 |
| Credit: Pixabay.com |
I apologise for
posting so late again. The Thanksgiving holiday was extra busy for me
and last weekend had too many things that needed catching up on. I
also was a little ill some of the week but am much better now. I hope
all of you had a great Thanksgiving, though. It seems like the
holiday was just yesterday and we’re already hurtling
toward Christmas!
About a week ago, I
came across a really neat article on the website Earther entitled
“Rare Manuscript Exhibit Explores How Climate Disasters CreateMonsters”. Well, if climate disaster isn’t doing
that, some other natural or technological disaster is. The article
shows how climate change has influenced not only science fiction but
even certain types of fantasy fiction too, especially horror. The
author of this article, Maddie
Stone, uses
examples from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and, believe it or
not, Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
A lot of science
fiction, needless to say, has been influenced by natural and
technological disasters. But fewer people are aware that fantasy and
supernatural horror have also been influenced by these things. But
what’s interesting about Stone’s article is that it reports on an
exhibit that is going on at the Rosenbach Library in Pennsylvania
called Gothic Monster, Modern Science. The exhibit features
manuscripts of classic horror authors such as Shelly and Stoker and
the scientific events of their times that helped shaped their
stories. One of these, Stone explains, was an 1815 volcanic eruption
that had climate changing effects: a year-round “winter” for much
of the Western world and disease outbreaks.
Needless to say,
climate change is a big issue today and has been influencing much
contemporary science fiction. It’s also needless to say that
climate change isn’t the only scientific disaster that has
influenced sci fi. However, fewer people would think science has
influenced supernatural fiction. Even
the fantasy epic Game
of Thrones book
and television series reflect
today’s issue of global warming by
setting the story in a
world where a winter
or summer can
last several years.
But other scientific phenomena and the anxiety it raises in people
have also influenced these stories. Some of these phenomena have been
artificial intelligence, robotics and genetic engineering, in which
these three have provoked the same basic concern that Frankenstein
has: artificially creating or recreating life. This concern has been suggested in novels such as
Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, its
movie adaptation Blade Runner and the movie’s recent sequel,
Blade Runner 2049.
As far as epidemics
go, the vampire curse in Dracula is approached in part as a
virus rather than so much as a curse and so the characters attempt to
cure it as such. This element has continued to be used in horror
fiction since then, including other vampire tales such as Richard
Matheson’s I Am Legend and its movie adaptations, werewolf
films and today’s zombie fiction.
But Stone’s article focuses on the subject of
climate change and the Gothic horror fiction of the past. It
discusses how the subject is reflected in the authors’ notes and
manuscripts on display at the Rosenbach and how natural disasters
lead to the creation of monsters in these stories. For what is a
monster in fiction but a metaphor for an overwhelming force that
seems to be unstoppable in real life, such as climate change and
unbeatable computer viruses that infect what are supposed to be the
most secure of databases such as Equifax’s? The monster in much
horror, whether it be supernatural or science fiction horror,
represents these catastrophic forces and society’s fear of them. I
strongly suggest you take a look at Stone’s article for the
details.
Speculative fiction
is a way to help us deal with the present time’s catastrophic
problems and how to put something into perspective that’s otherwise
so overwhelming or chaotic. It’s an escape from the problems of our
own reality as reflected in the news while also a way to deal with
those problems through imaginary means. We hope it will help us come
up with real solutions to the problems, like science fiction has done
in many instances such as in medical science and education both of
which advancements in computer technology has contributed to.
I’ll try to
discuss where I’m at with my writing projects, have some writing
tips and maybe even another link to a fantastic find here next time.
Until then . . .
Comments
Post a Comment