u/A-V-A-Weyland - originally from r/GenZhou
After 2 years of reading foremostly Socialist theory and getting fascinated by the project that is Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, I needed a pallet cleanser and told myself to read some fiction and mellow myself down a bit so that I stop bumming out my friends so much.
What has come to my attention, though, is that I found it very hard to find fiction in a fantasy setting that is centred around the improvement of the lives of people other than for the protagonist to show how amazing of a person they are to the reader. And I'm saying "Western" fantasy novels because most Eastern fantasy novels (Wuxia/Xianxia) revolve around the protagonist trying to attain enlightenment to achieve immortality.
I understand that fantasy books exist for the purpose of escapism, but surely some have been written that try and promote socialist ideals? And while the material conditions for a proletarian revolution might be hard to come by in a fantasy world where the inhabitants are often merely at the onset of industrialization and the sprouts of capitalism have barely been sown; why no socialism? Especially with the rise in popularity of genres where the protagonist is born into another world with the memories of their previous life is intact; why aren't they doing anything to disrupt the rigid class society in the worlds these stories are set in?
Does anyone have any suggestions/opinions?