ECHO CHAMBER: Dystopia Myopia
Dystopia. We see it a lot — Divergent is just the latest example of a story universe that has as its starting point, a disaster of some sort. Usually man-made, these global catastrophes put humanity just out of reach of civilization. Society breaks down and re-forms in ways we’d never begin to imagine outside of science fiction. And the question that starts to percolate after Divergent wasn’t quite the next iteration of The Hunger Games — when is enough enough?
The panel: Maia Ades, Marie Lim, Annaleigh Josephs, Brie Clemens, Heather French, Carolyn Wise, Dan Handley, Jason Hunt
On your list of real disasters that do not make sense to result in the dystopian futures of sci-fi, I think you have to go up several levels of magnitude, like a massive asteroid or the next ice age etc. The examples cited of modern days disasters I agree are fairly mundane, but there are possible disasters that will drastically alter the economy/life of everyone on earth. In my view it always goes to economic, that is, any disaster that can send the earth into either an ice age or a real global warming where significant portions of the agriculture growing seasons/cycle are effected, resulting in massive famines (like 50% or more of the earth population die within a few years). Disasters of that magnitude would change the economic/political makeup of the entire globe. It isn’t likely to happen in our lifetime, but it is almost certain to happen eventually.
I agree with the overall main point you are making, it is time for entertainers/media to find some other basis/back story for sci-fi, I will welcome some other angles to the stories. Have a nice day.
Right on Jason, there was NO “Young Adult” back in our day, there was children books and real books, ie “Adult” books. At least from a “marketing” perspective or my perspective. I read ERB Mars series and Asimov and all of Robert A. Heinlein, some of which is referred to as “juvenile sci-fi” I believe. Maybe the difference is the more centralized control that large corporations have in the book/media industry. Thank goodness for technology and internet for alternate ways for creative people to put out their works.
Good show