#utopian fiction
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The Power Of Media
I need do address one thing, because I see that kinda mindset creep up again and again.
Basically, under postings about utopian media, be it Star Trek, Solarpunk, or - heck - just bare Hopepunk, sometimes people will just go: "Media does not do shit. It does not change the world."
And that just is... demonstrably fault and a very defeatist attitude.
Now, one thing first: Yes, media on its own will not change the world. It will not. If you have this mindset, you are right in so far. We can have endless amounts of hopeful media and the world will not change from it.
But...
We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.
- Ursula K. LeGuin
This quote of Ursula K. LeGuin is very powerful to me. Because it really captures the issue very well.
See. Right now we get bombarded with capitalist propaganda left and right. It already starts in school, we will often get it at home and obviously in media again and again.
It is so hard to escape, that to many it is hard to imagine that there ever could be anything else. I mean, we even have the issue within Solarpunk. When I read through those Solarpunk Anthologies, I will again and again find stories, that feature either capitalist worlds - or a world that has to be rebuild after the apocalypse. Because people really struggle imagining how it could be otherwise.
And this is why fiction is so important. Why Hopepunk is so important.
A lot of young people right now are able to see that the system is broken, that it has left them behind. Most young folks, who do not come from generational wealth, see that they will under the current system never own their own house. Their own retirement seems to be rather unlikely. And that is, if they do not die before from either the effects of climate change, from some pandemic through which we have to work because line needs to go up, or just in general because the health care system does not take care of them.
And these young people are willing to fight. They are. But right now they are only fighting against a system. They do not know what they fight for.
I know, for some this might sound like a small thing. But it is not. Especially not in a world, where more and more people are struggling with their mental health.
People need hope.
And again: No, it is not enough on its own. Just hopeful fiction on its own runs the danger of just being endless escapism.
We also need to offer mutual aid for each other. We also need to organize. And, yeah, we need to protest and actually get out there to fight.
But don't underestimate the power of fiction, when it comes to giving people something to fight for.
We know that media and stories have these powers. It is, after all, why those in powers dripfeed us the kinda stories that vilify those, who want to change the system. That tell us, that "everything is fine, okay, just trust the good billionaires" and what not. Because they understand this power.
And we should not leave this power to them along.
#solarpunk#lunarpunk#hopepunk#utopia#utopian fiction#the power of fiction#the power of media#hope is a dangerous thing#it only needs a spark#fighting climate change
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In a world where there’s nothing left to conquer but boredom, how does play evolve?
Song - NFL on FOX Theme (Instrumental King)
#tale foundry#writing community#writing inspiration#writers of tumblr#writers on tumblr#youtube#space art#17776 football#17776#what football will look like in the future#jon bois#speculative fiction#science fiction#true utopia#utopia#utopian fiction#in a perfect world
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star trek is my favorite comfort media because its hopeful.
optimistic science fiction is hard to come by, but god does star trek do it right.
i want to live in the gay socialist space utopia, dammit!
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For where in the older society (as in Marx's classic analysis) Utopian thought represented a diversion of revolutionary energy into idle wish-fulfilments and imaginary satisfactions, in our own time the very nature of the Utopian concept has undergone a dialectical reversal. Now it is practical thinking which everywhere represents a capitulation to the system itself, and stands as a testimony to the power of that system to transform even its adversaries into its own mirror image. The Utopian idea, on the contrary, keeps alive the possibility of a world qualitatively distinct from this one and takes the form of a stubborn negation of all that is.
Fredric Jameson, "Marxism and Form" (1971)
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the fifth sacred thing, by starhawk: four and a half out of five honeybees
i've been looking forward to this book for a long time. it's a classic of utopian literature…and dystopian literature. can a pacifist society survive contact with a militarized society…and keep its soul intact?
the first third or so of the book establishes the community around which the book is based. an egalitarian commune has grown out of the rubble of post-apocalyptic san francisco, and they face all the challenges of life plus the dread of what could happen when the replacement for the old u.s. government comes knocking to "claim" its old territory. that government is an amalgam of corporate rule, military domination, and pseudoreligious oppression that controls every aspect of life, down to the water.
the book was written in 1993, and -- except for the frequent mentions of the ozone layer, which we were actually able to fix, it seems prescient. early reviewers called the mixture of fascism and pseudochristianity an "overused SF bugbear" (thanks wikipedia), but it's exactly what we're facing today. the question of whether we can survive peacefully -- whether we can transform the virulent enemy culture before it kills us or makes us monsters ourselves -- is the central question of the novel.
the portrayal of fascist rule is brutal. nothing is held back. this is not a novel for people who have ptsd flashbacks.
