Tactical Dystopia
I think we, as humans, enjoy the idea of dystopia too much, and its aesthetic perpetuates in our society because apparently it’s fun to role-play in. But this makes sense why this style is powerful, because it is striking and formidable pairs well with the brutality on display in this genre. Its is also liberating to be in a situation so dire that the restrains on action fray. Putting a bullet in the brain of adversity is cathartic because it ends it permanently. But I would say that history shows the contrary to that, and human rebelliousness is a most volatile thing. It is the convention to present the intolerable as the normal in speculative works because they embody our own fears over the nature of the now in hopes of driving down a different path. Art is a reflection of what the creator sees, but the question is not what but through which glasses tint their view on that day. A work is not just a prediction, or a revelation to something, it is a tangible glimpse of a preoccupation.
I will make no political statement here, but I will say the prevalence of uniformed armed men in the news and feeds these days is disconcerting. This isn’t a left or right thing, because either you feel attacked by them or protected by them but I would not call either feeling positive. But I do enjoy drawing this, because I was raised in this, I have too many dystopias on my book shelf, and I actively play airsoft which is just tactical larping. But I do not wish for or crave violence, nor do I want to see our end come from it, so I daw it in hopes that it remains fantasy. I find it helpful to imagine a meaningful end in hopes the perseverance of such images ebb from my mind.
