Dystopia
Introduction
What is Dystopia?
A literary genre
How to recognize a dystopia
Examples
Dystopia in Literature
Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World was published in 1932.
The story takes place in a futuristic world where human embryos are created artificially, growing in some sorts in bottles in a factory-like environment. Before birth, the Brave New World citizens are conditioned to belong to one of the 5 castes of the society.
The Alphas, belonging to the most prestigious class, are considered to be the most intelligent and fit citizens and are expected to become the thinkers and leaders of London whereas the Epsilons, the lowest considered caste, are the least skilled people of society and will be limited to low-grade jobs.
Children are programmed to dislike books and flowers and the values of the state are recited while the kids sleep. This method is called “sleep-teaching” and this is part of Bernard’s tasks. As a psychologist, Bernard, an Alpha, should be happy but being smaller than the other Alphas, he doesn’t fit perfectly in his class and this makes him dissatisfied. This adds to his disapproval of the authorities’ methods of sleep-teaching and “drugging” the citizens with pills called “soma” which help people temporarily unhappy to be joyful again.
Bernard leaves London to visit a Savage Reservation where the inhabitants are living in the way people used to live: women get pregnant, books are valued, technologies don’t exist, … He meets John and his mother Linda who used to be Bernard’s boss’s girlfriend and he decides to take them back to World State.
Progressively “John the savage” is going to question the functioning of this “brave new world” along with Bernard and one of his friends. They will denounce the brainwashing methods of the dictatorial government and the use of drugs making people blind to their lack of freedom.
George Orwell – 1984
Nineteen Eighty-Four, a famous dystopian novel written in 1949 by the English writer George Orwell.
Like in Brave New World, the story takes place in an imagined future, the year 1984. War is raging and the world has been split in 3 different superpowers. Winston Smith, the main character, lives in Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain), which is part of the totalitarian state of Oceania ruled by the Party. Big Brother, the leader of the Party, is greatly feared.
Books are seen as dangerous as they offer a perspective on events, a perspective which might be different from that of the leading party. In 1984, words are thoroughly controlled and a new language has been created: the Newspeak language. It consists of simplified grammatical structures and restricted vocabulary. This limits the freedom of thought which would threaten the ideology of the regime of Big Brother and the Party. A new concept is born: “thoughtcrime”!
To ensure propaganda, the Party invents 3 mottos: War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength. If these seem paradoxical, they actually reveal the manipulation of language and make words meaningless.
Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale
The plot of this novel published in 1989 begins in a near future America where the leaders have been overthrown by religious extremists, The Sons of Jacob. It is now called The Republic of Gilead. The new government can be considered as a totalitarian theocracy, meaning a dictatorship led by a religious group. The religious dimension is extremely present. The main protagonist is a woman, Offred, a handmaid.
Extreme pollution and radiation have had an impact on Gilead and the birth rate as many people are now sterile. Reproduction is at the centre of the Sons of Jacob’s concerns. At the top of the hierarchy are the “Commanders”, the men who lead Gilead. Handmaids are hired to bear their children as many of their wives are sterile. Depending on their age, their fertility and the way they used to live before the creation of Gilead, women are dressed in different colours making their belonging to one “category” or another. For instance, the commanders’ wives are dressed in blue, handmaids in red with white veils around their face.
Offred, as the narrator, tells the readers about the few rights women enjoy as they may not work, own property, read, write or go out unaccompanied.
Dystopia in Series and Movies
Equilibrium
This film follows John Preston (Bale), an enforcement officer in a future in which feelings and artistic expression are outlawed and citizens take daily injections of powerful psychoactive drugs to suppress their emotions.
The Hunger Games
Divergent
Many dystopian novels have been adapted into blockbusters such as Suzanne Collins’s four books The Hunger Games and Veronica Roth’s trilogy Divergent. Both stories feature a young woman as one of the main characters, like in The Handmaid’s Tale. The categorization of people into different districts in The Hunger Games or in classes based on people’s personality and social background in Divergent can remind us of the way citizens were classified in Brave New World.
The Maze Runner
Most of the dystopian artistic productions have of course common points and illustrate recurrent themes such as the need of being an individual in a conformist society, the fight for survival in a world which has been damaged or destroyed because of a war, a natural catastrophe, a nuclear destruction or any other phenomenon. Protagonists, like, for example, the heroes of The Maze Runner by James Dashner, have to get used to a new reality in order to survive and fit into an absurd or inhabitable world. Characteristics of science fiction are repeatedly found in dystopian works.
Brazil
Brazil has become a cult movie since its release in 1985. Directed by Terry Gilliam, the movie tells the story of Sam Lowry, a man trying to find a woman who appears in his dreams.
Black Mirror- Nosedive
The episode of Black Mirror is set in a world where people can rate each other from one to five stars for every interaction they have, which can impact their socioeconomic status.
Black Mirror – Hang the DJ
In this episode of Black Mirror, Amy and Frank are matched into relationships for fixed lengths of time by an algorithm that eventually determines their life-long partner.
Black Mirror – Black Museum
This episode of Black Mirror is divided into three stories, told by Rolo Haynes , the owner of a remote Black Museum. He tells the visitor Nish about the backstories of exhibits.
Writing Prompt
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