Dystopia is the opposite of Utopia- it’s a state in which the conditions of human life are extremely bad from deprivation, oppression or terror (or a combination of all 3). A dystopian society is characterized by human misery through various factors, including:
Environmental Destruction: The worlds of these texts exist in inhabitable, inhumane places on earth that are inhumane to function in.
Government Control: The Government play such a significant role in these texts, arguably featuring no Government, or a tyrannical ruling individual.
Loss of Individualism: Identity is a major factor in dystopian sci-fi texts, depicting the dangers of conformity (usually linking to themes of government control, or consumerist behavior), exploring the needs of society as a whole to that of the individual.
Survival: Inhabitable settings and ruling powers typically leave the inhabitants to fend for themselves.
Technological advancements/control: This is usually depicted as being controlling and a force that conforms to the loss of individualism, going beyond factors that improve everyday life
An example of a dystopia is present day Palestine, which is subjected to constant surveillance by the Israeli Government (https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/4/13/under-israeli-surveillance-living-in-dystopia-in-palestine)
Characteristics of Dystopian Fiction- no matter the media that it is resented through, Dystopian fiction worlds contain many of the same narrative feature. These include societies engaged in forever worlds (characterised by extreme social and class divides, mass poverty, environmental devastation, anarchy, and loss of individuality) another major characteristic of dystopian fiction is social control- this can be wielded by anyone, but the usual suspects are:
-corporate
-religious/philosophical
-technological
-bureaucratic
-reproductive
Another major feature of dystopian fiction is Totalitarianism- this is defined as total social control over a population such as thought police and surveillance (again seen in the above article about Palestinian dystopia)
Dystopian fiction is set in the near future instead of the far future in order to generate urgency about real events such as climate change and social relations. By textbook definition this is similar to science fiction, however they are very different.
Both subgenres of speculative fiction, though their approaches differ in various ways- sci-fi presents a story based in the context of the future/ the development of science and technology and the effects on the society in the story. Dystopia is a world deliberately conceived as being worse than our own in order to convey an allegory. While not all allegories are dystopias, dystopias are almost always allegories. These are stories that comment on/criticise contemporary events/people/policies etc
Examples of Dystopian Fiction include: The French film Delicatessen (1991), directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro. the film is a post-apocalyptic science fiction black comedy film.
the film depicts a post-apocalyptic world in which grain is used as currency due to food shortages, and tells of a landlord who lures and kills victims in order to sell their meat to his tenants. Louison the circus clown applies for the vacant position, and the landlords daughter Julie finds herself falling in love with him.
The film uses the setting of a post-apocalyptic France in order to build the premise of the movie, demonstrating the key themes of survival and environmental destruction present within the dystopian genre. the dull colour palettes and the decay of the mise en sene reflect the post-apocalyptic themes of dystopian living and the state of the economy and society within these
This film reflects the contexts in which it was made: the distrust towards Louison reflected the heated debate at the time about immigrants and their effect on the economy. this film also reflects the economic depression suffered by France in the 1990's. this film may have been made to bring awareness to current issues and to propose a hypothetical situation
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