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VI: Canceling the Apocalypse
Solarpunk
Solarpunk
is perhaps the youngest genre I've discussed so far, if Cyberpunk was
a person (God have mercy on such a man) it would be old enough to run
for President. Climate Fiction would be attending grade school. The
earliest reference I can find to Solarpunk is from around 2014/2013.
That means Solarpunk is barely old enough for kindergarten.
Suncatcher for example was first published in 2014 and Alia Gee would
have no idea for sometime that there were other novels taking up the
banner of Solarpunk. The first mentions I can find (admitly I can
only really look at English language sources) on tumbler date from
about 2014 as well
(http://missolivialouise.tumblr.com/post/94374063675/heres-a-thing-ive-had-around-in-my-head-for-a).
Although the term itself had been floated as early as 2010, I
couldn't works I'd really mark as Solarpunk. Let's talk about what
Solarpunk gets from from each of its “parents” and then look at
what makes it different from them. .
Solarpunk
works tend to be critical of capitalism and of modern society in
general. It distrusts authority and hierarchy and often features
characters somewhat estranged from society or oppressed by it's norms
and mores. Emiko is a great example of this, as she could easily fit
into a Cyberpunk book. Solarpunk also brings in the idea that
technology doesn't necessarily everything and may not benefit the
masses in the end. The Solarpunk books we've looked at present
pretty profound ideas of why technology, be it the engineered plagues
and blights of The Windup Girl or the genetic experiments present
throughout Suncatcher, may in fact be a problem instead of a
solution. Solarpunk also adopts the punk idea of rebellion against
social expectations and rules and resistance to top down authority.
In fact like Cyberpunk, Solarpunk presents these institutions and
organizations as inherently dehumanizing and damaging to the
psychological and often physical well being of the individual.
Solarpunk also is rather critical of elites that profit off the
current social set up and is unlikely to present them in a flattering
light. These trends are inherited from Cyberpunk and show that the
themes of Cyberpunks have been pretty influential, this isn't a
surprise as Cyberpunk has soaked into our culture pretty thoroughly
and Mr. Bacigalupi shows that he could easily write Cyberpunk. In
both Cyberpunk and Solarpunk there's a strain of anarchist influence
running throughout the themes and plots of the two genres both
expressing in an inherent rejection of the limitations that authority
and social expectations place on a person.
From
Climate Fiction we see an anxiety about our changing climate and what
costs industrialization and pollution will exact from our
civilization in the end. I also think the recurring pandemics that
show in the Solarpunk books I've examined may have slipped in from
Climate Change, representing mankind losing the hard won, if
incomplete and spotty, control we've wrestled from the natural world.
There's also a reemerging of traditional problems that have
tormented humanity until very recently that now need new solutions.
Additionally Solarpunk inherits from Climate Fiction the call to
action. Where Cyberpunk is often presents it's dark future as
unavoidable, Climate Fiction and Solarpunk call on the reader and
fans to act. One thing many of the boosters and writers of Solarpunk
works is a dissatisfaction with modern society and a strong desire
for large scale and often radical change. Alongside with this is
the end of the fossil fuel era, Solarpunk takes place post peak oil
and Climate Fiction predicts the end of our ability to access cheap,
abundant fossil fuels to power our economy. So while Cyberpunk has
provided the rebellion and themes of the genre, Climate Fiction
provided the general shaping forces of your standard Solarpunk work
(such as standard exists, remember we're in the opening stages of the
genre here) and the general idea of using fiction to urge for
specific social change.
Some
of the differences I'm seeing is that there isn't a central figure
that has emerged to stamp the definition in place for Solarpunk.
