In recent synchronicity,
I find I am not the only one recently watching older science fiction films and
I am not the only one looking for hope in the future:
In some of the
conversation about the second article, the necessity and usefulness of hope was
questioned a little ("evidence of an immature mind", in one tweet),
which led me to feel that my own writings might be hopelessly naive and
juvenile.
I'm still going to finish
this sequence.
There are two things that
make me hopeful for the future of the Citadel in Fury Road. They are both radical in their own right.
First, they decide to repair the place that they have, and make it a good home,
rather than keep running to find something new. People of Earth, this is our
best option. Take note.
Also, I think they have a
chance because of the example brought to them by the Vuvulini. Small things
show them to be a caring and cooperative society, like the way they greet
Furiosa, and the bike for Max whether he accompanies them or not. Beyond that,
when the escaped brides are fighting off Nux they are also attempting to educate
him and acknowledging his own lack of choice. I don't know if they got that
from Furiosa, or it came naturally to them, but here are women who choose to
uplift instead of put down. They want freedom for themselves, but they have not
defined that as sovereignty over others. If they can impart that to the others,
this can work.
Science fiction is not my
primary interest - for viewing or reading - but I do know of at least one
property that imagines a non-dystopian future: Star Trek.
(One bit of parenthetical
pedantry: I think Star Wars belongs in
the realm of fantasy. Even the opening lines - "A long time ago, in a
galaxy far, far away" - make it sound like a fairy tale. It may have been
trying to get there with the late addition of midichlorians, but the presence
of space ships does not make it science fiction.)
I would not have thought
about the optimism of Star Trek on my own.
That came from Paul Krugman, though he was largely influenced by Manu Saadia,
the author of Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek.
The part that was most
fascinating to me was the parallel drawn between Star Trek's creation
and The Great Society. In a culture that (however flawed) was actively working
on strengthening civil rights and eliminating poverty, of course they could
imagine a hopeful future. They could see a future that was not defined by
oppression and misery because they were trying to build it.
Instead of going full
throttle on that, we have ended up in the second Gilded Age. We even had the
collapse of 2008 to show us how dangerous the growing economic inequality was,
but any measures against that were fought tooth and nail. They promoted
inequality via racism until they finally elected someone who literally owns a golden
toilet. Things look very grim.
If there is any hope, it
will come from love, and cooperation. It will not come without equality. There's
a lot to dissect about how things happened and how things can work and even if
they can work now. They're pretty entrenched. But I long for equality and I
long for better days so I won't give up.
I nonetheless
whole-heartedly agree that people of color do not owe consolation to anyone,
and especially that Coates does not owe it to Colbert, who has made his own
contributions to the problem.
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