at the same time, the portrayal of mundo bueno -- the good world -- is so lavish and loving that it's worth reading the first third of the book just to see starhawk's vision of what is possible. witness the streets with clean fishing streams running beside them, the avenues lined with sweet fruit trees and verdant gardens. witness the love and freedom possible with a community of lovers. that's a major aspect of the book: it's an advertisement for the future. the future we can win if we set down divisions and power struggles of "race," gender, and class…a shamelessly queer and polyamorous future, i might add, and a future in which all ancestries and cultures are celebrated in a kind of joyful melange anchored in respect for the four sacred things, which cannot be owned or stolen -- earth, air, water, and fire -- and the most subtle of all, the fifth sacred thing, spirit.
it's a novel full of magic and miracles, but the thesis of the novel doesn't depend on anything supernatural: it just depends on the question of whether humanity can be awakened even in those in whom it has been deliberately crushed to make them subservient tools of a killing machine. what it really comes down to is the conscience of the universal soldier.
i'm going to end the review with this video, in the spirit of starhawk's call to compassion. what if they gave a war and, finally, nobody came? all told, a fantastic effort; a classic: five out of five honeybees
youtube
#the fifth sacred thing#you gotta read this book#utopia#dystopia#utopian fiction#dystopian fiction#scifi#sf#science fiction#fantasy#science fantasy#book review#book reviews#review#reviews#queer lit#starhawk#Youtube
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Wait. Ok. Does This Is How You Lose The Time War count as utopian fiction
#this is how you lose the time war#utopian fiction#lile probably not. the utopian futures red and blue initially want to protect arent tge setting#the setting is the messy past#but i am REALLY grasping at straws here
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A reverse hunger games novel
A teenage fascist overthrows a utopian society
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There is a greater spirit that has wandered the ages from troglodyte through world-cities and into the fall of modern civilization. Cernon, the father of Cernunnos, is re-discovered and brought into the physical world when Jamari the Knight Shaman and Sophia, the Sophia Shaman, call to the world spirit on the most fertile of days: Beltane.
What they brought into physical reality was far more than they anticipated. A Cernunnos origin story.
#fantasy books#paradigmlost#rroderickrowe#writers of tumblr#portal fantasy#readers of tumblr#lgbt fiction#fantasy world#fae books#writeblr#post apocalyptic#utopian fiction#shamanism#shaman journey#fae folk#portal
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I think everyone, every single individual person—even kids who want to!—every person across the entire world, in EVERY COUNTRY and EVERY CITY and EVERY RESERVATION, EVERY INDIGENOUS ISLAND, ETC., ETC., …… should have the ABSOLUTE & IMMUTABLE, UNIVERSALS RIGHT to slaughter one person of their choosing per year. JUST ONE PERSON CAN BE SLAUGHTERED BY SOMEONE ELSE FOR WHATEVER REASON THE BUTCHER FEELS LIKE FOR ANY GIVEN YEAR. plus you can choose not to kill ever at all! it’s not mandatory!
& so it’s written into a permanent, immovable, immutable , & UNIVERSAL law that applies to each and every individual human being of any age throughout the entire planet. AND!!! this is a PERMANENT LAW that cannot be touched ever again by anyone ever no matter who they are or how “important” they are. THAT SHIT IS IN THE BOOKS FOREVER AND IS AVAILABLE TO ALL OF HUMANITY FOR ALL ETERNITY & MORE!!! (and it will continue to be applied as law if we ever populate any new Earth-like planets we may eventually figure out how to live in them. YEAH BITCHES, I REALLY REALLY MEAN IT’S UNIVERSAL FOR ALL OF HUMANITY’S EXISTENCE!!! NO MATTER WHERE HUMANKIND LEARNS TO GO!! IT WILL ALWAYS AND ETERNALLY BE LAW.
SO!!! all across the globe the UN (which in my world includes people from so called “primitive” cultures) will make it an ABSOLUTELY UNTOUCHABLE world wide law (because in my world everyone is sane and lovely and there’s world peace and no poverty or homelessness & there are no billionaires or even millionaires, or anything inhumane like our IRL world right now!!!!!).
AND!! AND!!! AND!!! NO!!!! NO, IT’S NOT LIKE THE STUPID PURGE MOVIE! WHERE IT’S ONLY LEGAL FOR EVERYONE THAT LIVES IN THE ONE SINGLE TOWN/STATE (?). IT’S NOT AN ANNUAL ONE DAY THING WITH NO LAWS.
