You know those times when you become sad or empty after your favourite show ends? Well, I think it's hitting me stronger than ever. I can imagine a better world and a better life for myself and others. I've seen it in movies, cartoons, comics, books, etc. countless times. From worlds where there's real justice, to others where progress truly occurs, and even more where we aren't driven only by madness and greediness. Solarpunk, space dreams, solidarity between nations, social mobility, etc., etc.
Coming back to reality after those images and thoughts is desolating. We encounter a world where technology improves but human morality and social wellbeing does not. We're heading for a dystopia, heck! we already live in one. A plutocratic, cynical, alienating world where one needs to subject themselves to others to be allowed their place. A world where control, profit and short-term goals are put before the environment and entire cultures.
Daily life feels just so… surreal. This is why movies like The Matrix, Dark City, Inception, Moon, Shutter Island, etc. appeal to us. They touch our sense of “this can't be it” about the world. We grow so disconnected… in a very bad way. We are subject to images of active genocide, ecocide, poverty, war, suffering all over the world, yet we can't do anything. Dread, nihilism takes over. Either you choose “not to look at it” or you are consumed by resentment, hate.
This is, in part, why I like science fiction, fantasy, movies, etc. in general. They are a window to a different, possible world. They even have more internal consistency! And these feelings of “inadequacy”, of “not being part of”, will accompany us.
I hope, and I still think it's possible, something better can appear and change the status quo.