Science Fiction

[butterflydreaming]

Even in distopias, the hero usually prevails. Is that an optimistic viewpoint?

Comments

[jessfaraday]

It's pragmatic, anyway. Nobody wants to read a book where the hero fails in the end!

[butterflydreaming]

I should have used "protagonist" instead of "hero." Because in literature, the protagonist can often end up in doom. Moby Dick springs to mind. And in 300, essentially everyone dies... although I guess that they do prevail. This musing is because I was revisiting a discussion about science fiction being "generally optimistic," for which a good argument was made in regards to classic SF.