I read both of your responses and I think you make valid points.
I think I get where you're coming from. Grimdark settings are often problematic, and it's true that many fascists enjoy them. I can understand why people might find that off-putting or not be fans of them for that reason. It's kinda similar to Starship Troopers or Helldivers—both are meant as satire, but reactionaries either don't get the joke or simply don't care.
With that said, I'm pretty sure you could create a grimdark setting with good politics, it's just that, realistically, most people who create these settings fall somewhere on the liberal-to-conservative spectrum. As a result, they almost all end up with the same issues you've mentioned
I have to admit, though I've been a sucker for anything dark, edgy, and grimdark since I was a teenager, and that hasn't changed. As a minority in the imperial core, grimdark settings appeal to me because they depict a struggle without hope in a doomed world. But I think there's beauty in the struggle itself, even when hope is almost nonexistent. The idea of continuing to fight, even when there's little chance of success, resonates with me deeply.
I actually agree completely which is kind of why I get a little angry. I don't really feel like everyone has to be evil for grimdark to function; You can just make the good people very very much not in power. Someone put it perfectly as "A bright light failing to illuminate the unbearable darkness is very grimdark" or something like that. The reason I get annoyed is because as a communist in real life I know things can be an utter trash world and good people still exist, they're just stuck constantly trying to scrape away the massive pile of trash. But then, like you said, there's something inspiring about how people continue to do that even when it seems pointless. Refusing to accept it has to be like this. So when the grimdark setting simply erases any such people like that from existence it's very annoying.
And of course it's still inspiring for like, the evil-but-not-as-evil faithful factions to be also maybe trying to internally struggle to improve but continually failing due to internal reactionary sentiment but people continue to try, but idk why people seem to never think of including that in their grimdark settings. It's like libs get scared about the idea of admitting mostly good people exist in hellworld because it makes them realize they might not be one of those.
I read both of your responses and I think you make valid points.
I think I get where you're coming from. Grimdark settings are often problematic, and it's true that many fascists enjoy them. I can understand why people might find that off-putting or not be fans of them for that reason. It's kinda similar to Starship Troopers or Helldivers—both are meant as satire, but reactionaries either don't get the joke or simply don't care.
With that said, I'm pretty sure you could create a grimdark setting with good politics, it's just that, realistically, most people who create these settings fall somewhere on the liberal-to-conservative spectrum. As a result, they almost all end up with the same issues you've mentioned
I have to admit, though I've been a sucker for anything dark, edgy, and grimdark since I was a teenager, and that hasn't changed. As a minority in the imperial core, grimdark settings appeal to me because they depict a struggle without hope in a doomed world. But I think there's beauty in the struggle itself, even when hope is almost nonexistent. The idea of continuing to fight, even when there's little chance of success, resonates with me deeply.
I actually agree completely which is kind of why I get a little angry. I don't really feel like everyone has to be evil for grimdark to function; You can just make the good people very very much not in power. Someone put it perfectly as "A bright light failing to illuminate the unbearable darkness is very grimdark" or something like that. The reason I get annoyed is because as a communist in real life I know things can be an utter trash world and good people still exist, they're just stuck constantly trying to scrape away the massive pile of trash. But then, like you said, there's something inspiring about how people continue to do that even when it seems pointless. Refusing to accept it has to be like this. So when the grimdark setting simply erases any such people like that from existence it's very annoying.
And of course it's still inspiring for like, the evil-but-not-as-evil faithful factions to be also maybe trying to internally struggle to improve but continually failing due to internal reactionary sentiment but people continue to try, but idk why people seem to never think of including that in their grimdark settings. It's like libs get scared about the idea of admitting mostly good people exist in hellworld because it makes them realize they might not be one of those.