WHAT I MEAN, is that there’s like a little punch card you can keep in your wallet like a library card or a like…froyo BUY ONE GET ONE FREE store…. BECAUSE!!!! BECAUSE!!! every year, like idk you get to go to some government building where you make an appointment— (which in my world is EASY AND SIMPLE AND QUICK TO DO AND IT’S ADA COMPLIANT!!! SO THERE WOULD BE TONS OF OPTIONS THROUGH WHICH YOU CAN MAKE YOUR APPOINTMENT, IRL OR ONLINE OR ON THE PHONE CALL OR THROUGH A TEXT!!! AND WHATEVER FUTURE TECH BECOMES AVAILABLE!!).
but YES!!! once you’ve picked out your own special murder person (or not so special—your kill person can be as randomly chosen as if you were drawing straws!) but yes, once you’ve decided on who you’re gonna slaughter that year, you HAVE to make an appointment with the official governmental slaughterhouse, and at that initial appointment you must give the attendant a rough estimate of the date and time you will have to have chosen in advance on which date and time you will slaughter your person, & THEN, ONCE YOU’RE REGISTERED AND YOUR DATE, TIME, AND PERSON TO KILL IS WRITTEN INTO THE OFFICIAL UNIVERSAL GOVERNMENTAL SLAUGHTER LOG BOOK, YOU GET TO GO MURDER THAT PERSON HOWEVER YOU WANT WHEN YOUR APPOINTMENT TIME COMES UP. you can kill your person quick & easy, slowly and agonizingly drawn out……even purely sadistic and vomit-worthy extreme torture (live cannibalism included!)
after you’ve slaughtered your person, you’ll then have up to one full month from your murder day to set up a follow up appointment with a sample of your person’s body (maybe the full body is generally the norm, but more extreme butchers can instead bring a sample of what is left of your person) for IDing and global population census purposes so the attendants are able to confirm your one legal kill for the year.
AAAAAAND!!! when you go to your local government official slaughterhouse (that are all conveniently located all over everywhere & every single building or office is conveniently disability friendly/supportive to those with physical disabilities! or there would be digitally sourced governmental slaughterhouse), SO!!!when you go there, the attendant will punch your legal, annual slaughter card with a cutesy lil hole puncher—like a star a heart or a silly face—& there you go!!! you got to (if you chose to, the law DOES NOT force people to kill others if they don’t want to! even if they never choose to kill anyone for their entire lifespan!), you got to brutally murder someone!!!!! completely legally and in fact, endorsed! like hunting invasive animals in your area. I imagine there are the occasional billboards or media ad every couple times a year that reminds people it’s an option for everyone around the world!
PLUS!!! NO ONE CAN CHOOSE THE SAME PERSON TO KILL!!! in every city state county providence farm land reservation indigenous island, etc., etc., literally everywhere across the world has easy access to a worldwide universal database that consists of every single human being on the planet, living and deceased’s (or slaughtered lol) general basic demographics (i.e., name age location job or school, etc.) it’s like, instead of being assigned a social security card/number, when someone new is born, the newborn is immediately added to the database. AND THEN!!! every year on each individual human being’s birthday, their personal identification information must be updated. literally for every single individual in the entire world anywhere and everywhere in the world will have their basic information in that world-wide-accessible database. And perhaps this kind of updating of demographics is achieved by sending out MANDATORY surveys (that are always accommodated appropriately for any and everything of every known disability, no matter if it’s physical or mental disabilities!)
and ALSO!!! these official governmental slaughterhouses must have at least two or three convenient locations in every single place on earth that is populated by humans. at these specific murder government buildings, you MUST confirm your person has been murdered by you (maybe ideally you’d have to bring the whole dead body, or at least a piece of the dead body for more extreme slaughters).
but THEN if you kill someone else after you turned in your punch card for the year, or purposely killer someone else’s booked murder person, THEN it’s illegal and you go to prison for at least a year, max 2 years lol (in my world the prisons are more like Holiday Inn hotels & NOTHING like what prisons are like in our current IRL world). you get to slaughter one person every year, but you can choose not to one or more years (or never ever!) if there’s just no one interesting or fun enough for you to murder. BUT, remember you’ve got the punch card?!?!?! so THEN, once you’ve collected 10 punches on your card you get a free bonus 2nd slaughtering of your choice in the same year! BUT IT HAS TO BE IN THE SAME YEAR OR YOU LOSE YOUR FREE SECOND YEARLY SLAUGHTERING OPPORTUNITY & YOU GOTTA START YOUR PUNCH CARD ALL OVER AGAIN. NO ROLL OVERS FOR YOUR ANNUAL MURDERING ALLOWANCE!!!
…….. ANYWAY. I have not a clue where this idea sprung from, nor why I felt so compelled to write it all out. but I think it’d be neat lol
thanks for reading my ramblings if you got through it all!! if you feel like it, tell me your opinions on this kings thing! like what you’d do differently or just to tell me i’m extremely mentally disturbed gehehe.
ok byyyye….luv u
🐶🙏💜✨
#writing#story#fiction#scifi writing#dystopian future#utopian fiction#utopian future#writers of tumblr#writers on tumblr#this was a lot of fun to write heehee#💜#read more#long post
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The Seep - by Chana Porter
A more-or-less utopian setting and a butch trans woman as a main characters are, from my point of view, decent incentives to read a book; some words of praise from no less than Jeff VanderMeer don’t hurt either. But – what’s The Seep really about?
