- Joined
- Jul 18, 2017
So, as an unapologetic Lorecell who is really only into 40k for the Lore (since even the books are fucking expensive, don't get me started on the minis), I've been pondering how despite the massive barrier to entry into the Universe of 40k, the setting seems to be experiencing an explosion of memes, fan art, and general popular culture awareness. To include a potential TV show (at some point).
And the only conclusion I have is that GW by pure serendipity actually hit on something truly, truly subversive to the modern popular culture zeitgeist. So subversive and edgy its Tolkien level. What do I mean by that. Well, science fiction and fantasy writers are two sides of the same coin. Its why the books tend to get put in the same library section. Fantasy authors (like Tolkien) write speculative pasts. While Science Fiction authors write speculative futures. Both of which seek to inform and meditate on the nature of the present .
Tolkien broke into the mainstream by depicting in many respects a degenerated past that fed into our degenerated present. To Tolkien the march of History is not one of improvement. Its of loss. Rome in 2023 is a shadow of what Rome was 2000 years in 0023. Beijing and Kyoto in 2023 are a shadow of what they were 0023 for that matter. To Tolkien progress is not inherently a good thing. Its in fact a chaotic agent. It pushes the wheel of history, but the results are often not as good as advertised and the inevitable result is things that were once precious are lost and forgotten, while malevolent forces and ideas that are eternal get buried in the dust of history along with them.
The solution to Tolkien is the modifying power of tradition and faith to constrain the chaos of progress. Aragorn restoring the monarchy of dead Empire. Merry and Pippin awakening ancient forest spirits to destroy the industrial might of Isengard. It was a revolutionary take on the Fantasy genre and its the reason why Tolkien basically became the gold standard for it going foreword.
There really has not been an answer to it on the Science Fiction side of things however. Heinlein and Herbert attempted this to some respect with Starship Troopers and Dune respectively. But their books were pretty turgid, and while well received really failed to capture the imagination when compared to more hard core "March of Progress" science fiction authors like Roddenberry and George Lucas, who have essentially dominated the Science Fiction landscape as the gold standard over the period of time where Tolkien has defined Fantasy.
And then along came a bunch feral nerds and their company selling over priced plastic war games. Who wanted to build a story around it. And they all thought Tolkien and Herbert were pretty cool, so they smashed the two together and called it Warhammer 40k. And from that merger, something else emerged. Anti-Star Trek. A vision of humanities future where the defining feature is not the human desire to explore. Rather the human desire to survive. What started off as a rather silly "satire" (and yes, I know GW maintains its still just a satire), has turned into something else entirely I think.
Despite the protestations that the Imperium are "The bad guys" just like "everyone else" in the grim dark future, I don't think this is entirely accurate. It would be more accurate to say the Imperium is a degenerated form brought on by progress. Humanity undone by its own technology, pushed to the brink and forced to return to tradition and faith to save itself from the very ~ REAL ~ terrors that dwell in the dark. If the metaphysical manifestation of chaotic change, tzeench, is out to ruin your life for the lolz. you too would suddenly find yourself praying the imperial rosary every day and enjoying your peaceful day of labor in the factorum, that was the same today, as it was for the last 999,999,998 days. And if those las guns you have been making all your life happen to be useful somewhere else in the galaxy, all the better.
At that is the kicker here. Nobody can see themselves as Paul Atreidies in dune. Nor as Rico in Star Ship troopers. But they CAN see themselves as that scared kid running across the wastes of Titan to reach the Grey Knights citadel. Or as some unlucky guardsman ordered by the Commissar to fix Bayonets as a Tyrranid Swarm approaches the trench line. There is something intensely primal in these sorts of stories, and ones that call to a mythological longing that is completely lacking in modern science fiction. Who would a young boy rather be? Captain Picard negotiating a peace treaty between two rando alien planets on the brink of war due to a trade dispute, or Commander Dante, fighting and prevailing over the centuries against ever greater and greater odds, leading a dwindling band of ancient warriors in a losing battle against the dying of an age?
Kinda like Aragorn at the Black Gates when you think about it. There is nothing like it in modern science fiction. Certainly not something with the same cultural awareness.
I conclude with this fan film that applies the song "I'm only human" with 40k cinematics.
