Will we dance when it’s over?

Fortnite and the colourful end of empathy

Featured in

  • Published 20230207
  • ISBN: 978-1-922212-80-1
  • Extent: 264pp
  • Paperback (234 x 153mm), eBook

Birds, butterflies, and rats were gone.
Grass and leaves had withered.
Flowers had turned into memories.
Streets and buildings were deserted.
Everyone had gone to the moon.

Tomi Ungerer, Nonstop

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

About the author

Oliver Reeson

Oliver Reeson is an essayist and screenwriter. In 2021, they were a recipient of the Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter Writing Scheme. Their work has...

More from this edition

Taxidermy 

FictionReddit, I click. One post notes that mammals are difficult to taxidermise because it’s hard to find a dead mammal to practise on without hunting one yourself. It’s not like u can buy a dead animal with the skin still on at the butcher, BigKen62 posted. Try marine, TommyFishes America replied. I hover the mouse over the word. Then, click it. 

Detachable penis

Non-fictionThree years into my transition during the 2021 lockdowns, my online shopping habit became a full-blown addiction. One of the weirder things that I purchased was a petite crocheted penis and testicles, hand-stitched by a crafty ‘bear’ called Devon. Each package was made-to-order, so I could choose everything from the shaft length to colour and testicle size. I could’ve even added ball hair. 

Wax

FictionI touch the wax of their pickaxes, then run my hand along the wax rock of the walls. One man squats a few metres away from the others, holding a pan. As I move towards him, I notice a label with descriptive text about Victoria’s gold rush, a reminder of the foundational gruesomeness of the enterprise – the colonial history of world’s fairs, or zoos, here insisting on itself in a minor carnival of the macabre. 

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.