There’s a deeper reason why these stories resonate with Postmodern Hollywood: They dramatize the Devil’s fantasy. What is [Harlan] Ellison’s computer if not a stand-in for the Adversary—a mind bent on tormenting men forever; not because it has to, but because it hates the God who made them? Black Mirror is a hall of mirrors, yes, but what if in it man sees not only his own corruption, but diabolical hubris, reflected back? Lucifer cannot create. He can only parody and gloat. His dream is not annihilation but endless desecration; souls kept in perpetual torment, not for justice but for mockery.

[...]

The real problem with dystopia porn is that it boxes the viewer into a lie: that hopelessness is the truest picture of reality.

But despair is not realism. It’s propaganda. Worse, it’s Lucifer’s propaganda. Writers who want to make a lasting mark on the culture should take [Sam] Hyde’s advice. Stop fetishizing man’s weakness. Stop pretending that watching ugly people in ugly situations is “brave.” And stop serving up Hell’s fantasy as entertainment. If you must write about horror, write it honestly; never as a pornographic thrill, but as a backdrop against which light shines brighter.