I read a lot of Harlan Ellison (worked on The Outer Limits, 80’s Twilight Zone, Babylon 5), and I was wondering what people thought of this quote from him:
[S]cience fiction is the only 100% hopeful fiction. That is to say, inherent in the form is, “There will be a tomorrow”. If you read a science fiction story, it says, “This will happen tomorrow”. Now that’s very positive, that’s very pragmatic, “We’ll be here tomorrow. We may be unhappy, we may be all living like maggots, but we’ll be here.” So that means it’s 100% positive.
Ellison has even said that his short story I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream is optimistic, because in the climax, there is still room for self-sacrifice and defiance to authority.
I guess it comes down to whether you think a bleak future is better than no future at all.
Shameless plug for my work if you like Ellison or want to learn more: https://ndhfilms.com/ellison
I think what makes this argument true is that it’s FICTION. Even in a dystopia that is super bleak, with an ending where everyone dies, we can remain hopeful that it’s cautionary fiction.
You could make similar arguments about any other fiction or genre as well. “All dark comedies are hopeful because they show the human ability to make light of bleak and tragically ironic situations”. “All horror movies are hopeful because the fictional creature at the center of the story cannot be real”.