Paul Beakley yeah, I think “That stuff feels structural in terms of move and economy design, but maybe I’m just naive and if I could see the tropes then I, too, would be laughing/drinking my way through the NKVD interrogations where once again my hot lesbian girlfriend is being threatened if I don’t do as I’m told.” is exactly what I mean.

Like, I have no idea if this is a deeply-trodden “genre” (if that term even applies) in some other part of the world. But coming at it from that position of ignorance, I’m just suggesting that it’s entirely possible, which is admittedly navel-gaze garbage. Like, what if AW existed exactly as it does now, but in a world where nobody made Mad Max or Firefly?