LITERARY DYSTOPIAS1

1All slide information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia.

Common Qualities of Dystopias Society is oppressive, and individual freedoms are severely

circumscribed. Characters strive to protect their individualism against expectations to

conform or assimilate. Many dystopian fictions depict “ruthless egalitarianism.”

There are no social groups apart from the state. Religion is usually absent, or has been replaced by a state-designed substitute.

The family is weakened, and biological reproduction may be undermined.

A dystopia “often must contain human sexuality in order to prevent its disrupting society.”

Most dystopias are urban, and residents are usually discouraged from direct contact with nature.

Some Dystopian Genres Authoritarian dystopias deal with oppressive and intrusive governments

that squash individualism and freedom of thought. Post-Apocalyptic Dystopias deal with the collapse of civilization. Cyberpunk dystopias deal with rapid technological changes and their

impacts on traditional social orders. Corporate Dystopias replace authoritarian states with omnipotent

corporations. Ecological Dystopias are essentially a sub-genre of post-apocalyptic

fiction, and deal with the consequences of messing with mother nature. Think The Happening, or WALL-E.

A Few Notable Dystopias in American Fiction

Anthem, Ayn Rand. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand. Walden II, B.F. Skinner--Skinner wrote this as a utopian novel, but it has widely

come to be viewed as a dystopian vision. “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson. Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick. The Giver, Lois Lowry Neuromancer, William Gibson Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

Some Film Dystopias* 12 Monkeys 28 Days Later Brazil Children of Men A Clockwork Orange Blade Runner Escape from New York Gattica Mad Max The Matrix Metropolis Pleasantville Robocop The Running Man V for Vendetta WALL-E

*Most of these are debatable, in one sense or another.