Hopepunk is the counter-balance to “realism" and grimdark
Naive or unrealistic, hopepunk is here to stay.
Hopepunk core ideas
Hopepunk focuses on positivism, resilience, grit, hope for the future, the possibility for a better world.
Hopepunk may include less pleasant themes.
Hopepunk may take place in almost any setting.
Hopepunk stories may or may not be naive. When they are, naivete is not a weakness, but a desire to inspire the future.
Hopepunk is a natural reaction to grimdark and so-called realism.
Hopepunk is often set in an anti-establishment setting.
Hopepunk utopias may be temporary but worth fighting for.
Hopepunk story endings are optimistic. Different characters may survive or not, but their legacy and teachings will inspire others.
Hopepunk endings are always, well, hopeful.
How to write hopepunk
You can write Hopepunk in almost any setting. Fantasy, sci-fi, post-apocalypse, magic realism, surrealism, weird fiction, any punk variation.
Your characters don't have to achieve all they want, and get out unscathed of any conundrum. In the end, they will be smarter or stronger. Even if they don't reach the story's end, their own adventure may be inspirational to their peers.
You can combine hopepunk with realism.
One or more characters may be the chosen one archetype, but not the only ones to inspire.
Your story will likely be set in an anti-establishment setting. The desired utopia will be temporary. But yours may be different.
Your story should first be inspirational to you.
Be excited for the future. The ending should be hopeful.
A worthy name
There may be no one single way to define hopepunk, as there is no single way to define steampunk or cyberpunk.
To understand the basics, follow the name. Hopepunk is a literary attitude which rejects more violent tendencies - abuse, suffering - for their own sake.
It stands in clear contrast to grimdark and harsh realism to tell stories about, well, hope. Its quirky name doesn’t do it disservice, no more than calling a genre or style steampunk.
A new hope
Hopepunk and its cousin, romanticpunk, share the romanticism of:
Fighting bigger abusive forces
Opposing the man and the machine with relentless determination
Persisting against authoritarian nihilism.
Hopepunk is not relegated to one single style or genre. You can tell stories of hope inside realism, any fantasy branch, surrealism, sci-fi etc.
Any genre may do this, but hopepunk focuses on how the fight may be won, on the hope and inspiration awaiting at the end and beyond.
There and back again
Stories and fairytales have dealt with universal and personal themes, hopeful or bleak, from the beginning of storytelling.
After Tolkien and the fantasy inspired-sci-fi which followed, literature veered toward realism. From there, it caught a slight reactionary bug called grimdark, often drifting into violence and abuse for their own sake.
Hopepunk itself may be seen as simply reacting to the excesses of grimdark and realism. Hope can be a natural response to the reactionarism affecting the 21st century, in society and the arts.
Hopepunk is a greater driver of dreaming and positive change in fiction. Because the purpose of good art is to inspire, hopepunk adopts this as explicit means, rejecting more reactionary tendencies.
You may regard Hopepunk attitudes as being childish or unrealistic, but the genre cherishes them.
The 20th century may have been evenly spread out between fantasy and so-called realism, between the idealism of fairytales and the bleakness of a world stumbling through progress and existential threat.
For decades, "realism" and reactionary grimdark have increasingly plagued the arts, especially literature. Thus, it is no wonder Hopepunk may impose itself as genre, as natural counter-balance to realism.
We may call it naive, but naivete sustains a core tenet of good art: hopepunk stories are inspirational. Hopepunk is a return to the wonder of ancient fairytales - complete with idealism - and the courage to plan better futures. A hopeful meld of old and new.
Hopepunk is inspired in rejecting what is sometimes the fetishistic abuse of grimdark.
Grimdark gains an advantage by trying to be closer to realism.
Like fairytales, hopepunk is seductive in its desire to be inspirational.
Hopepunk is not realistic
And it does not have to be.
Viewed through an "objective" lens of realism in fiction, most stories are not realistic. The purpose of stories is not so much to be realistic, but ideally to inspire, to plant ideas and inspiration for new possibilities, perhaps a better world.
Grimdark itself is often not realistic, especially when it fetishizes suffering.
A story may portray events which have happened in our world.
Beyond that, so-called realism in fiction is always a matter of personal choice.
Hopepunk is naive
And that is part of its purpose and charm.
In abstract contrast, realism, grimdark and subverting expectations suffer similar quirks - they often reject hope and kindness in favor of abuse and a fetish for suffering, bleakness and cheap nihilism.
Grimdark tends to be reactionary, Hopepunk may be naive.
Grimdark reacts to fairytales by trying to dismantle their idealism and positivity.
Hopepunk is free to reject faulty aspects of the past and tell stories of change, to dream of a better future.
Grimdark is beholden to reject the traditionalism of the past. Hopepunk has space to reject or embrace it, as befit the story.
Hopepunk and class struggle
Hopepunk's lack of specific class politics may be seen as weakness, but the vagueness is by design.
Its openness is not clearly a strength. But it's also no fault, because hopepunk, like all punk attitudes, may be adapted to any class and minority fight.
Cyberpunk, steampunk, other punks, are not dealing with one single class fight. Their common elements are fighting oppressive systems, grit and persisting against adversity and tyranny.
A hopeful future
Where grimdark may have a fetish for abuse, Hopepunk rejects realism in favor of stories and dreams of better worlds, new possibilities and the potential for change. The exact purpose of good art.
Hopepunk can evolve on its own, gleefully moving away from reacting to "realism" and telling stories standing on practical positivism and hope for the future.
Compared to steampunk and cyberpunk, hopepunk may lack a clear visual identity. But this false impediment allows it to tell stories regardless of setting. In tone and aesthetics, hopepunk and romanticpunk have almost complete freedom.
Hopepunk and romanticpunk don't need to be canonized. As contemporary attitudes, they have the strength to march on their own, perhaps in time become established genres.
The tediousness of grimdark and "realism" has endured and will likely endure in perpetuity.
Hopepunk can establish itself as a longstanding attitude and genre among literary greats, regardless of how quirky its label may be.
Hopefully.
image credit Chris Charles.