Its ALSO important to put the emergence of 40k as a property in its PRESENT.
This is a speech, dramatized, by Ronald Reagan that was given in the same decade as the start of the 40k franchise.
And the only conclusion I have is that GW by pure serendipity actually hit on something truly, truly subversive to the modern popular culture zeitgeist. So subversive and edgy its Tolkien level. What do I mean by that. Well, science fiction and fantasy writers are two sides of the same coin. Its why the books tend to get put in the same library section. Fantasy authors (like Tolkien) write speculative pasts. While Science Fiction authors write speculative futures. Both of which seek to inform and meditate on the nature of the present .
Tolkien broke into the mainstream by depicting in many respects a degenerated past that fed into our degenerated present. To Tolkien the march of History is not one of improvement. Its of loss. Rome in 2023 is a shadow of what Rome was 2000 years in 0023. Beijing and Kyoto in 2023 are a shadow of what they were 0023 for that matter. To Tolkien progress is not inherently a good thing. Its in fact a chaotic agent. It pushes the wheel of history, but the results are often not as good as advertised and the inevitable result is things that were once precious are lost and forgotten, while malevolent forces and ideas that are eternal get buried in the dust of history along with them.
The solution to Tolkien is the modifying power of tradition and faith to constrain the chaos of progress. Aragorn restoring the monarchy of dead Empire. Merry and Pippin awakening ancient forest spirits to destroy the industrial might of Isengard. It was a revolutionary take on the Fantasy genre and its the reason why Tolkien basically became the gold standard for it going foreword.
There really has not been an answer to it on the Science Fiction side of things however. Heinlein and Herbert attempted this to some respect with Starship Troopers and Dune respectively. But their books were pretty turgid, and while well received really failed to capture the imagination when compared to more hard core "March of Progress" science fiction authors like Roddenberry and George Lucas, who have essentially dominated the Science Fiction landscape as the gold standard over the period of time where Tolkien has defined Fantasy.
And then along came a bunch feral nerds and their company selling over priced plastic war games. Who wanted to build a story around it. And they all thought Tolkien and Herbert were pretty cool, so they smashed the two together and called it Warhammer 40k. And from that merger, something else emerged. Anti-Star Trek. A vision of humanities future where the defining feature is not the human desire to explore. Rather the human desire to survive. What started off as a rather silly "satire" (and yes, I know GW maintains its still just a satire), has turned into something else entirely I think.
Despite the protestations that the Imperium are "The bad guys" just like "everyone else" in the grim dark future, I don't think this is entirely accurate. It would be more accurate to say the Imperium is a degenerated form brought on by progress. Humanity undone by its own technology, pushed to the brink and forced to return to tradition and faith to save itself from the very ~ REAL ~ terrors that dwell in the dark. If the metaphysical manifestation of chaotic change, tzeench, is out to ruin your life for the lolz. you too would suddenly find yourself praying the imperial rosary every day and enjoying your peaceful day of labor in the factorum, that was the same today, as it was for the last 999,999,998 days. And if those las guns you have been making all your life happen to be useful somewhere else in the galaxy, all the better.
At that is the kicker here. Nobody can see themselves as Paul Atreidies in dune. Nor as Rico in Star Ship troopers. But they CAN see themselves as that scared kid running across the wastes of Titan to reach the Grey Knights citadel. Or as some unlucky guardsman ordered by the Commissar to fix Bayonets as a Tyrranid Swarm approaches the trench line. There is something intensely primal in these sorts of stories, and ones that call to a mythological longing that is completely lacking in modern science fiction. Who would a young boy rather be? Captain Picard negotiating a peace treaty between two rando alien planets on the brink of war due to a trade dispute, or Commander Dante, fighting and prevailing over the centuries against ever greater and greater odds, leading a dwindling band of ancient warriors in a losing battle against the dying of an age?
Kinda like Aragorn at the Black Gates when you think about it. There is nothing like it in modern science fiction. Certainly not something with the same cultural awareness.
I conclude with this fan film that applies the song "I'm only human" with 40k cinematics.
Its ALSO important to put the emergence of 40k as a property in its PRESENT.
This is a speech, dramatized, by Ronald Reagan that was given in the same decade as the start of the 40k franchise.
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