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How Dystopian Fiction Shapes Political Attitudes

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Re: How Dystopian Fiction Shapes Political Attitudes

#11

Post by autokad »

sudofail wrote: post #8

This is something I've argued about a lot recently, and I think it's very important to be aware of. All too often in political debates, the subject of some dystopian scenario from fiction will come up. Fiction serves an important role in helping you to see other points of view, but it's even more important to keep in mind that it is just fiction. When people point to Atlas Shrugged or 1984 and cite some real world ev…

i like the genre, but I think we are going too far to the point its making people nuts. i do think our movies/shows/music have a huge causal impact on your moods/feelings, so we should be weary of how much we consume it. so now i treat dystopian shows like a beer, toxic but enjoyable in limited quantities.

i also feel there story-lines are a bit trite. gee, another 'evil cooperation taking over everything' dystopia

Re: How Dystopian Fiction Shapes Political Attitudes

#12

Post by [deleted] »

Animats wrote: post #4

Interesting. "In the totalitarian-dystopian genre, the prototypical narrative content elements — e.g., setting, character, plot, and story morals — are relatively clear and consistent; thus, they are “filled in” according to widely shared genre conventions." Writers can thus write in such worlds without extensive world-building. It's like grinding out police procedurals or zombie novels. Not every writer can build wo…

[deleted]

Re: How Dystopian Fiction Shapes Political Attitudes

#14

Post by mirimir »

It's an interesting study for sure. But, as part of the background, it would have been useful to point out that much dystopian fiction is intentionally political. Rod Serling had initially proposed a program of political commentary, but CBS said "no way". So we got The Twilight Zone. George Romero's Night of the Living Dead series was also intentionally political.

In other words, much dystopian fiction is actually long-form propaganda.

Re: How Dystopian Fiction Shapes Political Attitudes

#15

Post by anon2775 »

Leary wrote: post #2

This is very topical. If i had a dollar every time someone used Black Mirror as an argument against technology...

It's important to both suspend disbelief to enjoy fiction from reality and take fiction with a big grain of salt that it's often missing considerations of reality. It's when people confuse and conflate fiction with reality minus critical thinking that hobgoblins of the mind get let loose to draw unrealistic conclusions.

Reality and fiction slightly intersect as a fuzzy Venn diagram, to a degree, but their more often echoes of imagination than of experience.

Re: How Dystopian Fiction Shapes Political Attitudes

#16

Post by nomadiccoder »

mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #5
Gibbon1 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I had ten cents every time a tech bro uses Heinlein to promote fascism.

If I had a penny every time a counter-tech-bro HN contrarian uses Douglas Coupland to promote mild socialism.

if I had a halfpenny every time a reference went over my head...

Re: How Dystopian Fiction Shapes Political Attitudes

#17

Post by runn1ng »

Animats wrote: post #4

Interesting. "In the totalitarian-dystopian genre, the prototypical narrative content elements — e.g., setting, character, plot, and story morals — are relatively clear and consistent; thus, they are “filled in” according to widely shared genre conventions." Writers can thus write in such worlds without extensive world-building. It's like grinding out police procedurals or zombie novels. Not every writer can build wo…

Phones today make really great pictures though.

Re: How Dystopian Fiction Shapes Political Attitudes

#19

Post by aesto »

gerdesj wrote: post #6

"In political science" - they assert this is science. This is how they decide what to test: "In formulating hypotheses, we draw from several theoretical traditions. The majority of our hypotheses flow from the nature of the content shared across dystopian narratives. We take each theoretical tradition in turn." This appears to describe the difference between fact and fantasy: "Scholars in the narrative persuasion tra…

Perspectives on Politics isn't exactly a top-drawer journal. It's the sort of outlet where articles (often more on the philosophical side) end up that lack the scientific rigor necessary for the top-tier journals.

Also, FYI, political science has a pretty contentious divide between people who favor a scientific approach and those who prefer a normative/philosophical approach. The two sides basically hate each other. So to claim that "In political science - they assert this is science" pretty much misses half of the story.

Re: How Dystopian Fiction Shapes Political Attitudes

#20

Post by sn41 »

I think additinonally, conversely, dystopian fiction is reflective of political attitudes - if you're in a repressive country and want to criticise the government, then you can write a fictional work criticising some other government - examples include "Memoirs found in a bathtub" by Stanislaw Lem and "We" by Zamyatin.
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