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Fighting back is always good, no matter the optics.
Starting the fight is where it gets complicated. But we are long past that. They’ve already started the fight by throwing innocent people, including children, into dungeons. By beating non-violent protestors. By shooting them even with less-lethal munitions. By escalating the use of force when the situation was already dying down just to stoke the flames again.
Sci Fi is always at it’s best when it’s not about itself but about us.
I think Fiction in general, not just Sci. But regardless, it always depends on the degree imo.
I get you, but IMHO Fantasy for example has a unique quality for escapism that should not be disregarded. I don’t want to say that fantasy is strongest when doing escapism, I just find it hard to regard one higher than the other. And while Sci Fi is no slob for escapism either, I do find it stronger when it reflects on humanity.
What do you think of the industrialisation aspects in Tolkien’s Legendarium?
Yes, I think today, SciFi / Space Fantasy works best to directly reflect current situations and dangers. It can naturally be constructed in a dystopical way and used as an example for a bad future.
For typical High Fantasy, imo it is way more difficult to pull something like that off, because it is usually closer related to our historical past. For topics like racism, discrimination or other social aspects (life during the plague?) it can still work nicely. But I agree, it’s a delicate matter to not “overdo” it and ruin the escapism.
There are so many kinds of Fantasy, and all art imitates life in one way or another is what I’m saying :)
What do you think of the industrialisation aspects in Tolkien’s Legendarium?
It never quite worked for me tbh. Not in a “I don’t like this in my escapist fantasy book” kind of way, but in a “I don’t recognize this as a reflection on real life events” kind of way. It was nothing I related to and learned about it many years after my first (and many more) reads. I just accepted it as an aspect of “evil destroys things good people like” in the story.
But also, stories don’t need to be either escapist or a discussion of reality. It’s a gradient and the best stories usually feature both. I would even argue, to hammer home a point about reality really hard, a little escapist build up before helps immensely to get the audience to that “Ooh, yeah, riiiight”-epiphany.
But I agree, it’s a delicate matter to not “overdo” it and ruin the escapism.
It depends on what an artist intends to achieve though. If they want to create an escape from daily life, you can easily overdose other stuff, no matter if you create fantasy or science fiction. It also depends on what an audience expects. If they want to escape but get a commentary, they’re gonna be disappointed and going to complain about WoKe IdEoLoGiE iN mOdErN sTaR tReK. Equally, if they expect commentary and get escapism, they’re gonna complain about a dull, flat and meaningless experience.
There are so many kinds of Fantasy, and all art imitates life in one way or another is what I’m saying :)
Oh, we’re certainly on the same page here!
Most people cannot sustain a 100% fight a 100% of the time for an indefinite number of years.
That’s why it’s wisely to know when to ask people when to fight. Because if you ask everyone to fight all the time people will be burned out and maybe they don’t have energies to fight anymore when you most need it.
The important bit is how you fight back. Anyone can stick a rag in a bottle of vodka and light it on fire, but that doesn’t really solve anything. It creates opportunities, but unless we have some kind of plan already in place for how to create a new democracy from the ashes of the old rotten one, some Neo-Napoleon will be happy to step in and create an autocracy in its place.
The power is in organization and understanding, not the tip of a bayonet.
Just so you know, regular vodka won’t burn, at least not easily. You’d need high test moonshine or equivalent. Much better to use gasoline. If you get bored you could even play a little game by dissolving styrofoam in it.
You also don’t stick the rag in, you wrap it around the top and make sure your bottle is capped.
The goal is to get the container to shatter on impact and then the burning material wrapped around it ignites.
If you stuff a rag in that’s how you set yourself on fire by accident. Here’s a solid design, just for informational purposes only, of course:
Well since we’ve got all that covered, we’ve got nothing left to worry about :)
History only favors the victor no matter how it started.
Thank goodness we have a literal princess bankrolling the rebellion, stockpiling fightercraft, and leading a shadow government!
