Media always reflects current cultural moods, not future ones. I can't link you an article right now because I'm at work but there's a thing where you could gauge historical stances of US culture and economy by looking at Playbook models and magazines. In harder times, bustier women were published and during better times, less endowed women were.
Media always reflects current cultural moods, not future ones.
Yes, but fiction not only reflects the present, it also influences the future for decades. Positive sci-fi inspires innovators and budget in that sector, negative one inspires defensive spending and police state.
there's a thing where you could gauge historical stances of US culture and economy by looking at Playbook models and magazines. In harder times, bustier women were published and during better times, less endowed women were.
Now that's interesting. A good reason to do some research.
Yes, but fiction not only reflects the present, it also influences the future for decades
Any story does that. It's not exclusive to science fiction.
Positive sci-fi inspires innovators and budget in that sector, negative one inspires defensive spending and police state.
[citation required]
Now that's interesting
It surprisingly is. The articles I've read on the matter have all been well written and there was a respectable amount of research done by the writers and others. And when I say articles, I don't mean blog posts. These are honest-to-goodness real journalism and research. Not scholarly, of course. That'd probably a hard sell. But still.
No, people don't need escapism, they need a positive vision of a future to work towards. Today both fiction and non-fiction often predict dystopian futures, which isn't motivating.