BLOGS

Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower, and Parable of the Talents are defined as "dystopian novels," not unlike "1984" (which happens to be the year I graduated college undergrad - Orwellian). I'm not so sure that a movie of either work would do justice to the stories told: based on the after effects of global warming, short-sighted politics, hyper empathy, religion, race, class, sexuality, slavery and spaceflight! A lot in both works.

The [apparent didactic] function of the dystopian: sound the alarm of where we're likely heading, make it as horrible as humanly possible and steer us in a course correction from plunging over a social/political/scientific cliff (metaphorically speaking). Or, at least the sheer satisfaction of saying: "I told you so!" The Dark Knight Returns (void of didacticism), another influential, modern example.

However, I was struck by the call in this article for "Big, Bold Science Fiction" reflective of the big, bold times. However, we're dominated by the technology as "end-users" not producers; the goal now to get-a-job to buy/consume the stuff; our fantasies are handed to us on a CD or million-player online universes by video game programmers. I seldom see or hear of kids reading comic books (most of the purchases are by adults now). S.T.E.M. careers are being avoided in droves, the void filled by other young people in other countries more prepared to face the challenges of a high-tech world...and probably higher reading rates in speculative and classical fiction.

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