A lot of Western fiction goes along the lines of:
the world’s in danger and since you’re God’s chosen person, only you can save the world. You don’t require that much assistance from anybody else because you pulled yourself up by your own bootstraps
Even if it involves a team, it’s like a team off like 10 people, that the protagonist had to pull together in some way shape or form due to their personal charisma or something.
In real life, to take down the evil dictator or whatever it needs a lot more than 10 people, and since you’re not God’s chosen person, you could even die.
Additionally a lot of Western fiction places big emphasis on money. The protagonist will have access to very expensive equipment frequently.
The evil dictator is basically straight out of a psych ward, which I guess is not offend conservatives, but It’s rare that the evil dictator is even racist. Like Trump would make a great villain.
This is kind of a follow-up to my personal branding question. But basically protagonists have done a great job with personal branding.
I think it would help our cause a lot if there was fiction that emphasized basically the opposite of what I listed above. And it should go mainstream.
Any examples of good fiction? Especially if it’s free and visual
I’ve been reading some novels from Chinese and Black authors (African American as well as African heritage). Even some western fiction isn’t as you describe, Ursula Le Guin for example is quite famous and often writes about various forms of non-capitalist societies. No its not visual art but the concepts and themes are quite different from the tropes we are used to in western fiction.
- Kim Stanley Robinson: Mars trilogy.
- Dune: has some class struggle themes
I agree with your summary of the plot line for most fiction. It’s tired, but the fiction industry seems not to be bored of it. There seem to be endless writers willing to churn out the same story over and over, too. More revolutionary art!
Not quite what you’re looking for:
1900 with Robert de Niro. I confess I’ve not finished it. I started it at a time when I was juggling too many other things. It’s a 6 hour movie about class struggle in Italy.
Norsemen on Netflix is quite good as there are constant references to capitalism and liberal thought in a way that obviously doesn’t fit the setting. So it can be watched as a satire of other shows that imagine capitalist medieval times.
Written works:
Normal People and Beautiful World Where Are You by Sally Rooney, an Irish Marxist writer.
China Miéville is a Marxist writer who has published quite a few books. I enjoyed the City and the City. There’s also a BBC adaptation. He also edited a non fiction book, Red Planets: Marxism and Science Fiction, which may give you some ideas.
The Iron Heel by Jack London is supposed to be good. It’s on my list, so I cannot really confirm whether it’s what you’re after exactly. It’s on project Gutenberg.
Michael Rosen (ed), Workers’ Tales: Socialist Fairy Tales, Fables, and Allegories from Great Britain.
Bernard Cornwell – not a Marxist so far as I can tell – is quite good because he generally avoids capitalist realism. He writes historical fiction but avoids the trap of writing about capitalism in historic costume. In the Last Kingdom series, for instance, people don’t just nip down the shop for supplies. It’s feudalism, and the characters acquire food, etc, accordingly.
