How do we write a story about genocide committed by a fascist government without falling into the "Nazi Germany" cliché? [closed]
Closed by System on Mar 8, 2019 at 05:26
This question was closed; new answers can no longer be added. Users with the reopen privilege may vote to reopen this question if it has been improved or closed incorrectly.
Too often, when people make a story about genocide committed by a fascist government, the story often devolves into a Nazi Germany cliché, especially when the story is set in a modern or futuristic setting. Are there ways to avoid that? I feel it was done so many times that doing so would reduce the value of the novel you're writing.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/43099. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
2 answers
I wrote a pretty long answer here, which I think applies: Should we avoid writing fiction about historical events without extensive research?
In short - Look at other theories of history, and their theories on fascism/genocide -- maybe those elements aren't linked in certain cultures. Is the fascistic culture being imposed from above - aristocrats consolidating their power, or is it bubbling up from the "little people" in the culture fearing outsiders?
The sidebar on Wikipedia's Fascism page, under "Variants" has many different elements to examine! Fascist Mysticism, Feudal Fascism, EcoFascism... some may have started as mere insults like "Grammar Nazi," but each country that embraced Fascism has done so in different ways.
Most of what it was reacting to was end-of-19th-century issues, but we're solidly into the 21st, so in your stories, society may be reacting to other issues -- not just automation, but even information-centric jobs being outsourced; they had the New Telegraph/Phone linking the world, we have listicle overloads; they had post-industrial revolution companies and a bigger middle class, now corporations are bigger than countries and most families need 2+ earners to approach middle class ...
Probably the best way to see the concerns that a newer fictional fascist society would focus on, would to be to see what Millennials are focused on. (I'm gen-X). Take ideals that you may endorse, but take them to an extreme, perhaps.
0 comment threads
You need to distinguish allegory and applicability. Tolkien wrote on the subject:
I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.
Any time you write about genocide, it would be applicable to the Holocaust to some extent, people would be thinking of the Holocaust to some extent, because the Holocaust is the most prominent point of reference to such an event on people's minds. Even discussing real-life genocides, the Holocaust is mentioned as a point of reference and comparison.
How do you make your story not an allegory of the Nazi regime? You do your research, and then make your story sufficiently different. With fewer similarities, the allegorical interpretation is too weak. To achieve this difference, you might find it helpful to look at other instances of genocide, such as the Armenian Genocide, and other fascist governments, such as Franco's and Mussolini's.
0 comment threads
0 comment threads