Lately, I had been doing some thinking after listening to various Youtube videos critiquing the current Disney canon of Star Wars, as well as reading JD Cowan’s recent blog posts about the sci-fi and fantasy genres and the death of the short story. All together, it gave me so much the consider that I completely rethought my current novel project and went in a radically different direction with it.
However, a tweet from Daddy Warpig brought everything into sharp relief:
It’s rare that I find writers who haven’t been poisoned with Post-Modernist theories about what makes for a good book or good story, even in anti-SJW circles.
Cultural Marxism did its job very well.
— Daddy Warpig (@Daddy_Warpig) June 7, 2018
I had more or less the same thoughts when I did the podcast with Jim Fear, but I wasn’t able to elaborate on it right then and there.
So I will do so here.
One reason for the success of such diverse franchises as Star Wars, Pokémon, Dragonball Z, My Hero Academia, Harry Potter, and others is their heavily escapist quality. When you sit down for any of them, you aren’t going to be treated to political discourses or social policy debates, but rather a grand adventure full of joy, wonder, and danger. Though all of those works have definite themes and ideas, the works don’t propagandize, but rather let you enjoy the ride and the cool characters. This lets them have broad appeal, and even those who don’t care much for the themes can enjoy them.
(This is something the isekai genre does VERY WELL.)
SJWs politicizing franchises generally sucks out the enjoyment, but it has another effect as well: making anti-SJW creators uphold the Doctrine of No Escapism.
SJWs seek to create a media landscape where one can only see their political messaging, but they don’t just do that by gutting popular works. They turn entire genres into political battlegrounds, so even when someone responds with an “anti-SJW” work, it remains in the system and keeps the genre politicized. Enjoyment becomes a secondary concern, and the work fails to entertain. One cannot escape the politics, no matter where you go. That genre you liked has become just like the news media.
The SJWs say that sci-fi and fantasy have “always been political” because they don’t want escapism of any sort.
And the Doctrine of No Escapism retains its power. Profitability suffers, and a genre dies. Excessive politicization killed the short story (though there was no counter-revolution worth mentioning.)
To break this system, one must write from the heart, without excessive intellectualization. Make a story that puts enjoyment first and political issues second. Focus on broad, perennial themes, not one’s position on some currently existing controversy. Resist the urge to preach. Make something you enjoy, not something you feel you have to write to advance the struggle. Writing something that doesn’t delve into politics angers them just as much as something too conservative because it isn’t woke (Look at this SJW reaction to Hallmark movies.)
Otherwise, all speculative fiction will acquire the rancid taint of the evening news. Money and customers will bleed away, leaving only a prison where there once was a shire.
Let’s break out. The jailers will never know what hit them.
My novella, Sword & Flower, embraces escapism and rejects partisan political debates. Buy your copy today!
Very good points. This is where I think a lot of the people talking about the “culture war” are doing fiction a disservice–they swap one message for another, but it’s still Message Fiction. If you walk away from Rome you’re still on the Roman road, and it’s tough to have fun on a battlefield, no matter who is winning.
Agreed — politicization kills the fiction because the creator is clearly trying to impress fellow creatives, not the paying customers. The audience feels attacked and turns away.
That’s not to say that one can’t have larger themes. However, one should focus on what makes the story fun and exciting, not on justifying the premise or the themes to some imagined critic.
Also note that I don’t address the broader topic of political activism as this is not about being a better activist, but being a better entertainer.
Rafle and Misha,
How to combine a fun escapist story with romance, intrigue, heroism and happy ending s with sociopolitical observations?
We all have our views but how to it without annoying readers?
I’m carefully reading writers I like to see how they do it and then try my own take. But i’m still leery
xavier
It is a difficult balance to strike, but as I said, it’s best to keep things broad, rather than focus on specific controversies.
The society, with its attendant economics, politics, religion, fashion, etc, etc, is the setting, not the antagonist.
“The System” may have allowed a particular antagonist to gain a position of power in order to be a threat to the antagonist, but the struggle should be against that particular antagonist, not against “The System”.
It may seem a subtle distinction, but it’s an important one. One could argue that Javert represents an oppressive government in Les Miz, but the personal nemesis relationship between Javert and Valjean is what elevates the story above polemic.