Is Science Fiction Literature Hopeful?

When you read futuristic books or watch science fiction movies, ask yourself,

“What hope do the writers offer?”

Watch our Truth in Two to see why we need to look elsewhere for “hope” (full text and afterword below).

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FULL TEXT

Sometimes people will ask, “What do you think will happen in the future?” My general response is, “Have you read any good science fiction lately?”

I remember years ago reading H.G. Wells novel The Time Machine. Toward the end of the book, the time traveler fast-forwards himself thousands of years into earth’s future. He finds himself on a planet which has become nothing more than a cold ball spinning in space. The reader will find similar themes in books such as 1984, Animal Farm, The Road, or Fahrenheit 451. Any classic or modern dystopian literature explains the future the same way: look at how awful the world could be, we better do something about it now.

And we better do something quick, because it’s now 2022. Harry Harrison’s novel from 1966 Make Room! Make Room! makes the point that overpopulation, pollution, poverty and environmental destruction have consumed the earth in the year 2022. In the novel, one-world government elites have created a way to feed the masses, with something called “Soylent Green.” Based on Harrison’s book, the movie Soylent Green makes us wonder what kind of future earth may have. Like all dystopian literature and movies, the basic line is the same: the awfulness of our destructive future should drive us to do something about those problems now.

But wait. Dystopian literature about the future does not give us an answer to the question in the present, “Why should I care?” Fantastic writers like Orwell, Bradbury, McCarthy, Wells, or Huxley show us an awful future, with little help toward a solution.

But, Acts 3:21 says that Jesus IS the solution, who will someday “restore all things” to their original order. So, after a discussion about dismal, futuristic literature, I point people to Jesus, the hope of all the earth in 2022, and beyond. For Truth in Two this is Dr. Mark Eckel, personally committed to looking for the blessed hope – Jesus.

AFTERWORD The ending of the movie Soylent Green with Charlton Heston is one of the great finales in science fiction film. No spoilers here. If you have not seen the movie be ready for the difference of movie making over 50 years. But the concept of utopian societies which protect the elite and profit from the poor are ubiquitous.