In 2017, fantasy author Alexandra Rowland proposed the term hopepunk as the opposite of grimdark, which is a subgenre that is particularly dystopian, amoral, or violent.
[6] Hopepunk describes works such as books, movies, and television shows, that reveal hope in the face of challenges and act as a counter to pessimism.
[8] Rowland has pointed out that anger is also a part of hopepunk, saying "sometimes the kindest thing you can do for someone is to stand up to a bully on their behalf, and that takes guts and rage.
"[10] Although they may include horrible events, injustice, and inequality, hopepunk stories have characters who choose to act, rejecting pessimism and passivity.
[15] The worlds described in hopepunk works are not utopian or even necessarily hopeful; the genre is expressed in the ways characters approach issues.
[1] Vox described N. K. Jemisin's third Hugo Award in 2018 as real-world activism in the spirit of hopepunk, recognizing the themes of humanity and love in her work.
[1] The state of the world around the 2020s (pandemic, climate change, economic and geopolitical crises) gave hopepunk a greater appeal to readers.
In 2018, Cat Rambo, then the president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, said that more nominees for the Nebula Awards featured "strong, feel-good elements" than in previous years.
BBC executive Jason Phipps says people want "detailed, diverse characters who are unafraid to be fighting for something, choosing hope even when things are bleak.
[21] Lee Konstantinou, associate professor of English Literature at University of Maryland, College Park, is skeptical of the genre, saying "You can't just depict an imagined world ravaged by environmental disaster or war or oppression, and then sprinkle a little bit of hope at the end.
[1] Other science fiction books that have been characterized as hopepunk include The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers,[13][22] Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling,[12][1] and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R.