DYSTOPIASDEFINITIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS

DEFINITIONS

•Utopia: A place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions.

•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.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A 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.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A DYSTOPIAN SOCIETY

•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.

TYPES OF DYSTOPIAN CONTROLSMost 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:

Corporate Control

Bureaucratic Control

Technological Control

Philosophical/Religious Control

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.

COMMON CONCEPTS IN THE DYSTOPIAN NOVEL

1. The Status of the Individual

• It’s of little, if any, consequence b/c the desire is usually for conformity

• In Facial Justice, all women have to have artificially identical faces; In the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, all characters are artificially handicapped to ensure uniformity in appearance and ability.

THE NATURE OF POWER

•Could be a single corrupt tyrant or governmental agency (the Party or Big Brother), but the point is the individual is crushed and freedom curtailed. People who try to fight back are crushed or vaporized or somehow turned into a cautionary tale.

COMMUNICATION• It’s always poor, artificial, stilted, controlled

• In 1984, the purpose is to limit individual thought and eliminate all possibility of rebellion or subversion connotations. The theory is, if they don’t have a word for it, it doesn’t exist.

TWO MAIN PLOTS1. Nasty things happen, but everything turns out all right in

the end.

• Ex: Facial Justice (LP Hartley, 1960) The heroine, Jael 97, beats the Establishment at its own game and everyone lives happily ever after. It wasn’t one of her most celebrated works.

2. Nasty things happen, but despite everyone’s best efforts, the Establishment wins.

• Ex: Brave New World

QW

•Make a list of all the Dystopian novels/Movies you can think of…

•Why do you think teens/young adults like to read these? Make a list of reasons why they are so popular currently or generally en vogue