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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.
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.
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I think I like the "clair" definition a bit more, although it does appear to be more character-centered than world-building centered.
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I agree with you about Trail of Lighting. But I've frequently found that when I ask for recs for hopeful stories, I get recs that I find bleak --so people seem to have wide range of what they find hopeful. Other panelists felt that some works on the list where not angry enough to be Hopepunk.
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