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Speculative Narratives
A Graphic Demonstrating the Elements of Speculative Narratives
A genre of writing that explores a world different than the one we live in. It typically features worlds that could have been or might be if only the world were a little bit different. Stories that are within the speculative fiction umbrella, feel eerily similar and close to the real world. Speculative narratives typically feature elements of:
Fantasy Worlds
Science Fiction
Explore the Future
Explore the Past
Common Examples of Speculative Narratives
The Hunger Games
Divergent: The Series
Fahrenheit 451
Don't Look Up
Speculative Narrative vs. Science Fiction (Si-Fi)
The definition of the speculative narrative genre might sound a lot like science fiction. The two comment on the present society, typically in a negative way and have become increasingly popular genres in the media often overlapping with other genres. Given their eerie similarity, you might be thinking what's the difference between the two?
features Sci-Fi
deals with humans
subgenre of science fiction
deals with technological problems
demonstrates technologies that maybe haven't been developed yet
Overall, there are very minor differences between the 2 genres and it's easy to mistaken one for the other. Now that we've created a baseline understanding of speculative narratives let's dive deep into some examples of speculative narratives in different forms and explore what makes them speculative narratives.
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pg. 59 from Parable of the Sower (A Graphic Novel Adaptation)
Parable of the Sower
by Octavia Butler (graphic novel)
Parable of the Sower originally a novel (the version I'll be focusing on is the graphic novel adaptation) is based around the life of the main character Lauren who exhibits hyper empathy as a result of her mother, who is now dead, taking drugs while pregnant with Lauren. In the novel, Lauren lives in apocalyptic world ridden by drugs, poverty and violence and is driven out of her home after losing her entire family. Her hometown Robledo is divided by the outside world with a wall. Beginning in the year 2024, Lauren's journey both in and outside the walls of her home, is documented through Earthseed, a new community/religion created by Lauren.
Speculative Characteristics
pg. 34 Lauren Experiences Hyperempathy
Hyper empathy
Even though hyper empathy itself isn't a medical condition in the real world, the circumstances in which Lauren's hyper empathy came about are. When a pregnant female decides to take drugs or drink alcohol during their pregnancy, it brings about birth defects and conditions upon the child's birth. Like with speculative narratives, aspects of reality are taken and slightly changed. Instead of Lauren developing a real condition like brain damage, she developed a fictional one.
pg. 11 Lauren & Her Family Exit the Wall
Location
The novel takes place in Robledo, CA near Los Angeles, CA. Though not a real place in CA, Los Angeles is. Robledo being a small community primarily composed of people of color like the place I come from myself brings in its relevance to the present. Robledo sounds like the place I come from but small things about it are different such as it being gated.
pg. 8 Lauren Encounter a Man with Maggots on His Face
Drugs
Such as with hyperempathy, drugs in this novel play a significant role. Rather than using drugs we know like cocaine or heroin, the novel creates their own drug pyro and paraceto that people become addicted to. Generating similar effects, again the idea that something from reality is only ever so slightly changed falls in line with speculative narratives.
pg. 60 An Earthseed Verse
Earthseed
Functioning as a new religion based on fact and free will, Earthseed brings in influences from Buddhism, Christianity and other religions. A crucial way for Lauren to navigate through life, this aspect incorporates speculative characteristics by bringing in fantasy and fact. Again, it's something that not only brings familiarity and unfamiliarity but also challenges.
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What Happened to Monday?
(film/movie)
Is a movie released in 2017 on Netflix, that features a dystopian world where families are only permitted to have 1 child under the "Child Allocation Act". Due to overpopulation and limited resources, there is one family with 7 identical daughters, each named after the days of the week, that lives in secret from the Child Allocation Bureau. Each daughter is only allowed to go out 1x a week. When Monday leaves home and never returns, Tuesday tries to uncover what happened to her sister until the government detains her.
A Promotional Cover for the Film What Happened to Monday
A Couple of Clips of The Movie
If you're interested in watching this film, it can be accessed via Netflix. I would highly recommend watching it.
Speculative Characteristics
Child Being Killed Because She's the 2nd Child
One Child Policy
The one child policy referred to as the "Child Allocation Act" is similar to the one child policy that previously existed in China. Though not taken to the extent of killing children (not that I'm aware of), this again brings in the history component of speculative fiction by using a historical event and slightly changing it to critique the past whilst also hinting at a potential future world we might live in.
Seven Sisters Eating Rat Meat
Resources
In the film, the city is demonstrated as being overpopulated, lacking food, water as well as being devastated by the effects of climate change. Considering the 7 sisters eat rat for dinner, the lack of resources being the reason behind the "Child Allocation Act" this speculative characteristic I feel is the most accurate to our modern day world. Parts of the country are devastated with drought, diseases killing crops. This hints at a future we're already in.
One of the Sisters Looking Up To Their Apartment
Setting
This movie takes place in an urban city that looks like most of the cities we live in today. With the specifics of it being slightly different such as the technology embedded in it, is what gives it the eerie familiarity without being able to pinpoint it. A defining feature of speculative narratives, the setting also takes place in the future, a common but not required quality.
One of the Sisters Being Analyzed Using Face Detecting Software
Technology
The movie uses technology already existing in the current world such as facial recognition and finger scanning as well as technologies that may not exist quite yet. While not the main focus of the film, isn't technology it's a speculative characteristic due to its familiar nature and role in science fiction both components of it.
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The Purpose Of Speculative Narratives
The purpose of speculative narratives is to comment on or provide insight on the world we live in today or a world humanity might be heading towards. It's a critque on society, more often than so a dangerous one. Parable of the Sower offers a alternative reality only 2-3 years away where people are selfish, and communities fall apart. Where basic resources need to be purchased at an extremely high price. What Happened to Monday is a film that teaches the consequences and policies that might be heading our way again if we continue to treat our world so carelessly. This graphic novel and movie are only two versions or forms as to how speculative narratives look like. They can also take form in art, video, music and so much more.
Link To A Sci-Fi/Speculative Inspired Playlist:
Reflection
Reflection
I would say that this assignment of the 3 this quarter is the one I enjoyed making the most. I honestly could've gone on and on giving more examples about our types of speculative narratives in media like in art, short videos, music, etc. In creating this archive assignment and deciding what works I wanted to cover, it was difficult choosing was kind of work I wanted to focus on because there were so many and it's one of those things where you get excited. Prior to this assignment and the series of lectures on science fiction and speculative narratives given by Professor Alexander I didn't know that speculative narratives existed. I grew up only ever knowing about science fiction and even then, I wasn't quite sure what that meant.
Looking back on the rest of the quarter and where my digital archive was at when I first began creating it in September, it's already changed so much. I hope that it continues to change throughout the rest of the year in core. These last 10 weeks have been eye-opening. I never in my life though that I would find such relatability and enjoyment in Boccacio's The Decameron, a text that's over a century old. Seeing how much I've grown in core thus far, makes me look forward to the remaining stories I have yet to explore.
Works cited
Works cited
Alexander, Jonathon. “Science Fiction: An Introduction.” Humanities Core Lectures. 10 Nov. 2022, Irvine, University of California Irvine.
Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower. Graphic novel adaptation by Damian Duffy and John Jennings, Abrams, 2021.
Em Teach. “What Is Speculative Fiction?” YouTube, YouTube, 7 Feb. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRW79lob4zE.
“Speculative Fiction.” SPECULATIVE FICTION Definition | Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/speculativefiction.
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