Fictional realism: architecture and science fiction dimensions

Abstract

Following Mark Fisher’s theoretical work on contemporary society and literature, science fiction (SF) may enhance multiple understandings of a globalized reality. According to the thinker, the SF genre resonates a permanent link between present modes of governance and scopes of inequality. At some point, we notice that current political systems tend to deal with migration and statelessness in a way quite common in some dystopias. Either in literature or in cinema, it comes as no surprise that narratives such as “Low-Flying Aircraft” and “The Children of Men” can definitely represent places (and regimes) similar to existent environments and movements. The decrease in the birth rate, the migrant crisis, and economic unbalanced populations are all realistic topics these fictions seem to have anticipated and dealt with. This communication seeks to address how certain literary and cinematic visions have adapted, depicted, and assembled parallel versions of the urban space under nondemocratic dimensions. Through these two fictional realisms set in the near future, we aim to present urban elements such as walls, refugee camps, or abandoned buildings as displays for these violent and extreme experiences. In fact, they reveal with accuracy unstable and insecure architectures that characterize part of our human and urban emergencies. Thus, according to Fisher’s latest book, even though the formulation of a ‘capitalist realism’ may be the best method to scrutinize our present state, we believe that a ‘fictional realism’ is needed to complement it.