Everyone is familiar with works in the cyberpunk genre - new books, movies and TV shows about the dystopian world of future technologies appear every year. However, cyberpunk is not the only genre of modern science fiction. Let's talk about the directions in art that offer him a variety of alternatives and force science fiction authors to turn to the most unexpected topics - from the traditions of the peoples of Africa to the "culture of shopping".
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From Jonathan Swift to the (now) Wachowski sisters, speculative art has played an important role in modern history. Fantasy genres provided an opportunity to collectively comprehend the social and technological changes that permeate humanity in an era of unstoppable progress. With the spread of computers, cyberpunk and its derivatives became the main of these areas. The authors asked questions related to ethics in the IT age, the role of man in an automated world, and digital substitution of analog products.
But now, in the year of the 20th anniversary of The Matrix, the relevance of cyberpunk is in question. Many of these works seem too radical - it is hard to believe in their fantastic predictions. In addition, cyberpunk universes are often based on the contrast between "high technology and low living standards" (low life, high tech). However, such a scenario, no matter how spectacular it may be, is not the only possible one.
Cyberpunk fiction is not limited. Recently repeatedly intersected, their new branches appeared, and niche areas went into the mainstream.
The present as a way to invent the future: mythopunk
Global culture remains the monopoly of the Western world. But ethnic minorities make up an increasing part of its population. Thanks to the Internet and progress, many of them have a voice that is heard far beyond the diaspora. Moreover, they are playing an increasingly significant role in the global economy. Sociologists predict that the so-called "European" civilization may eventually lose its leading position. What will come to replace her? It is this issue that mythopunk deals with, in particular, its subgenres Afrofuturism and Chaohuan. They take as a basis mythological and social systems that are different from the currently dominant ones, and imagine a future world built according to their principles.
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The first works in the genre of Afrofuturism back in the 1950s when jazz musician Sun Ra () began to combine in his work the mythology of ancient African civilizations and the aesthetics of the era of space exploration. And in the last ten years, this direction has spread more widely than ever before. One of the clearest examples of modern “mainstream” Afrofuturism is the Hollywood blockbuster Black Panther. In addition to cinema and , the genre manifested itself in and visual art - people interested in it have something to read, watch and listen to.
In recent decades, Chinese culture has also become more visible. After all, the country experienced two revolutions in the XNUMXth century alone, an "economic miracle" and a cultural shift unparalleled in the rest of the world. From a third world country, China has turned into a geopolitical power - where yesterday there were wooden houses, there are skyscrapers, and the ongoing progress does not allow us to stop and comprehend the significance of the path traveled.
It is this gap that local science fiction writers are trying to fill. The authors of the chaohuan genre (eng. chaohuan, translated means "ultra-unreality") pass the tools of classical science fiction through the prism of existentialism. An introduction to such literature can start with the winner of the Hugo Awards, the book "by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. The story there revolves around a female astrophysicist who invites aliens to Earth at the height of the Cultural Revolution in China.
This trend is also developing in visual and multimedia art. One example is the video essay "Sinofuturism" by multimedia artist Lawrence Lek, a collection of stereotypes about "XNUMXst century China" (pictured in the video above).
The Past as a Way to Understand the Present: Isekai and Retrofuturism
Works in the genre of "alternative history" are booming. Instead of fantasizing about the future, more and more authors prefer to reinvent history. The plot, time and place of narration in such books varies, but some principles remain common.
Retrofuturism imagines alternative civilizations that have not gone digital and built technological empires with other tools, from steam technology (steampunk) to diesel engines (dieselpunk) or even stone age technology (stonepunk). The aesthetic of such works often originates in early science fiction. Books like these allow us to reassess the role of digital tools and redefine our own visions of the future.
Isekai (Jap. "another world"), "portal fantasy" or, in Russian, "books about hitmen" ask similar questions to the past. These fantasies are united by the “pulling out” of the hero from the present and placing him in an alternative world - a magical kingdom, a computer game, or, again, the past. It's easy to see why this genre has become so popular. Not the last role in this is played by escapism and the desire to return to more “simple times”, where there are clear guidelines for good and evil. The heroes of works about hitmen redeem the past, rid it of ambivalence. The quality of work in this genre - be it animation or books - often leaves much to be desired. But, if such art is popular, then there is a reason for that. Like works of other fantastic genres, these works say a lot about our time.
Present as Past: Vaporwave
Vaporwave is perhaps the most unusual of the genres. First, he is incredibly young. If all of the above directions have existed in one form or another for a long time, then vaporwave is a product of the XNUMXst century. Secondly, like Afrofuturism, this genre has musical roots - and only now is it beginning to “break through” into other forms of art. Thirdly, if other genres openly criticize modern society, then vaporwave does not give value judgments.
The topic of vaporwave is the present and the consumer society. In modern society, it is customary to divide culture into "high" and "low". "High" culture is sometimes attributed to pretentiousness and insincerity. And the low culture of “shopping, discounts and malls” lacks these traits, which makes it more naive and somewhat more “real”. Vaporwave appeals to this very "low" culture - for example, wrapping music from supermarkets and "assembly" pop tunes from the 80s into an "art shell".
The result is ironic and incredibly relevant. Most people are familiar with the genre thanks to the work of musicians BLACK BANSHEE and Macintosh Plus. But other trends in art are beginning to take a closer look at this aesthetic. So, a couple of years ago, Netflix released an animated series in the spirit of vaporwave called . As the name suggests, it in Neo Yokio, a city from the future where wealthy demon fighters dye their hair pink and discuss designer clothes.
Of course, modern science fiction is not limited to these genres. However, they can tell a lot about our aspirations and plans for the future. And, as it turns out, not all of these plans are connected with the horrors of the development of computer technology - often, even describing the future, science fiction writers aim to rethink or even “heal” our past.
Source: habr.com