## [DC] Just to finish off the talk of dystopias, a 1984 deconstruction: "Nineteen Neighty-Four"

* Author: u/None *
* URL: 
* Score: 11

* Created: 2014-08-19T12:08:24

### Post:

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### Comments:

> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+4]  *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm* (50 minutes later)
> 
> Okay I still have to give this a read but I had a cold shiver when I saw Pinkie Pie as a character. . .  Imagining her working for [a classical] MinLuv is a new level of horror that's making me walk away from my computer to get more coffee first.
> 
> Edit: Had coffee read it. clarified my fear of MiniLuv Pinkie.
> 
> *chuckle*  I'd say the author missed the point of 1984 except you can't do that much of an inversion of 1984 without understanding it.   This isn't a deconstruct it's an inversion. More than a few laughs but not very applicable to the dystopians discussion except as how Luddites will view the future if we get it right.

>> **u/None** [+2]  (an hour later)
>> 
>> Personally, what I liked about it was the way the author built in a bunch of genuinely forward-thinking social policies as *background material*, [rather than presupposing that people's problems are solved by "magic" or even "technology"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/ou/if_you_demand_magic_magic_wont_help/), even in an outright fairy-tale universe.
>> 
>> Orwell made his novel work by relentlessly and accurately documenting the actual mechanics of life under a totalitarian state.  This author has made *his* story work by relentlessly and (mostly) accurately documenting the actual mechanics of life under... a Strawman-grade free, rich social democracy.  I can laugh all the harder because it's an inverted-dystopia built on policies that have actually proven their real-world mettle in improving people's lives, and gone vastly underappreciated for that due to not being magic.

>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+3]  *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm* (an hour later)
>>> 
>>> I will have to re-read more closely and check that I have all of these techniques already in my management arsenal, or incorporate them after assessment.
>>> 
>>> Edit: What term would you use for Twilight? Misanequine?

>>>> **u/None** [+1]  (2 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> Also, there's a guy somewhere in the comments arguing that Twilight was *right all along*, and that it really is a totalitarian hellscape... of peace, prosperity, freedom, and camaraderie. /facepalm

>>>> **u/None** [+0]  (2 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> >Edit: What term would you use for Twilight? Misanequine?
>>>> 
>>>> I have not the slightest idea, beyond "what an asshole".

> **u/SkeevePlowse** [+4]  (13 hours later)
> 
> Damnit, why does all this pony bullshit have to be entertaining and well written?

>> **u/TimeLoopedPowerGamer** [+6]  *Utopian Smut Peddler* (a day later)
>> 
>> Art consists of rules (broken or adhered to), a work medium, and the wider context it exists within.
>> 
>> The context surrounding the writing of MLP fanfic amuses some good artists, and for good reason. Creative people are trolls, or at least can be very effective ones. Writers like getting reactions to their words and an attentive audience. MLP fanfic does that in spades. Note, I didn't say it was necessarily a *positive* reaction being sought, just attention.
>> 
>> Using the medium of the MLP world also gets one a lot of elemental characterizations and well-explored background for free, just like with Harry Potter. It means you don't need to explain a lot of stuff, you can just jump to the meat of the story you want to tell. Or you can play with expectations, which is even more fun.
>> 
>> And all this breaks the "rule" of no good MLP fanfic existing, and social norms in general by merely writing fanfic. Few people would stop to read a *1984* fanfic, or something simply "inspired by" or parodying *1984*. I doubt that subreddit is very active. Lots of people want to see the freakshow of *1984* plus MLP. But they still have to follow the rules of the MLP 'verse, at least most of the time. Otherwise, it makes no sense as fanfic.
>> 
>> This all adds up to a rich vein of possible art -- art people will actually pay attention to. And also a lot of trainwrecks, but those can be ignored if you only read based on other's recommendations. As you clearly have.
>> 
>> **TL;DR** http://i.imgur.com/wvjYz6v.jpg

>> **u/traverseda** [+3]  *With dread but cautious optimism* (13 hours later)
>> 
>> The anthropic principle.

>> **u/None** [+4]  (17 hours later)
>> 
>> Honestly, if you want to see *badly* written pony fics, just click on the front page of FiMFiction and read whatever pops up in the "recently updated" list.  You're getting this stuff after other people do the Sturgeon's Law filtering *for* you.

>>> **u/TimeLoopedPowerGamer** [-1]  *Utopian Smut Peddler* (a day later)
>>> 
>>> It's called Sturgeon's "Law" because, if you recomend bad fic, you are arrested by the reddit police.

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