What is Dystopia?
Dystopia is a genre that tends to be the opposite of utopia, an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects. Contrastingly, dystopia is a state in which the conditions of human life are extremely bad, typically as a result of deprivation, oppression or terror. A dystopian society is characterized by human misery in the form of squalor, oppression, disease, overcrowding, environmental destruction, or war.
Genre
The dystopian genre usually belongs to the literary and cinematic categories of science fiction, speculative fiction and allegory, dystopian literature has been around since at least the late 19th century. The future in science fiction is often presented in a dystopian setting.
Examples of the dystopian genre can be seen through these films:
Speculative Fiction:
Speculative fiction is a broad umbrella category of fiction that includes all the genres that deliberately depart from realism or from strictly imitating ordinary reality, instead presenting supernatural, futuristic, and other highly imaginative realms. In literature the speculative fiction genre is also sometimes called “what-if” books, speculative literature changes the laws of what’s real or possible as we know them in our current society, and then speculates on the outcome.
Examples of speculative fiction in TV shows:
Raised by Wolves (2020–2022)
The Expanse (2015-2022)
The Handmaids Tale (2017-2021)
Dystopian Characteristics:
Social control is another major feature of dystopian fiction. Dystopian authors tend to represent social control as wielded by any number of powerful entities, including:
-Corporate
-Religious/Philosophical
-Technological
-Bureaucratic
-Reproductive
-Totalitarianism — defined as total social control over a given population through techniques such as thought police and surveillance — is also a feature of dystopian fiction. It figures prominently in famous dystopian novels such as George Orwell’s 1984, which we investigate further below.
Dystopia Settings:
Dystopian stories take place in the future; usually in large cities devastated by pollution, war, revolutions, overpopulation and other disasters. Another characteristic of dystopian fiction is a strict division between the people or characters. This may be a separation by intellect, ability or class.
Key Iconography and Themes:
In dystopias, Key visual features include huge cities and a damaged natural world. We see giant fascist posters and brutalist buildings, parallel streets, and sometimes a very colourful one.
-Technology dominating the world.
-Mastery of nature to the point that it becomes barren, or turns against humankind
-Technological advances that enslave humans or regiment their lives
-The mandatory division of people in society into castes or groups with specialized functions
-A collective loss of memory and history making mankind easier to manipulate psychologically and ultimately leading to dehumanization
-Complete control over the people in a society through the usage of propaganda
-Heavy censoring of information or denial of free thought
-Worshiping an unattainable goal
The difference between dystopian sci-fi and regular sci-fi?
Science fiction involves exploring futuristic scenarios based on scientific and technological advances while dystopian fiction focuses more on oppressive social structures that are often the result of a society’s progress.
Science fiction and dystopian fiction have always been closely related but at the same time, they have their own distinct characteristics.
Contrastingly, Science fiction involves exploring futuristic scenarios based on scientific and technological advances while dystopian fiction focuses more on oppressive social structures that are often the result of a society’s progress.
Science fiction and dystopian fiction are two genres that are often confused for one another. While they both deal with futuristic worlds, there are some key differences between the two. Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, etc. On the other hand, dystopian fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that depicts a society in which the conditions of life are miserable and difficult.
Science fiction and dystopian fiction often overlap, but there are some key examples that help to differentiate between the two genres. For instance, “The Hunger Games” is a well-known dystopian novel that tells the story of a society in which children are forced to compete in a deadly game. On the other hand, “The Martian” by Andy Weir is an example of science fiction as it deals with the idea of a man being stranded on Mars.
In general, science fiction tends to be more optimistic than dystopian fiction. Science fiction often explores the potential for humanity to progress and advance, while dystopian novels tend to focus on the dark side of human nature and warn against the dangers of technology and progress.
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