4 ms·

This is the interesting thing about life and art. It can be pure escapism. It can be a warning. It can be a veiled account of what is or was. Personally, while

This is the interesting thing about life and art. It can be pure escapism. It can be a warning. It can be a veiled account of what is or was. Personally, while I don't really think we 'need' hopepunk, I understand the inherent need for it in others. I may have stated this explicitly on this forum before, but I believe we already live in an dystopian future amalgam envisioned in some of the novels I read as a child. In such an environment, it is not a surprise those stories can thrive. Compare it post-WW 2 era, which allowed unprecedented peace across the western world that allowed people to explore darker sides of humanity in media ( grim dark, fascination with serial killers, various future dystopias to name a few interesting currents ). The solace one may get from hopepunk is a false hope.

nynx 5y ago
Thank you for your well-thought-out response! I don't think hopepunk or its variants, solarpunk, etc, provide solace, but moreso act as reference points to help people say, "Our society could be more like that. What can we do to make that happen?" As you alluded to in your comment, fiction can be a powerful way for people to explore and shape the future.
NineStarPoint 5y ago
I would take a very different stance on what caused stories of the darker sides of humanity to flourish after the end of WW2. From what I understand, the cultural trauma of the horrors of WW2 were a big factor, and the cold war’s ever looming threat of global nuclear war comes up often in people describing the zeitgeist of the era. I don’t think the media about the darker sides of humanity came from peace, but from that direct exposure to what the darker sides of humanity can be at country-wide scales. Art can also be a description of what humanity should work towards. In this way a well written book that is hopeful need not be a false hope, but a showing of what humanity should work towards. Without having that goal of a better future, it is inevitable that we would fall towards dystopia.

nynx 5y ago

Thank you for your well-thought-out response! I don't think hopepunk or its variants, solarpunk, etc, provide solace, but moreso act as reference points to help people say, "Our society could be more like that. What can we do to make that happen?" As you alluded to in your comment, fiction can be a powerful way for people to explore and shape the future.

NineStarPoint 5y ago

I would take a very different stance on what caused stories of the darker sides of humanity to flourish after the end of WW2. From what I understand, the cultural trauma of the horrors of WW2 were a big factor, and the cold war’s ever looming threat of global nuclear war comes up often in people describing the zeitgeist of the era. I don’t think the media about the darker sides of humanity came from peace, but from that direct exposure to what the darker sides of humanity can be at country-wide scales. Art can also be a description of what humanity should work towards. In this way a well written book that is hopeful need not be a false hope, but a showing of what humanity should work towards. Without having that goal of a better future, it is inevitable that we would fall towards dystopia.