WHAT IS POST-APOCALYPSE
The definition of
Post-Apocalypse anymore seems to be a mere label useful for advertising. When Logan’s Run, a dystopian fiction piece,
is labeled as post-apocalypse, we all nod and grin and remember the big busted
big haired Fara Facitt ( I know, spelling ).
Okay, so they all went underground after a nuclear war or whatever it
is. Today, their society looks like a
middle class shopping mall. Full of
beautiful people. No one is starving,
crime is reasonable if not nonexistent ( I haven’t seen the movie since it
first came out on video ). Society is
normal. How is this then considered
post-apocalypse? The Disney movie Wall-E
claimed to be post-apocalypse, just because the planet blew up and they went
elsewhere. To a functioning
environment. To my mind, post-apocalypse
isn’t just about events after a major cataclysm, not if society has recovered
and is fully functional. To me,
post-apocalypse is the struggle to get to a functioning society again. Once you get there, that ain’t
post-apocalypse any more but science fiction ( although, of course,
post-apocalypse is a sub-genre of science fiction. In this case it slips from its sub-genre
classification back to the parent genre ).
I know I’m splitting hairs here, but I also feel it is necessary because
without doing so there is a lot of cheating taking a customers money under
false pretext. Just like when the book
store and the library lump fantasy in with science fiction. They ain’t the same thing. At all.
They are as far apart as Romance and Men’s Military Adventure.
*
Is there a governing body
that stays in power through policing rather than military conflict? Is there trade established with other
organizational entities? Is there a
surplus of resources to allow trade? Do
citizens spend more time working at a trade than fighting to get enough to
eat? Well then, you are not in a
post-apocalypse world. You might be in
an alternate world, sci-fi wise. But you
are no longer surviving a die-off. And
that would be, surviving a die-off whilst under no government protection (
natural disasters, crop failure famines and the like are not post-apocalypse. They are regular life before and after
petroleum in the First World ). As much
as the anarchist in me cringes, almost no human society as ever successfully
functioned without some level of governance ( which requires force to survive
). The lack of governance is a key
factor in post-apocalypse stories, because without it you can’t have safety to
grow food and you can’t safely trade food for other necessities. Once stable government is established, and
crops are grown, and trade is possible, you are technically still in a period
AFTER the Apocalypse but you are no longer IN an Apocalypse. So while the label of “post-apocalypse” is
technically correct, it is a lawyer weasel word ( what is the definition
of IS? ). I don’t expect most to agree
with me, nor this to change a damn thing.
But perhaps it will go a ways to explaining those times when I casually
dismiss any book or movie as “NOT post-apocalypse”.
END
Please
support Bison by buying through the Amazon ad graphics at the top of the page.
You can purchase anything, not just the linked item. Enter Amazon through my
item link and then go to whatever other item you desire. As long as you don’t
leave Amazon until after the order is placed, I get credit for your
purchase. For those that
can’t get the ads because they are blocked by your software, just PayPal me
occasionally or buy me something from my Amazon Wish List once a year.
*
*
The Old
Bison Blog on CD
Over five years of work and nearly two million words of pure brilliance. Here is the link to order:
http://kunaki.com/sales.asp?PID=PX00KX7Z1I
Over five years of work and nearly two million words of pure brilliance. Here is the link to order:
http://kunaki.com/sales.asp?PID=PX00KX7Z1I
my bio & biblio
*
My books on PDF ( ALL free!! ) available at
http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=james++dakin&sorter=relevance-desc
*
By the by, all my writing is copyrighted. For the obtuse out there.
*
My books on PDF ( ALL free!! ) available at
http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=james++dakin&sorter=relevance-desc
*
By the by, all my writing is copyrighted. For the obtuse out there.
Well stated. This is why I read your blog daily: clarity.
ReplyDeleteIts apparently all relative then.
ReplyDeleteAre the native americans in their post-apocalypse world?
No. They were not struggling to survive per se, resource wise. Theirs is more a prison society, the warden being a giant dick who sometimes withholds medical care and food.
DeleteFarrah Fawcett was in Logan's Run???? Oh crap she was! All I remember was the modified 1911 the dude carried.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the gun. But, then, Big Hair was always my bag, baby.
Delete
ReplyDelete"As much as the anarchist in me cringes, almost no human society as ever successfully functioned without some level of governance ( which requires force to survive"
It seems to be a necessary evil James. In the beginning it always starts off small, but inevitably grows in leaps and bounds, consuming all liberties in its path. The father's of the Constitution recognized this, and came close to a perfect solution. But failed to include a few all to important stipulations, such as preventing others from being able to vote in a way that can determine how others get to use their own private property according to what is deemed "fair" by the leftist, brainwashed community at large, along with no wealth redistribution.
Let's not get into right/left finger pointing. It is a column of smoke blown up our asses. Both parties play a game of fighting but both end up with more power. They use each other as scapegoats. Don't fall for it.
DeleteNo worries James. I fully understand that the modern right is just as useless as the left. The primary difference being that one is directly voting in Communism. It bothers me to no end when someone feels that they have the right to vote in a way as to control my views or property rights. But of course, that would be true of either side.
Delete