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Postapocalyptic Fiction, Part Two
Feb. 6th, 2016 08:48 amThe Book/s
The Stand, by Stephen King
What This Is
a don't-drop-it-on-your-foot novel with a six-volume comic adaptation
Are existing power structures maintained?
Initially, it seems that a Magical Negro is going restore civilization via a benevolent theocracy, but that doesn't really go anywhere. It then seems that the noble disenfranchised of the pre-apocalypse world will set up some sort of idealized democracy, but it turns out that the job of these men is to get rid of the Big Bad. By the end of the novel, the reader is led to believe the community established by the heroes has reverted to politics as usual.
Are women raped and murdered?
There aren't that many female characters, relatively speaking. A major antagonist is female, however, and for some reason she thinks she's destined to become the bride of the Big Bad. Although (or probably because) she's the most sexually active character in the story, her virginity is fetishized, and then when she finally encounters the Big Bad what passes between them is unquestionably rape. She is impregnated, but she tricks the Big Bad into murdering her before she can deliver the child, because Stephen King is classy like that.
The Stand, by Stephen King
What This Is
a don't-drop-it-on-your-foot novel with a six-volume comic adaptation
Are existing power structures maintained?
Initially, it seems that a Magical Negro is going restore civilization via a benevolent theocracy, but that doesn't really go anywhere. It then seems that the noble disenfranchised of the pre-apocalypse world will set up some sort of idealized democracy, but it turns out that the job of these men is to get rid of the Big Bad. By the end of the novel, the reader is led to believe the community established by the heroes has reverted to politics as usual.
Are women raped and murdered?
There aren't that many female characters, relatively speaking. A major antagonist is female, however, and for some reason she thinks she's destined to become the bride of the Big Bad. Although (or probably because) she's the most sexually active character in the story, her virginity is fetishized, and then when she finally encounters the Big Bad what passes between them is unquestionably rape. She is impregnated, but she tricks the Big Bad into murdering her before she can deliver the child, because Stephen King is classy like that.