Title: The Seep
Author: Chana Porter
Publication Date: 21 January 2020
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 203
Standalone or Series:…
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#Aliens#BIPOC Representation#Books by Queer Authors#First Contact#Queer Representation#Queernorm Society#Science Fiction#Standalone#Utopian Fiction
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Where is all the Solarpunk media?
Before reddit went to shit, I had posted this essay there, leading to some discussion. In the essay I spoke about my disappointment, that while Solarpunk started out as an idea for both a social movement and a fiction genre, most only know it as an aesthetic. And somebody said something interesting there: "You gotta see, that our equivalent to Cyberpunk's Neuromancer is a fucking yoghurt ad."
And this is true, kinda.
While Solarpunk traces its roots back to some climat fiction books and of course Studio Ghibli, there is barely any media in the Solarpunk genre. If you have a look at TV Tropes, you find only very few entries there and there is an argument to be had about half of them, whether they truly qualify as Solarpunk, as they might have the Solar-part down, but not the punk-aspect.
Sure, I could meanwhile offer a couple of examples myself that are not to be found on TV tropes (and maybe I am going to make a list here), but yeah... It is not much. And what there is in terms of actual Solarpunk fiction is mostly published by small publishers. Solarpunk games are all indie games. And Solarpunk movies... well, there are a couple of anime movies, but everything else I can think of are short indie movies.
And I think all of this is rooted in one or multiple of these three points:
Again, people struggle to imagine utopia. Not only writers/creatives, but even consumers. A lot of people consider utopian fiction "unrealistic" and "boring". Hence people do not know how to deal with this genre. On the side of creatives, on the side of the publishers and on the side of consumers.
Hope is scary. Both to the consumers, but also to the system. Because people, who have hope, are more likely to rebel. That sounds counter intuitive, but hopeless people will no longer fight, because they have nothing to fight for. This is why big companies, on whom we kinda rely for our media, might well have issues with Solarpunk as a genre. Especially as...
Solarpunk is inherently anti-capitalistic. So of course capitalistic companies that are behind any big, coporate media - no matter if it is AAA games or blockbuster movies - are not very interested in spreading the genre further. This is unquestionably also, why the genre and movement got boiled down to an aesthetic so much. Because Disney has no problem showing Solarpunk looking cities (Zootopia, Black Panther, some Star Wars), but they will most certainly not show a world that is no longer capitalist.
So... Solarpunk has kinda harsher conditions to start in as a genre.
Which is why I have started to write about this so much. Because I think, that fiction has power. And we should use it to inspire people.
Hope is important.
Hope is the future.
Support Indie creators!
#Solarpunk#Solarpunk fiction#Solarpunk media#Where are all the solarpunk movies?#solarpunk novels#hopepunk#hope is a dangerous thing#utopia#utopian fiction
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youtube
NEW VIDEO!
In a future free from all evils, what’s left for us to do? According to a certain creator, we play ball. Game on!
#tale foundry#writing community#writing inspiration#writers of tumblr#writers on tumblr#story ideas#youtube#17776 football#17776#what football will look like in the future#jon bois#true utopia#utopia#utopian fiction#science fiction#speculative fiction#perfect world#in a perfect world#perfect utopia#writing scifi
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ROBINSON: …But there’s what is sometimes called the “techno-utopianism” of Silicon Valley, which often you posit as totally unrealistic—we’re going to merge with machines and upload our consciousness and do things we don’t know how to do.
But these other things you cover, which we do know how to do, are utopian, crazy, and unrealistic.
GHODSEE: Exactly. It’s like the Coalition for Radical Life Extension, these people out in Silicon Valley who are basically trying to be immortal.
If you’re talking about universal health care, that’s totally utopian, but immortality is totally feasible. It’s a really weird double standard that tech bros and billionaires and Saudi princes get to dream up cities in the desert or like this new plan for a utopian city in Solano County in Northern California, but the rest of us are just going to be stuck with a housing crisis and homelessness. Why can’t ordinary people dream in a way that imagines a better future, rather than just constantly ceding this territory of blue sky thinking to the tech bros and the billionaires and the Saudi princes who have the means, at least theoretically, to realize those dreams?
#utopia#blue sky thinking#thinking outside the box#techno-utopianism#visionary fiction#utopian thinking#interviews#solarpunk#current affairs#Kristen ghodsee#writing
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vimeo
#movie#film#cinema#czech cinema#Czech movie#Czech film#science fiction#Vimeo#Eastern Bloc science fiction#Eastern Bloc film#Jindřich Polák#film adaptations#Stanisław Lem#Janus Films#avant garde#utopian futurism#Ikarie XB 1#movie trailer#film trailer#movie poster#film poster
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