{"id":1916278,"date":"2023-04-18T13:12:02","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T17:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-on-fire-shows-a-dystopia-thats-right-around-the-corner\/"},"modified":"2023-04-18T13:17:03","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T17:17:03","slug":"house-on-fire-shows-a-dystopia-thats-right-around-the-corner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-on-fire-shows-a-dystopia-thats-right-around-the-corner\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018House On Fire\u2019 Shows A Dystopia That\u2019s Right Around The Corner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhouse-on-fire-shows-a-dystopia-thats-right-around-the-corner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1916278&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p><em>Spoilers<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>In his memoir \u201cChrist Stopped at Eboli,\u201d Carlo Levi, the Jewish-Italian artist turned communist agitator, famously said, \u201cThe future has an ancient heart but a contemporary mind. What we need most of all is to have the courage to look at the past and grasp it, to understand it and to shape our future.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-353153265\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a639a1d4233865c273c716260232625a fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a639a1d4233865c273c716260232625a\"><\/div>\n<p>Levi\u2019s memoir is more preoccupied with reflecting on being a political exile in Mussolini\u2019s Italy, but this quote rings true. The more Western civilization seemingly \u201cprogresses\u201d (technologically, scientifically, etc.), the more detached we appear to become from its ethical foundation while becoming more aligned with various forms of pagan idolatry. At the same time, the ongoing explosion of technological secularism is destroying the philosophical and institutional mechanisms keeping the darker aspects of human nature, en masse, at bay. In many ways, it seems as though we are immersed in a Hobbesian state of nature despite our material prosperity.<\/p>\n<p>And this, in part, lies at the heart of Matt Battaglia\u2019s debut graphic novel \u201cHouse on Fire.\u201d According to a synopsis on the back cover, the work is meant to \u201ctease[] out the differences in a personal-political cruise through a fallen world, where fear is rational and obedience your only refuge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The piece follows an unnamed male protagonist as he ventures into a city blockaded by militarized guards (decked out with thermometer guns, respirator masks, and medical ID scanners) to acquire \u201cshots\u201d for his critically ill wife, who is stuck at home on some form of ventilator or respiratory apparatus. These guards regulate who enters the city, but it seems their more critical task is to control who exits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>[LISTEN: <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/house-on-fire-how-one-graphic-novelist-explored-covid\/id983782306?i=1000606345595\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u2018House on Fire\u2019: How One Graphic Novelist Explored Covid<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-01493e7333495d4169740d6646dfd01c fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-01493e7333495d4169740d6646dfd01c\"><\/div>\n<p>After bribing a guard and entering the city, our protagonist trades frozen steaks for his wife\u2019s medicine on the black market. Evidently, beef becomes hard to find when the government prevents you from freely engaging with the rest of society.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after obtaining the medicine, the protagonist is jumped by two young adult men. He is thrown to the ground and stomped out as they try to steal his car, inside of which is his wife\u2019s medicine. Pulling out a handgun, he fires a shot into the ground, indicating he is not afraid to use the weapon, but proceeds to offer them benevolence and tells them to run. Disregarding this warning, the young men charge him, attempting to take the gun, resulting in the protagonist shooting one in the stomach. He subsequently carries the young man to a place where he may spend his final moments overlooking a calming lake, removed from the urban violence to which he became accustomed.<\/p>\n<p>The protagonist <em>had<\/em> to shoot the young man charging him. If he didn\u2019t, he would have had his car stolen, been unable to leave the city or provide his wife with the medicine necessary for her survival, and would have also likely been killed or seriously injured. He had no other option, and the charity he showed these young men, who thought robbing him was an economically advantageous opportunity, was wasted. <\/p>\n<p>Physically and emotionally distraught, our protagonist casts his gun into the lake and rushes home to his wife. On his drive home, he sees a doe on the side of the road, prompting the question: Is man truly free when forced to resort to his base instincts, stripped of the ethical framework that encouraged <em>everyone<\/em> to engage with each other in good faith?<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3f71e3a25d472f6bb451ff67b029f16c fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3f71e3a25d472f6bb451ff67b029f16c\"><\/div>\n<p>Much like <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/04\/08\/from-john-wayne-to-john-wick-american-cinema-loves-the-noble-outlaw\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tom Doniphon<\/a> in \u201cThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,\u201d our protagonist is a moral man with the capacity for action. Because of the circumstances unfolding around him, he is forced to reacquaint himself with how man acts when in a state of nature so that he may return to a state of being outside of it \u2014 civilization. He has to set aside his humanity and compassion and embrace the animalistic instinct to pursue survival at all costs so that he may return to a world where compassion and humanity are universal.