an imagining of a different world, one without police brutality, with radical equality and freedom from oppression. 

In a bit of a U-turn from the rest of this page, Everything Every All at Once became my favorite movie of all time after I watched it on a plane back from China this year. EEAAO is a sci-fi movie because it features a central mechanic within its world of multiverse hopping, where characters can use skills other versions of themself have acquired. While multiverses and especially hopping between alternate timelines is not scientifically provable or plausible, they have enough connection to actual scientific theory to be categorized as science-fiction elements.

While the movie covers a variety of themes and ideas, ranging from nihilism to multiverses and timelines, what stood out to me was the way it portrayed the immigrant experience, particularly for Chinese Americans. The small details of switching between languages on the fly and the daughter being poor at Chinese were funny relatable bits. What really spoke to me though was the central theme of Evelynn's life: an overwhelming sense of failure and disappointment, that all of the choices she had made up to that point had led her to a dead end. That notion has been one of the biggest things haunting my life as well, a permanent "why didn't you do better?", every day and night. The movie has Evelynn see everything that could have been, all the worlds where she is successful and doesn't end up running a failing laundromat. It is superficially speculative in this sense, where we literally see other worlds that branch off in exercises of "what if this happened". 

However, the way the movie addresses that feeling of disappointment is very powerful. What if you simply accepted yourself? And in this I find the most powerful speculative feature of Everything Everywhere All at Once. Rather than dwelling on the past and what you could be, it's possible to focus on what you are now, and what you can do. The alternative is not a different world, but a different mindset. I remember sitting on the plane and watching the final thirty minutes. It's corny to say, but I genuinely felt more at peace with myself having watched the movie. Going into this quarter, I can't say I've made every decision perfectly, but I can say that I don't actively regret anything. I'm thinking about what I did do, what I didn't do, but above all else, what I'm going to do.