Hopepunk?

[rachelmanija]

I pulled this comment of mine from a locked entry on my f-list on "hopepunk," which linked to some articles on it. After reading the articles, I wrote:

Apart from the impossible-to-pronounce name, hopepunk is a weird movement because it seems so utterly undefined as anything but "not grimdark," which is also a useless term as nobody agrees on what that even is either. One of the articles says The Handmaid's Tale (novel) is hopepunk because Offred is resisting inside her mind, but lots of others would say the book defines grimdark.

You can't have a movement without a set of media that everyone agrees exemplify it, but there doesn't seem to be a single example of something everyone can point at and say "it's hopepunk." If you take steampunk, there's tons of things that everyone can point at and say, "Those are steampunk." I think "punk" should be limited to things with a clear aesthetic that includes visuals - which was also the case for originalpunk.

The most interesting possible definition of hopepunk, IMO, would be this:

- Stories involve communities rather than lone individuals.

- Great change requires communal effort.

- Communities are not inherently bad, though some may be.

- People are not inherently selfish and cruel, though some may be.

- Compassion, kindness, and idealism is more likely to lead to good rather than bad consequences.

- Protecting only yourself or only your own loved ones at the expense of the Other or strangers is wrong.

- Meeting strangers is more likely to lead to interesting conversations, trade, or relationships than fights to the death.

- Even if the society contains prejudice, from the point of view of the story, all people are equal. Even if a story takes place in a racist and sexist society, the story itself will not marginalize those characters.

- Non-racist, non-sexist, non-homophobic (etc) societies are common in these stories.

- The visual aesthetic is pretty/beautiful/intricate/fun, with multiple cultures represented. There is an effort to make even ordinary items fun to use and pleasant to look at. Clothing is colorful and individual. The aesthetic is that things are both for use and for pleasure, showing that life is not only for survival.

Black Panther would be a good example of this, I think. Everything ever written by Diane Duane and Sherwood Smith.

Comments

[jesuswasbatman]

Isn't solarpunk specifically about imagining how societies can have advanced technology and modern living standards in a sustainable way, not always with solar power?

[delight]

Hello, I am a solarpunk writer, and I would say -- basically, this, yes. I tend to incorporate a lot of the Art Nouveau look and a lot of techno-druidism and cool environmentalist stuff, but I also try to be, I think clair is the best description for the sort of mindset I'm aiming for in my stories that I've seen so far. "Hopepunk" is a weird word and also seems a little too narrow (and yet also very very confusing!).

The actual power source has never come up in anything I've sold or otherwise completed, so I'm not sure it has to be solar power; I don't do hard sf so that's kind of a detail that wasn't plot important.

As someone who is not of African descent, I always imagined it as very adjacent to Afrofuturism but not one and the same, though in some instances a work can certainly be both; it's absolutely not my place to write Afrofutirism since there's not the faintest hint of African in me.

[rosefox]

This thread has me really looking forward to the "solarpunk x Afrofuturism" panel at Readercon now. :)

[delight]

Oh, man, I wish I were going for that! Sometimes I get nervous that I'm going to be attacked for writing solarpunk as a Latina and this would either make me feel much better or a lot worse.

[rosefox]

I am indignant at the very thought of anyone attacking you over that. I certainly hope no one ever does. You get to write what you want to write.

[melannen]

oh man, I would love to see more solarpunk with a specifically Latinx voice/ influence! I think there's a ton of potential there. Let nobody tell you nay. If Solarpunk isn't every culture's and race's, it isn't Solarpunk. (Also I wish I could go to that panel too!)

[rachelmanija]

Do you have any solarpunk recs? I prefer novels to short stories. I'm not sure that I've read any at all.

[melannen]

I am probably a terrible person to ask about that, since I've been reading so little recent fiction and so slowly! I follow a bunch of Solarpunk Tumblr (whence my strong opinions) but they tend to be heavy on rl activism and aesthetic stuff, low on fiction (I think that's always been a tendency of the genre, though.)

Also I tend to disagree with fiction lists when I do see them, and most of the stuff outright claiming the genre has not been via the pro publishers/magazines, so I haven't prioritized it. I'll look back at my recent tomorrow and see what pops up though.

Of this year's Hugo noms, I feel like both the Roanhorse and the Chambers feel at least Solarpunk-adjacent, though I doubt their authors would claim them that way. But they've both got a lot of what I think of as the essential elements - building newer stronger communities out of the remains of failed modernity.

[ironed_orchid]

I feel like Zahrah the Windseeker was referenced in an early solarpunk discussion as having the sort of natural and sustainable tech that solarpunk aimed for.

Karen Healey's When We Wake is a dystopia, but there is some good eco friendly tech in it. I'd love to see solarpunk set in Australia, but maybe that means I have to actually write something :-P

[ironed_orchid]

That sounds so great!

[ironed_orchid]

(subscribes)

[melannen]

I would say in theory yes, in practice it can be more about creating a world that has, hmm, the levels of justice that are achievable with modern technology and society? But often there's an aspect of looking at modern technology/standard of living and going 'is that really necessary for justice/happiness/freedom?' - ie, the idea that maybe most private homes shouldn't need 24 hours of mains electricity, for example.

Always Coming Home by le guin reads as very solarpunk for example- the higher technology isn't lost, it's just used with care and moderation (which often means not ever) and can look like a lower standard of living even if the people are living just as well.)

But there's also some that goes full high tech, yeah.

But it's definitely specifically futurist in outlook- going forward not backward or away.