A Poll for Future Essays

Universal Election Fantasies, Late Stage Manifestos, or Scheduled Deaths?

Hi. It’s been a big week in America. I hope you’re doing well. Now and then I like to send out a reader poll, to gather feedback on what you’d like to see me write about. I’m mulling over a few ideas, but they will each entail research and time, so I’d like to gauge interest.

Here are the choices for my next post, and I will explain each title further below.

Please take a second to vote.

1. Elections as Universal Fantasies/Butter

Image from Theodora Taylor aka T. Taylor’s newsletter on Universal Fantasy.

What was the role of fantasy in the U.S. Presidential elections?

I want to look at the recent U.S. elections through the lens of romance author Theodora Taylor’s concept of Universal Fantasy/Butter, which Taylor presents in a very popular non-fiction writing craft book called 7 Figure Fiction.

“Universal Fantasy” refers to hidden or overt desires shared by millions of people, and “Butter” is the salacious storytelling elements or visual references creators use to point to these universal fantasies and their fulfillment to suck in their audiences.

Universal fantasies are often gendered, and while many people share the same fantasies, fantasies are also not shared by everyone. They are kind of like kinks— common, but not truly universal as the name would suggest. Like taste in books or movies, people have universal fantasy preferences and individuals prefer some fantasies over others.

While Taylor uses these concepts to explain the success of bestselling books and blockbuster films, I plan to analyze the U.S. Presidential Election results and examine and speculate on the universal fantasies and butter behind opposing political campaigns and voter behavior. This analysis may illuminate how the two parties won or lost the hearts of key voter demographics by tapping into or rejecting their universal fantasies.

2. When Masters Make Final Manifestos

Movie poster for Megalopolis by Francis Ford Coppola.

Does tremendous success bring creative freedom or confusion to artists later in life?

I’ve recently consumed the late-stage work of two creative masters: Philip K. Dick and Francis Ford Coppola, and I found overlapping themes that made me want to consider why renowned creatives decide to make risky political and religious manifestos towards the end of their careers, and why these later works are often unpopular compared to their main oeuvres.

In the piece, I will examine similarities between Coppola’s latest (and possibly last) film, Megalopolis, and Phillip K. Dick’s last books before his death—The Valis Trilogy.

3. Is the Future of Death Scheduled?

Image taken from MAIDHouseCA on Instagram. Maid House Toronto is a non-profit that supports people who have chosen to schedule their deaths using MAID.

Will scheduled dying become the norm?

In this essay, I plan to examine the pros and cons of legalizing scheduled death, and specifically Canada’s MAID program—which stands for Medical Assistance in Dying. I will also share my personal experience of knowing two people who opted to use this program to schedule their own deaths in Toronto.

While controversial, I believe similar dying programs will ultimately become widespread.

I plan to also consider Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, and the films How to Die in Oregon, and Children of Men, which present utopian and dystopian scenarios for state-sanctioned suicide, or what I prefer to call “scheduled death.”

A scene from Children of Men where one character contemplates using “Quietus”—a home suicide kit.

Now You

Do you have any questions?

If you have anything to add on these topics, please leave a comment or message me, especially if you’ve known anyone who took advantage of MAID or Oregon’s DWDA.

Also, if you were a Kamala supporter, what fantasies did you yearn for? I feel like I’m more easily able to “see” the MAGA fantasies at work, so I’m curious to hear from folks about underlying desires related to the Democrat’s campaign. The main one I see is “defeat the bully,” also the idea of the “Final Girl”—the female heroine (pick-me-girl turned president) who defeats the bully.

And if you don’t like any of these topics, let me know what else you’d like me to write about.

Finally, in the wake of the election, I recommend trying to think positively about the future. Let’s hope for the best while doing our best. Do not become overwhelmed with apocalyptic visions.

XXXOOO

Charlotte Dune

P.S. — I’m also working on a complete index of this newsletter, categorized by genre/topic, to help you easily find the essays that interest you the most.