In John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress", the town of Vanity (home of the ancient Vanity Fair) is reached through the straight and narrow path that starts in Hill Difficulty. In order to reach Vanity, one must go across the Valley of Humiliation and fight with the monster Apollyon, and also traverse the fearsome Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Because the news is more eaiser to spread and more people are on the internet these days so they will notice the human rights violations and more people will talk about it.
That is because a theme is the most basic concept explored in a piece of fiction, like the battle of good versus evil, which can be explored in million ways.
