speculative fiction: back to the future
Although Parable of the Sower was published in the 1930s, it is still deeply resonant with our culture and values today. Rising anxieties over economic and racial inequality, climate change, and civil unrest have led many to envision a world in which the social fabric tears and people no longer abide by the laws created by social contracts.
Works that predict and explore what the future may look like can serve multiple purposes. They can warn us about the effects of scientific and cultural developments (e.g. technology) on human societies, or, they can help us envision a better future that we can build together (a realistic utopia).
Growing up as a Hunger Games and Divergent fanatic, I became very familiar with the genre of dystopian fiction. As a pessimist, the genre appealed to me because it helped me see patterns and relationships in our current world that could lead to the future depicted within the texts. However, books like these tend to reinforce the very Western idea of the "chosen one" trope, or when a single individual is tasked with overthrowing systems of oppression and leading an entire movement that radically transforms the world in which they live. Although I do believe individual actions can carry weight, I also believe that dystopian levels of systematic inequality can only really be lessened when communities band together to exercise their collective power.
Image courtesy of Collider.
On the other hand, texts I read in my English class like The Giver and The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas are more ambiguous when it comes to how we as individuals should respond to dystopian societies. The protagonists in these stories ultimately choose to reject and walk away from their communities upon seeing the deep flaws in how the societies function, rather than continue to be part of the problem. Though bleaker in outlook, I find these narratives to be more compelling because of the realism they offer. Most of the time, the complex and multi-disciplinary problems in our current or future societies do not have a simple solution or a single appropriate reaction. Instead, they require us to critique our own role in the problem and realize that it cannot continue.
Image courtesy of Reformed Perspective.
All of this is not to say that I am an eternal pessimist. I do believe that it is crucial that we hold onto hope rather than succumb to apathy. Apathy among the many making up the middle and lower tiers of society only serves the few that can hold onto their power at the top as a result. I find the cultural obsession with space exploration to be fascinating, as people cling to the hope that starting from scratch and building a new world on a different planet will save our species. I don't know if I agree with this method. I find it highly concerning that currently, only the rich have any shot at making their way to this new society, while the billions of people who remain on Earth are essentially abandoned. To me, this spells out a dystopian future that will create even more systematic inequality and rigid hierarchical class structures. Rather than starting over, I believe that we should focus on improving the planet that we currently inhabit. Our planet is NOT a lost cause-- all of us must claim ownership over and collectively shape the future that we inherit.
i hope you enjoy this healthy dose of surreal nihilistic memes.
