Genre: Dystopia/Post-Apocalypse Fiction (Apocalypse Fiction)
“I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”—Albert Einstein
Character: The main protagonists in apocalypse fiction are human beings who either have learned to adapt to the new rules that govern the end of
modern civilization or who have not learned to adapt because either the apocalypse was too recent or because they hold on to values of civilization
before the crash. Often, the protagonist is an anti-hero who continually is pressured to sacrifice virtues that people in contemporary society take for
granted. These antiheroes tend to compromise many values in order to hold on to only a few—often relationships that they view as sacred. In many
ways, apocalypse fiction and dystopian fiction are like the postmodern character who attempts to escape the fictional world becoming self-aware of
our own constructed cultural codes. Nothing shows our cultural norms to be more constructed than forcing humanity into a survival situation and
removing those institutions who are the guardians of the ideals and values of contemporary culture. The threats usually come from within the human
culture as people attempt to climb to power and unleash uncontained hedonism and domination over the weak. Threats such as the aliens, zombies,
or other foreign entities are usually a point of setting rather than any true protagonist or antagonist. In some cases, the alien culture serves as a
contrast to humanity and the human and alien species have a friendship or love relationship, further deconstructing the cultural constructs that
govern our identity, purpose, and the meaning of our lives. In dystopian fiction, the protagonists also retain the values of our current society (or the
contemporary society in which it was written) while the other members of society are following a well-intentioned “utopian” vision that has become an
oppressive force toward the values we hold in our society. Often, the new ‘utopia’ is more rationally and logically organized and rejects the irrational
and epistemology of Romanticism (desire, emotion, imagination) and so is a throwback to Romantic fiction of the 19th Century. Only in the dystopian
fiction, nature does not punish those attempting to restrain internal and external nature.
Plot: Contemporary apocalypse or dystopian fiction borrows heavily from the conventions of plot-based fiction of the early to mid 20th Century.
Battles with aliens, zombies, or machines often takes a back seat to more mundane plots that celebrate the beauty and wonder of the simplest
elements of our culture—falling in love, jealousy, friendship, etc. Of course, a rise in power dealing with the external pressures is a fascinating
backdrop and the fiction goes back and forth from the human relationships and the external conflicts to keep us interested and to remind us of the
situation that serves as a backdrop to the human stories playing out in the middle of apocalypse.
Theme: The major themes in apocalypse fiction focus on the simplest of human pleasures such as love, family, and friendship in the relationship
category and safety, convenience, and structure provided by institutions and civilization in the survival category. For dystopian fiction, the themes
are usually more political in nature exploring the dangers of universal truths (central hierarchies). The dystopia is created using a noble set of goals
that are generally socialist in nature. Often, the dystopias mirror the rise of Fascism prior to WWII—a government that pretends to be socialist in
order to motivate people to give up a sense of individual and civil rights while a select few reap the rewards of everyone else’s sacrifice and live like
emperors.
Point of View: Dystopian fiction tends toward being third person in objectively describing action from multiple points of view with occasional journal
or diary entries by the protagonist which reveals secret desires and values that are repressed in the dystopian society. If the entire text is a diary or
journal, the point of view tends to be first person. For apocalypse fiction, first and third person are equally common in telling the stories and
encompassing multiple relationships.
Setting: Post-apocalyptic fiction is set in a world or civilization after such a disaster that ruins the world. The time frame may be immediately after
the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of precatastrophe civilization has been forgotten (or mythologized). Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in a non-technological future world, or a world
where only scattered elements of technology remain. Dystopian fiction generally takes place in a future society with links and flashbacks to earlier
times in order to contrast contemporary values with those of the dystopia.
Structural Features: Although earlier genre-fiction versions of apocalypse fiction were skeletal and plot-centered, more recent attempts at the genre
are highly figurative with symbolic archetypal characters and round dynamic protagonists who usually either begin or end as anti-heroes. Heavy use
of flashbacks and even multiple perspectives serve as a contrast to the ‘present’ situation in the story. Often, just as in Magic Realism, the
supernatural events only spark more interesting dynamics in the relationships between the characters rather than being the main point or focus. A
love story has been done before, for example; however, a love story after the planet has been taken over by the machines is a novelty. Postmodern
qualities of mixing and matching elements from several genres therefore is
Variations (typical/atypical): Apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of human civilization. This
apocalypse is typically portrayed as being due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as zombie apocalypse, nuclear
warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural phenomena, divine
judgment, runaway climate change, resource depletion, ecological collapse, or some other general disasters. Dystopian fiction is more centered on
the dangers of current practices followed to either logical or far-fetched (slippery slope) conclusions of forming a new society. Technology usually
has a major role in the dangers of our current society.
“First there was the collapse of civilization: anarchy, genocide, starvation. Then when it seemed things couldn't get any worse, we got the plague. The Living Death, quickly closing its fist
over the entire planet. Then we heard the rumors: that the last scientists were working on a cure that would end the plague and restore the world. Restore it? Why? I like the death! I like
the misery! I like this world!–Cyborg