Dystopia Fiction

Common Traits of Dystopian Fiction The following is a list of common traits of dystopias, although it is by no means definitive. Most

A dystopia is a fictional society, usually portrayed as existing in a future time, when the conditions of life are extremely bad due to deprivation, oppression, or terror. Science fiction, particularly post-apocalyptic science fiction and cyberpunk, often feature dystopias. Social critics, especially postmodern social critics, also use the term "dystopian" to condemn trends in post-industrial society they see as negative. In most dystopian fiction, a corrupt government creates or sustains the poor quality of life, often conditioning the masses to believe the society is proper and just, even perfect. Most dystopian fiction takes place in the future but often purposely incorporates contemporary social trends taken to extremes. Dystopias are frequently written as warnings, or as satires, showing current trends extrapolated to a nightmarish conclusion.

dystopian films or literature includes at least a few of the following: a hierarchical society where divisions between the upper, middle and lower class are definitive and unbending (Caste system) Inner Party/ Outer Party/ Proles a nation-state ruled by an upper class with few democratic ideals. Oceania. state propaganda programs and educational systems that coerce most citizens into worshipping the state and its government, in an attempt to convince them into thinking that life under the regime is good and just strict conformity among citizens and the general assumption that dissent and individuality are bad a fictional state figurehead that people worship fanatically through a vast personality cult, such as 1984's Big Brother a fear or disgust of the world outside the state a common view of traditional life, particularly organized religion, as primitive and nonsensical a penal system that lacks due process laws and often employs psychological or physical torture constant surveillance by state police agencies. the banishment of the natural world from daily life a back story of a natural disaster, war, revolution, uprising, spike in overpopulation or some other climactic event which resulted in dramatic changes to society a standard of living among the lower and middle class that is generally poorer than in contemporary society a protagonist who questions the society, often feeling intrinsically that something is terribly wrong. Winston. because dystopian literature takes place in the future, it often features technology more advanced than that of contemporary society.

Famous depictions of Dystopian societies include Nineteen Eighty-Four, a totalitarian invasive super state; Brave New World, a novel written in 1931 by Aldous Huxley which anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. And Fahrenheit 451 where the state burns books out of fear of what they may incite. The Iron Heel , written by Jack London, is considered to be "the earliest of the modern Dystopian" (1908).

The opposite of Dystopia, is Utopia. Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system.

Authors can use a dystopia effectively to highlight their own concerns about societal trends. For example, some commentators say that George Orwell originally wanted to title Nineteen EightyFour as 1948, because he saw the world he describes emerging in austere postwar Europe.