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Dystopian literature. Group Brainstorming:. List all of the books, movies, tv shows, and video games that you can think of that have futuristic settings. Books: Movies: TV Shows: Video Games:. Reflection. Upon discussion of your lists, what did you discover?
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Group Brainstorming: List all of the books, movies, tv shows, and video games that you can think of that have futuristic settings. • Books: • Movies: • TV Shows: • Video Games:
Reflection • Upon discussion of your lists, what did you discover? • Why do you think there are many more negative futuristic stories than positive ones? • What does this say about our culture? • As an individual with a future in the career of media arts, why is this important?
Setting the scene • The world can be a scary place. Every generation notices things that need to be changed – devastation of the environment; pervasive poverty; continual prejudice and discrimination. But hope seems to be a human quality that keeps us going.
What will our future look like? • Some authors have explored the world of the future and have tried to imagine what could cause a major change and what the results of that change may be. For instance, some writers consider a natural disaster that topples cities and ruins infrastructures, which once supported communication, transportation and distribution of basics like food and water. Survival of the fittest takes over.
Other authors consider how political issues polarize a country and cause civil war. Who wins? How are laws and governments reorganized? How can one group of citizens be “losers” to the other and still live side by side?
Other questions that these fantasy situations may evoke include: • Will a catastrophe unify us as “citizens of planet Earth,” or will an apocalypse forever alter the world as we know it? • Who will survive? • What will be left to sustain life? • What parts of human nature will survive and gain control – competition and fear, or compassion and humanity? • These are the questions that authors of dystopian novels ponder.
utopia • Utopia: is a term for an ideal society. It has been used to describe both planned communities that attempt to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature. (The Garden of Eden) • The word was coined in Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book , Utopia describing a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean. • It has spawned other concepts, most prominently dystopia.
dystopia • Dystopia: is the vision of a society (usually futuristic, imagined) that is the opposite of ideal. A dystopian society is a state in which the conditions of life are extremely bad, characterized by human misery, poverty, oppression, violence, disease, and/or pollution • Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.
Dystopian Film, Television shows, and video games are popularWhy?
Setting • The setting of a dystopian novel usually includes mass poverty, warfare, or a militaristic police force. Quite often young people are targets – either they are used by adults or are expendable in order to conserve resources. At the same time, young people often become symbols of hope and change; their negative experiences have driven them to protest the status quo and seek a new order.
Characteristics of a Dystopian Society • Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society. • Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted. • A government or an institution that tries to “make everyone equal” but at a cost to individuality, autonomy and creativity • A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society. • Citizens are under constant surveillance. • Citizens fear 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 illusion of a perfect utopian world is broken. • Victims hiding or escaping the constrictions of a government • Sub-cultures planning a rebellion or vindication • Social classes that are divisive, usually based on those who “have” and those who “have not”
More characteristics • A catastrophe – either natural or manmade –has altered the world and its citizens • Science and technology have “perfected” humans, but unnaturally so to the point where humans are more machine-like and heartless than their ancestors. • Futuristic or technical terminology • Generation gaps between young and old – elders who survived the catastrophic change and agreed to a controlled system to avoid fatal errors from the past; the next generation of youth who question the status quo and resist rules, seek change, or take over power • A quest – to travel through unsafe settings, to deliver information or something valuable, to incite others to rebel, etc. • A coming-of-age theme – a young person matures quickly and learns his/her place in the order of things or a mission in life • Antagonists – a government that has taken all individual rights and decision-making away from the people; a police force of bullies who abuse power; neighbor versus neighbor, turning each other in to the authorities out of fear or for personal gain.
Dystopian Protagonists • sense that something is fundamentally wrong with their society. • question the existing social and political order. • feel trapped and struggle for change or escape. • help readers recognize negative aspects of their society through their perspective.
The 13 Best Dystopian Novels(according to Ranker.com) • The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (1895) • 1984 by George Orwell (1949) • The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985) • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932) • The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter (1977) • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953) • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008) • The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993) • Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954) • V For Vendetta by Alan Moore (1982-1989) • The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006) • Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (1963) • Logan's Run By William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson (1967) http://www.ranker.com/list/the-13-best-dystopian-novels/ivana-wynn?page=1
Visual analysis For each work of art: • Identify one detail in the foreground. • Identify one detail in the background. • Make 10 observations about the work. Apply the elements of design you learned in Media Arts. • Identify the mood. • Write a sentence identifying the theme of the work. • List three or more specific details that support this theme.
Barren • Black & white • Contaminated earth • Bleak landscape • Nature gone
So, is Cormac McCarthy's The Road a dystopian work? Write a 3.8 paragraph in which you answer this question. • Topic Sentence = Your claim/argument (TS) • Support #1 (SS) • Explanation (EX) • Support #2 (SS) • Explanation (EX) • Support #3 (SS) • Explanation (EX) • Concluding Sentence (CS)