There's no Dan Bloom or Gibson in Solarpunk (yet). Solarpunk instead
emerges from the fervent discussions of it's adherents, from various
short stories and collections and picks up steam from self published
or small press novels. This has made Solarpunk rather diffuse and
I'd be lying to you if I didn't say there were some disagreements in
how the genre is presented. Many would disagree with my calling The
Windup Girl, Solarpunk for example due to the darkness of the
setting. There is a large dividing line there, Solarpunk is an
inherently hopeful genre. That's where the writers and fans of the
genre find their rebellion, in confronting the apocalypse dreaded by
Climate Fiction and declaring that not only will they find a way to
maintain and sustain civilization but they will build a better one.
One more adapted to it's environment and more in harmony with the
eco-systems that civilization is part of. Solarpunk protagonists
don't dwell apart from society but work to change, often being part
of alternate organizations working to build what I'll call alternate
infrastructure. We see an example of this in this week's book, in
Suncatcher by serving as roving solar chargers and selling the energy
from that to cities along it's flight path to the point that large
energy corporations feel threatened by this competing model is a good
example of that. In fact one of the pharses that was repeated over
and over by Solarpunk advocates I found was infrastructure as a form
of resistance
(https://hieroglyph.asu.edu/2014/09/solarpunk-notes-toward-a-manifesto/).
The act of building a vertical farm or solar powered engine isn't
just an act of construction, it's an act of subversion and rebellion.
For Solarpunk writers, this is a revolt of hope against despair.
Which leds to another difference, the anarchism in Cyberpunk is often
nihilistic and expressed by self destructive behavior in the
protagonist or apathy. Solarpunk rejects that in favor of communal
styles of anarchism or just using more consensus based styles of
decision making. The Cyberpunk protagonist is classically a loner
who fits into groups uneasily at best. The Solarpunk protagonist is
either already part of a group or looking to join one and be a
productive member.
Solarpunk
also embraces the idea of diversity within it's casts and
protagonists. While fantasy and science fiction have become more
diverse over time. Solarpunk writers don't have the sheer inertia or
at times worrisome history that writers of Space Opera or
Lovecraftian horror sometimes have to deal with. Women are well
represented here, as are various minority groups be they defined by
race, religion or orientation. Part of this I think is the fact that
the fiction community simply has a more diverse fandom and more
diverse group of creators involved then would ever be admitted in
public in the past. Where in the days of Issac Asimov, writing
sci-fi was largely seen as a white man's game (never you mind those
ladies writing science fiction behind the curtain), today the science
fiction and fantasy community is more open (even if there is some
pushback) to writers and characters who aren't straight white men.
Interestingly, like a lot of science fiction, Solarpunk does have a
tendency to use people who were genetically engineered as a way to
explore bigotry and oppression without triggering defensiveness from
it's readers. Suncatcher uses Charlie, the part dog, part girl, all
roving reporter to show how damaging it can be to declare someone a
nonperson and The Windup Girl shows up how treating someone as a
nonperson can be incredibly dehumanizing to the people doing the
oppression. I haven't spoken about transhumanism but so far
Solarpunk presents the transhuman supermen of as downtrodden and
exiled to the margins of society compared to transhumanism triumphant
predictions of post humans ruling the roost. Which is an interesting
difference as well.
Solarpunk
hasn't yet reached it's fully mature and realized form as a genre.
It's very possible it never will and will die a premature death. The
opening years of a genre are when it's most likely to simply flop and
fade away. That said, in it's brief history Solarpunk has found an
interesting niche and is in the process of exploring interesting
ideas that bring fresh air to science fiction. Additionally while
Climate Fiction does speak to our modern anxieties and fears,
Solarpunk dares to suggest that there can be hope even in the face of
something so huge and unrelenting. My own thought is that we need a
constant exploration of new ideas and ways of looking at the world to
prevent becoming stale and out of touch with the world. Also, I not
counsel despair. To quote, despair is only for those who see the end
beyond all doubt. We do not. We may have to take a hard road to the
future. A road unforeseen. That said, I would say there are worse
things to do then trust to hope, as long as we act to bring that hope
about and do not use it as an excuse to be idle. After all sometimes
revolutions win.
If
you would like to read more about Solarpunk
See
you Friday when we review Implanted. Keep Reading.
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