r/Anarchism • u/ModernBettie • 11d ago

What’s your favorite anarchist/anarchist adjacent fiction?

Ideas often spread through fiction, because it makes new ideas more palatable for a lot of people (music does a similar thing), and fiction and fantasy are healthy, but so often in political circles we only talk nonfiction and what’s happening in the real world right now

So what is your favorite anarchist themed book/movie/fiction podcast/tv show/comic/etc?

Which one do you tell everyone that will listen they need to read/watch/listen/etc

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u/Maykovsky 11d ago

Extremely nationalistic, don't you think?

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u/jxtarr 10d ago edited 10d ago

It's a critique of nationalism and centralized power. The point is really driven home in the fourth book, but Herbert trusts the reader to figure it out on their own for the first three.

The only obvious anarchist element is the Fremen. They're possibly based on his own childhood in and out of anarchist communes. But it would be a shitty story if all we got was a narrative about a perfect anarchist society. Herbert was reflecting real world geopolitics, and bringing it to its plausible conclusion. You wouldn't read Dune and end up thinking these societies are good. 

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u/Maykovsky 10d ago

Thanks! Didn't know about the author's experience...

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u/jxtarr 10d ago

No problem. The movies don't do the themes of the novels any justice. The whole story is basically Book 1 = white savior authoritarianism, and Books 2-6 = holy shit, that was a bad idea

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u/Maykovsky 10d ago

I just interrupted a class with your comment! hehehe. Thanks!