Hope vs Darkness

One wrist injury later and I can type one of these up again.

One of the worst trends in entertainment right now is how nihilistic and dark everything has become. Cynism reigns, even Superman went dark.

I like a little darkness, but I prefer a light at the end of the tunnel, or at least some light somewhere in the story. You see it on social media too “this year is like the worst year ever” (never mind how silly that looks in the context of history).

Seeing this I make it a point in my writing to never wallow in cynism and darkness. Life can get pretty bad for the protagonist but there is always good somewhere and sometimes I'll take a moment to display that. It's important we challenge the hero, bring them down, but there needs to be another side.

We need this not just because cynicism has become over done and boring, but also because there will be people who read what I write who are going through hard times, and I think it's important their entertainment show that hard times can be over come.

Agent is a story that takes place in a pretty dark setting, 1930s Germany, on the cusp of genocide and war. Part of it involves a camp, one of the characters is a prisoner in said camp. The main character is not a good person, but through all of that are good moments, either moments of unexpected kindness, or resistance to what is coming.

Invasion, the book this story leads to, is also dark in places, the world order collapses, the main character is separated from his wife by war and calamity, everything he cared about is torn away from him…but that's only part of the story.

This is why I don't like Game of Thrones, it wallows in nihilism and cynicism, it suggests all people are just different kinds of bad. A story need not be 1970s or 1950s Superman, but I think it needs some good, some light, even if it ends in darkness, the darkness can't be everything. Our modern entertainment has gone too far in this direction, and I make an effort in my writing not to fall into the same trap.