Postapocalyptic Fiction, Part One
Feb. 3rd, 2016 09:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingIn a reply to my comment about a certain failure of postapocalyptic imagination, renegadefolkhero wrote, "I don't think I've seen anything in a PA setting that was imaginative in regards to power structures and society." I started thinking about this, and then I couldn't stop thinking about it because apparently I am really fucking morbid, and now I'm going to write about it. I have no idea how long I can keep this up, but bros I made a list so get ready.
The Book/s
The Dark Tower, by Stephen King
What This Is
a seven-volume dark fantasy series with an ongoing comic adaptation
Are existing power structures maintained?
After the apocalypse, the world has reverted to a quasi-medieval society in which men are kings and knights (or "gunslingers") and women are mostly virgins, whores, or witches. De facto matriarchies exist in small rural towns, but they're largely dysfunctional.
Are women raped and murdered?
In the first book, the protagonist rapes a woman with the barrel of his gun. Later on the main female protagonist is raped by a demon, only to be kidnapped by other demons who force her to deliver the baby. Pregnancy via supernatural rape is probably my least favorite fantasy tropes, by the way. Like, I could viscerally feel myself fall out of love with Haruki Murakami the instant he pulled that shit in 1Q84.
renegadefolkhero wrote, "I don't think I've seen anything in a PA setting that was imaginative in regards to power structures and society." I started thinking about this, and then I couldn't stop thinking about it The Book/s
The Dark Tower, by Stephen King
What This Is
a seven-volume dark fantasy series with an ongoing comic adaptation
Are existing power structures maintained?
After the apocalypse, the world has reverted to a quasi-medieval society in which men are kings and knights (or "gunslingers") and women are mostly virgins, whores, or witches. De facto matriarchies exist in small rural towns, but they're largely dysfunctional.
Are women raped and murdered?
In the first book, the protagonist rapes a woman with the barrel of his gun. Later on the main female protagonist is raped by a demon, only to be kidnapped by other demons who force her to deliver the baby. Pregnancy via supernatural rape is probably my least favorite fantasy tropes, by the way. Like, I could viscerally feel myself fall out of love with Haruki Murakami the instant he pulled that shit in 1Q84.
