Game Over > But Christ: Dystopian Writing & The Christian
This article is part of a series, and ideas culminate. We highly recommend starting with the first post, which defines the author's use of the term escapism. Read it here!
Dystopian fiction is a powerful genre which allows writers to show readers the long-term consequences of societal problems. Writers in the dystopian genre point their readers toward the current or future world problems and clearly show: “This is what will happen if this problem isn’t stopped.” By its nature, dystopian fiction often delivers hopeless storylines which fail to deliver the author’s point because writers seek escape or accidentally fall into escapism. Instead of delivering a useful answer to problems, escapist dystopian keeps authors trapped in a world where nothing will ever change as they stray further from the truth of the Bible. Yet, dystopian writers can point their readers toward solutions and hope and create deep biblical presentations of their view on certain problems, if they are careful to avoid escapist thinking.
At first, the escapism common in dystopian may not look like escapism. It does not remove all consequences from the world, nor does it distract readers from the world’s problems. If anything, the dystopian genre forcefully presses the author into the harsh, unbending result of the world’s broken state. However, that hopeless setting is what makes dystopian become escapist.
Escapist dystopian blindly surrenders to the consequences of the world’s problems and teaches the writer and audience alike that there is no solution, no hope, and no real purpose for suffering. In essence, escapist dystopian teaches that the world has consequences simply because humanity is its problem, and there is no hope for humanity’s problematic mentalities. There are, certainly, no better paths or beliefs but hopelessness, and no use trying to find one since traditional dystopian stories never correctly diagnose the cause. They do not discover why the world became broken, so they cannot equip reader to consider how to escape or overcome.
How to Spot Escapism in Dystopian Fiction
Writers can identify escapism in their dystopian stories by rereading and analyzing the message of the book, what conclusion the book comes to, and how the book came to that conclusion. Although escapism in dystopian may be hard to see, there are distinguished marks writers can look for.
Escapism is easy to spot in dystopian books which claim to be Christian and attempt to point to the Gospel. If the Gospel message in the book does not match what it is in the Bible—humans were created by God, rebelled to a fallen state, Christ died to offer salvation, and people have a choice to accept that hope or continue on their path to destruction—then the book is escapist. In fact, it's escaping the antidote to human escapism! All of the good news must be shared in order to avoid leaving readers in a Christless state of dystopian despair and despondency.
A harder type of escapism to distinguish is found in dystopian books which are made to contain subtle hope (often through political change), without obviously stating the Gospel. To avoid escapism in dystopia which alludes to the Gospel without directly presenting it, the books should still lead readers to a hope or root cause of the darkness the dystopia portrays. If writers reread and find a lack of hope or resolution in their books, subtle escapism lies in their stories.
When dystopian becomes escapist, it has no true hope at all. It falls flat of being excellent Christian literature. How can anything labeled Christian be characterized by a lack of hope? Writers, reading carefully, can diagnose escapism by its trademark hopelessness. Writers can tell a book is escapist when, rereading, characters who may survive are left broken and defeated without hope of being called to a better future or even peace in their future. This is a key mark of escapist dystopian—the characters who survive do not truly solve or analyze the problems they have been set up against. In the Bible, there is a clear solution given to problems—God’s power, grace, and justice. Hope is found when one rests in the Bible’s truth and find completion in God’s power. Like a cruel cliffhanger, in contrast, escapist dystopian books deny their readers hope and leave the problem begging to be solved without even a glimpse of God’s grace.
Another flaw that leads to escapist dystopian books is the existence of an unclear problem in the story. This creates another sort of idea cliffhanger. Escapist dystopian books have a tendency to have their readers follow a dark and depressing storyline, clearly telling readers that their plot stems from a problem that is deep-rooted and dooming for the real world. However, as the book progresses, a clearer view of what that problem is might never show up. There will be no hints toward what precise problem caused these consequences to plague the world. When a dystopian book is escapist and doesn’t have a clear problem, the consequences just seem to exist, barely hinting to a problem that has disappeared from the pages of the book with no trace. When writers reread their work, they can find this sort of consequence by deeply analyzing what the book points to as the cause. If it is shallow, pointing to a wrong cause, or nonexistent, the book is escapist and needs clearer guidance to the root cause of the problem to be truly Christian. Christianity clearly identifies sin, deals with it, and presents its cure in Christ. For example, C.S. Lewis does not let Narnia fall into dystopian depression; he provides a savior and brave heroes to stand in that hero’s name. Even when not a religious allegory, a book without the spirit of Christ falls short of conveying Christian principles.
Why Avoid Escapism in Dystopian Writing
On a deeper level and long-term scale, escapism in dystopian fiction harms a writer’s beliefs and thinking skills. Escapist dystopian keeps writers coming back to an imaginary world that is supposed to parallel their own, hoping to find solutions or a clearer understanding of real-world problems, but leads them to repeatedly find nothing. Eventually, this bears down on the minds of those who pour their time and thought into writing it, spiritually exhausting them and influencing their perspectives on hope. It keeps leading them further away from the true hope and solution to consequences and problems, inadvertently distracting them from the consequences their own writing has on them. By ignoring hope, escapist dystopian may begin to lead the writer to falsely believe that God is the villain because He allows sin but provides no alternative and no hope.
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened,” (Romans 1:21, ESV).