<\/p>\n<p>After returning home, our protagonist sits on his front porch, reflecting on the day\u2019s events and the world around him. He attempts to pray before heading back inside, and we are shown his house engulfed in flames \u2014 our souls and civilization are engulfed in flames and actively decaying because of the situations we are placed in and the decisions we are forced to make.<\/p>\n<p>The world created by Battaglia in \u201cHouse on Fire\u201d isn\u2019t <em>too<\/em> unlike the one in which we currently reside. After all, urban decay, street violence, and macro-ethical ambivalence are commonplace phenomena in our current society. The most significant differences between Battaglia\u2019s fictional world and the real world are depictions of further developed systems of surveillance-based medical tyranny and beef scarcity in the United States. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHouse on Fire\u201d depicts what could have been if the \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d riots, pandemic restrictions, and economic turmoil of 2020 continued unabated. And it\u2019s entirely possible the reality depicted by Battaglia will come to fruition since he simply took a few of our more prominent, overlapping cultural woes and carried them to a natural conclusion: the atomization and reversion of man to depravity and the use of corrupt authority to sow anarchy among the masses.<\/p>\n<p>The future, indeed, has an ancient heart.<\/p>\n<p>Stylistically, \u201cHouse on Fire\u201d was crafted very conscientiously. The line work is fluid yet detailed, depicting the constant motion individuals must stay in to remain alive while also radiating the anxiety likely felt by the story\u2019s protagonist. The tri-coloration also serves as an interesting motif. Black-and-white compositions present the world as bleak and lifeless \u2014 a world of systems, not people \u2014 and the orange-ish red that is used for shadows, thematic emoting, and more injects the story with an emphasis on hopelessness, rage, and decay but also on hopefulness, love, and commitment.<\/p>\n<p>Human beings are complex creatures, and human nature is a complex thing. In \u201cHouse on Fire,\u201d Battaglia shows us how <em>most<\/em> people would react if they were pushed to their limit on a daily basis in a world where the systems required to maintain stability no longer incentivize man to pursue nobler goals.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/livingtheline.company.site\/products\/HOUSE-ON-FIRE-by-Matt-Battaglia-DIGITAL-ONLY-CBZ-PDF-p540176660\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>House on Fire<\/em><\/a><em>\u201d by Matt Battaglia is available wherever books are sold.<\/em><\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-54ea430c35e47cd74fa5138acf5a2942 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-54ea430c35e47cd74fa5138acf5a2942\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">   Samuel Mangold-Lenett is a staff editor at The Federalist. His writing has been featured in the Daily Wire, Townhall, The American Spectator, and other outlets. He is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. Follow him on Twitter @smlenett.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/art\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">art<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/book-review\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">book review<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/comics\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">comics<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/covid-19\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Covid-19<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/entertainment\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">entertainment<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/graphic-novel\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">graphic novel<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/house-on-fire\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">House on Fire<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/matt-battaglia\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Matt Battaglia<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/review\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">review<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/reviews\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">reviews<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/urban-decay\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">urban decay<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/violence\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">violence<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spoilers. In his memoir \u201cChrist Stopped at Eboli,\u201d Carlo Levi, the Jewish-Italian artist turned communist agitator, famously said, \u201cThe future has an ancient heart but a contemporary mind. What we need most of all is to have the courage to look at the past and grasp it, to understand it and to shape our future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1185,"featured_media":1916279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[19895,24596,3655,3653,4279],"class_list":["post-1916278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-corner","tag-dystopia","tag-fire","tag-house","tag-thats"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1916278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1916279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1916278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1916278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1916278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}