Many years from now, some kids who don't know history are going to express skepticism that "It couldn't have happened like that. That's way too ridiculous and unrealistic!"
And I'm going to respond by telling them to get off my lawn.
(I look forward to the Coen Brothers version. Because we are in a Coen Brothers movie right now. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion from a seat on the train.)
Also: Truth is stranger than fiction. Never doubt that.
Update: By the way, Frances McDormand would make a spectacular Bettsy DeVos.
Update: Last year, I referred to the Brexit fiasco as something out of a Coen Brothers film (and I included the train-wreck comparison), but the way things have been playing out in the US (including last year, but especially since the election) is, hands down, even more extreme in that direction.
Since I'm more of a book person than a movie person (had to follow your link to get some idea who these Coen Brothers are :) ), I've been characterizing current events as a poorly-written, amateurishly-plotted dystopian novel that could never get off any editor's slushpile in the real world.
ReplyDeleteAs a related point, Charles Stross has been complaining that 2016 made both of his current/near-future dystopian sci-fi settings look quite a bit more appealing than intended. We're still better off than the Laundryverse (we'd better be, anyway!); I haven't read Empire Games yet to see the state of those timelines in 2020 (I think the first trilogy ended in 2003ish).
Yes, we are living in a dystopian novel — also a live-action hybrid of Illuminati and Paranoia.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading some dystopian fiction lately. I am reading the second book in The Bone Season series. (The third one is coming out next month.) It has some excellent world-building and a look into clairvoyance using a dystopian version of England. You should check it out!