Dystopia

1. Dystopia

2. Utopia • A place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions. • A beautiful society with a general pacifistic attitude • Poverty and misery are removed • Very few laws are necessary • Money is not necessary • People do only work that they enjoy and which benefits the common good

3. Dystopia • A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.

4. Characteristics of Dystopian Society • Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society. • Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted. • A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society. • Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance. • Citizens have a fear of the outside world. • Citizens live in a dehumanized state. • The natural world is banished and distrusted. • Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are bad. • The society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world.

5. Dystopian Controls • Most dystopian works present a world in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through one or more of the following types of controls:

6. Corporate Control • One or more large corporations control society through products, advertising, and/or the media.

7. Bureaucratic Control • Society is controlled by a mindless bureaucracy through a tangle of red tape, relentless regulations, and incompetent government officials.

8. Technological Control • Society is controlled by technology—through computers, robots, and/or scientific means

9. Philosophical/religion control • Society is controlled by philosophical or religious ideology often enforced through a dictatorship or theocratic government.

10. Totalitarian Dystopia • Totalitarian societies utilize total control over and demand total commitment from the citizens, usually hiding behind a political ideology. • Ruled by party bureaucracies backed up by cadres of secret police and armed forces. The citizens are often closely monitored and rebellion is always punished mercilessly. • Dark psychological depths and strong political qualities

11. Why read these depressing books? • dystopias are useful; they warn us about what might happen • they provide a spark of danger in our otherwise mundane lives • develop critical thinking skills instead of being passive members of modern society

12. Common Concepts in the Dystopian Novel • The Status of the Individual • The Nature of Power • Communication

13. The Nature of Power • corrupt dictator or a corrupt governmental entity • same effect: the individual is crushed and freedom curtailed.

14. The Status of the Individual • low. • the individual is of little consequence, the desire being for uniformity within society. • one of the most important concepts in dystopian literature, and a most unsettling one at that.

15. Communication • Poor, artificial, stilted • method of control in the dystopian society. • suppression of the individual, the primary principle in dystopian literature.

16. The Dystopian Protagonist • Often feels trapped and is struggling to escape. • Questions the existing social and political systems. • Believes or feels that something is terribly wrong with the society in which he or she lives. • Helps the audience recognizes the negative aspects of the dystopian world through his or her perspective