When writers don’t honor God and give Him thanks in their writing by acknowledging the hope He provides, in contrast to painful consequences, their thoughts become futile and hopeless, stuck in escapism and devoid of the light of God’s truth. Proverbs 18:21 states that:
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits,” (Proverbs 18:21)
Although it does not say the word escape, this verse clearly alludes to just how deadly escapism can be which—done wrong—can very quickly lead to a visible sort of mental and spiritual death. Dystopia, when it has no hope, directly teaches death to all who spend their time in its company. Eventually, this spiritual death extends out of the pages and visibly into the beliefs of its writers. The more they work on dark thoughts and don’t focus on God’s true hope, writers’ souls and minds are deprived of the hope so vital for life and peace in Christ.
“The more they work on dark thoughts and don’t focus on God’s true hope, writers’ souls and minds are deprived of the hope so vital for life and peace in Christ.”
Can Christians Write Dystopia?
Dystopian is a relatively dark genre as its purpose is to focus on the consequences of large problems in humanity. So, can the dystopian genre be used by authors seeking to represent the Bible’s truth in their writing? Yes! What makes dystopian so valuable is that it focuses on the consequences of humanity’s problems. Its darkness gives room for illumination that lighter genres can’t.
However, there is an aspect in which obvious dark consequences, like societal collapse, may not be consequences of sin. Writers should avoid consequences which cannot be seen in the Bible’s pages. Within the Bible, the consequences of different types of sin—all leading to spiritual death and separation from God—can be clearly seen. Writers should recognize the consequences the Bible warns of and seek to follow and warn their readers of the same consequence...but they take care to avoid placing sin where it does not exist, unless the character is supposed to be like Job’s friends, giving well-meaning advice that gets judgement terribly wrong.
There is another, subtle but deadly dystopian-style escape that is very real to Christians awaiting the return of Christ: false Christs and the temporary appearance of escape they offer. In Revelation 13, the beast’s reign unites the world and ends wars. God gives the people over to the beast’s control during this period, and their hearts harden toward God’s truth. From the mainstream perspective, this period looks and sounds like utopia—there are no wars, and the enemies seeking to wreck the peace are killed so that peace may continue. Only those being martyred understand such periods are not what they appear to be. Human hearts getting everything they want easily turn from God’s truth and continue to ignore the impending doom, which is a direct consequence of their sin (Revelation 13). When writers keep a firm grip on this scriptural depiction of True Reality, they can remember that, while not every problem is caused by the sin of those suffering, true dystopian consequences result from ignoring sin’s existence, and this situation leads to deeper spiritually horrible consequences. Writers seeking to address problems in the world through literature cannot forget that the root of all problems is sin. Ignoring this root will only further dark consequences since man’s best systems only compound existing issues.
People find hope in knowing the cause of a consequence because they can then analyze what action to take to correct the problem. In dystopian books, which don’t obviously point to Christ’s salvation, escapism can be avoided by clinging tightly to the root cause of humanity’s problems. Christian writers must accurately recognize the problem and stay grounded in their beliefs on what the root problem is. Although they may not have to directly state or show the solution to a problem, they must know the truth because if they do not, their books will stray from it. Although writers can have characters acting based on a problem many people experience in the mainstream world, writers must understand that these problems come from one root cause. Ultimately, writers must realize that sin is the cause of the world’s problems.
This understanding allows authors to point readers toward the fact that, though symptoms can be treated, and humans can take action to resolve problems, they cannot hope to defeat sin with their own actions. The only solution is in God’s grace and humans must turn to Him for their hope. Even when values aren’t directly stated, Christian authors must point toward Christ. Again, a solid example is not far removed in fictional history: Tolkien’s Saruman is a strong example of the false offer of peace; he appeared white, but Gandalf’s discerning eye proved otherwise. Those of us who aren’t wizards, can rest in God’s grace as we navigate these fictional explorations of True Reality.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast,” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Dystopian authors must cling tightly to the fact that God is not a villain and remember that God does not deprive humanity of hope—or deceive them by claiming hope comes without self-sacrifice. “I have said these things to you, that in me you will have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” God offers the only hope for humanity’s problems: Christ’s death on the cross. Writers must imbue their books with the Gospel’s offer of salvation—through characters who bravely choose love of God/righteousness and love of others over fear of death.
True Reality reveals that Christ has died for our sins, and we can accept His offer and have salvation. Without understanding this critical point, no author will be able to address problems correctly, especially in dystopian. However, for dystopian books, writers must also understand what Christians are called to do, and how they should respond to sin. Christian writers must remember that they should take action to address the world’s problems and seek to correct them, not falling prey to comfort in sin. Christian dystopian authors should call their readers to look at how the Bible commands them to respond to sin and act based on God’s Word.
Putting Escapism and Dystopian Together
The ultimate way to avoid escapism in dystopian fiction is to follow Paul’s statement in Colossians 3:2.
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
Christian writers must always keep themselves focused on God and the Bible’s truth. Along with this, Christian writers must be aware of what is being said in their books so that they can keep check on their beliefs and powerfully convey the problems they want to address in their book with deep understanding that does not mislead their readers or themselves through escapism. For Christian writers, it is incredibly important to keep their thoughts well so that they address problems at the sinful root they spring from and lead their readers toward Christ’s hope. While many writers may be aware their words are not fulfilling the role they wish them to, it can be harder to detect why they are not achieving their purpose. To have truly powerful writing, authors must determine whether their writing is escapist or not. Escapism ultimately weakens story—in any genre.
When writers make sure their dystopian books are not escapist, they can powerfully represent God’s truth and point their readers toward God’s hope. Even in dark situations, God will not leave His people in a permanently dark situation, nor place them in a situation which they cannot handle.
