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« Brainiac's bedside table, 3d edition | Main | The Freakonomics effect (+ Talkfest) » Thursday, March 29, 2007Postmodern paleo-futurismOne more science fiction-related post, then I'll drop the genre for a while. (Until Sunday.) Over at the excellent blog Paleo-Future today, Matt asks: "When did a certain level of self-awareness about futurism outweigh the sincere, optimistic brand of futurism?" In other words, at what point did pop culture start producing speculative fictions about the future that didn't reflect on then-contemporary anxieties about what the future might be like, but instead reflected (ironically, for the most part, or at least with a certain emotional distance) on the anxieties of previous generations about the future? When did we stop worrying about dystopian societies run by computers, robots running amuck, and mutated cannibal survivors of nuclear war and start cracking wise about those things?  Today, Matt notes, we're swamped with ironic meta-futuristic fictions like "Mystery Science Theater 3000," "Meet the Robinsons," and the "Futurama" TV show. He can't think of any earlier examples than Woody Allen's "Sleeper" (1973). I assume that accidentally funny speculative fictions -- like "The World, the Flesh and the Devil" (1959), in which Harry Belafonte is the last man alive after a nuclear war, and the last woman alive happens to be white, so what to do? -- don't count. Samuel Beckett's "Endgame" (1957) might count, right? But the trend probably began with something like... "The Penultimate Truth" (1964), by Philip K. Dick, offers a phildickian twist on the already well-established genre of post-apocalyptic fictions in which the survivors of nuclear war must live in underground cities: It turns out (spoiler alert) that everything is fine aboveground, and cynical governments are just making undergrounders think the war's still going on. Harlan Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog" (1969), made into the excellent movie starring a young Don Johnson. Ellison romps merrily through the usual post-apocalyptic scenario. "Love in the Ruins" (1971), by Walker Percy -- offers a wry twist on the then-established apocalyptic scenario in which survivors hole up in motels and fight pitched battles on golf courses.  Readers, got any other ideas? Posted by Joshua Glenn at 09:32 AM
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