Speculative Satire in Contemporary Literature and Film

Since 1980 when neoliberal and neoconservative forces began their hostile takeover of western culture a new type of political satire has emerged that works to unmask and deter those toxic doctrines. Literary and cultural critic Kirk Combe calls this new form of satire the Rant. The Rant is grim highly imaginative and complex in its blending of genres. It mixes facets of satire science fiction and monster tale to produce widely consumed spectacles―major studio movies popular television/streaming series bestselling novels―designed to disturb and to provoke. The Rant targets what Combe calls the Regime. Simply put the Regime is the sum of the dangerous social economic and political orthodoxies spurred on by neoliberal and neoconservative polity. Such practices include free-market capitalism corporatism militarism religiosity imperialism racism patriarchy and so on. In the Rant then we have a unique and wholly contemporary genre of political expression and protest: speculative satire.Chapters 1 and 5 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at taylorfrancis under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.