Before I launch into today’s topic I want to make sure we’re clear in our definitions. Dystopia is (according to wikipedia) “–is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and more recently, The Hunger Games. Dystopian societies feature different kinds of repressive social control systems, various forms of active and passive coercion.” This is not the same thing as post-apocalyptic fiction. In post-apocalyptic fiction, society falls apart and chaos reigns. One is about oppression. The other is about chaos. Yes, there are stories and novels which combine the two and blur the definitions — nothing wrong with that, but I feel it’s very important to remember the actual meaning behind the words. Why? Because dystopian fiction is a tool used by the left to criticize the right. While post-apocalyptic fiction is generally used by the right to criticize the left. They’re two very distinct points of veiw. I believe in checks and balances. We *need* both points of view. Neither should be totally in charge. As one of my favorite dystopian writers, George Orwell, said, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Both play upon our fear of the future. I enjoy dystopian fiction more than I do post-apocalyptic because dystopian tends to be more thinky. Post-apocalyptic fiction leans more toward the chest-beating, macho man schtick where white men are men and carry a BFG and women are doormats, punching bags and sperm banks. (So very, very much not my thing.) Although, if the story launches into how humanity might rebuild from there, if it focuses on the struggle for civilization as David Brin’s novel The Postman did and Stephen King’s The Stand did — well, you’ve got me. Anyway, my favorite dystopian graphic novel is V for Vendetta, my favorite dystopian novel is Fahrenheit 451, and as depressing as it is, I adore the film Brazil.
It’s been said before by the others that dystopian fiction isn’t new. It isn’t. The reason why is that, all in all, humanity is kind of dim. Seriously. We are. We repeat the same mistakes over and over again. We never seem to learn. I wish like hell we did. The planet would be a better place. But we don’t. History repeats itself. I wish I could say that we take longer to forget. We don’t. If anything, with the aid of computer technology we repeat our mistakes at ever faster rates. Americans repeat the same mistakes the Thatcher regime made when dealing with terrorists. Self-publishing mania ultimately repeats the mistakes of the dot com crash and the real estate bubble and the American gold rush and the dutch tulip market mania — oh, wait, I’ve forgotten the emu farms craze. You know what? There’s nothing human beings love more than a get rich quick racket. (Ask any grifter.) Anyway, you get the idea. The point is, I really wish we were smarter than that. We aren’t, sadly.
We need dystopia to keep us from flipping over into fascism. Order is good, but anything carried into an extreme is bad. Extremism is sneaky. It creeps up on you. Beware of it.
Michael McClung on February 17, 2012
Stina,
I know this post was supposed to be about dystopian fiction, but as you veered from the subject, I feel compelled to do the same:
“Self-publishing mania ultimately repeats the mistakes of the dot com crash and the real estate bubble and the American gold rush and the dutch tulip market mania — oh, wait, I’ve forgotten the emu farms craze.”
Not really, no. You’re not comparing apples to apples here.
If you mean they were all precipitated by greed, and people following get rich quick dreams, I’m more inclined to agree with you, though even then I’d argue that’s a vast generalization that doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny in every case.
And if you look at the fallout, you’ve got results all over the map, from localized fiscal pain for a very few, to world-shaking implications.
From that perspective, self-publishing doesn’t even register. The closest analogy you cite would be the California gold rush, except nobody who is self-publishing today is rushing off to the desert to die, ill-equipped and dreadfully unprepared for the task at hand. Oh there are certainly self-published writers who are ill-equipped for the job, and dreadfully unprepared in terms crafting decent fiction, but the price of their failure is measured best by the dentin their egos.
But, like the miner 49ers, there are indeed a small percentage of self-publishers (or indie publishers, depending on who you talk to) take pains to give themselves the best odds possible.
Many will say they got lucky. And indeed, in many cases, the did get lucky. But by and large they made their own luck by knowing what the hell they were doing in the first place, or failing that, learning as quickly as they could.
The title of your post is ‘Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss’. I hope you’ll indulge me just a little bit more while I tell you my personal reasons for a rather strong reaction to that title, and indeed your entire post:
Today I set the wheels in motion to take back my book from Random House, the contract having expired. After eight years, I fired my ‘boss’ and started working for myself. Why? Because they weren’t offering me anything I couldn’t do myself, better.
I do feel the need to point out the fact that I am a big fan of Night Shade Books. I’m not one of those rabid ‘burn down traditional publishing’ authors. But I also feel the need to call ‘em like I see ‘em, and this post, honestly, looks a lot like an unforced error.
Stina on February 17, 2012
I should’ve clarified. ePublishing for beginners is the new Emu farm. The number one bestseller on Amazon is… “How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in Five Months.” Very telling, that. Also, this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/30/self-e-publishing-bubble-ewan-morrison?CMP=twt_gu
Paul (@princejvstin) on February 17, 2012
is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian,
Hence my comment earlier this week that inhabitants of a dystopia often see themselves as being in a utopia, especially Brave New World. Wikipedia agrees with me. Huzzah!
Extremism is sneaky because it comes by logical steps that, by themselves, seem okay. By the end of it, you are in a full bore nightmare by anyone looking from outside the process.
I don’t want to get into contemporary politics, but current events seem awfully like steps toward the Handmaid’s Tale.
Stina on February 17, 2012
The Handmaid’s Tale is fantastic, and yes, a lot of what’s going on right now does seem to be headed that direction, doesn’t it?
W.G. Marshall on February 17, 2012
I just spent yesterday evening in a crowded school auditorium, listening to people railing against removing a prayer mural from the public school, even though a judge had already declared it unconstitutional. The religious hysteria in the room was incredible, with speakers calling the ACLU a “virus” and framing it as an issue of “religious liberty.” This was not happening in the rural South, but in suburban New England.
Stina on February 17, 2012
That is terrifying. Yikes.
John Love on February 19, 2012
Yes, your reference to The Handmaid’s Tale hits the spot. What she describes is so well-constructed, there doesn’t seem to be any way out of it – it pervades every aspect, every transaction, of day-to-day life. And to add to WG’s point, in Britain we have Faith schools – publicly funded, but run by religious bodies who can deny entry to children whose parents don’t profess (or pretend) adherence to that faith. The forces of darkness and unreason are gathering – not just in ghastly foreign dictatorships or theocracies, but on our own doorsteps.