Dystopian literature

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Dystopian literature
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Group Brainstorming

• List all of the books, movies, tv shows, and
  video games that you can think of that have
  futuristic settings.
• Books
• Movies
• TV Shows
• Video Games

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Reflection

• Upon discussion of your lists, what did you
  discover?
• Why do you think there are many more negative
  futuristic stories than positive ones?
• What does this say about our culture?
• As an individual with a future in the career of
  media arts, why is this important?

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Setting the scene

• The world can be a scary place. Every generation
  notices things that need to be changed
  devastation of the environment pervasive
  poverty continual prejudice and discrimination. 
  But hope seems to be a human quality that keeps
  us going.

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What will our future look like?

• Some authors have explored the world of the
  future and have tried to imagine what could cause
  a major change and what the results of that
  change may be.  For instance, some writers
  consider a natural disaster that topples cities
  and ruins infrastructures, which once supported
  communication, transportation and distribution of
  basics like food and water.  Survival of the
  fittest takes over. 

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• Other authors consider how political issues
  polarize a country and cause civil war.  Who
  wins?  How are laws and governments reorganized? 
  How can one group of citizens be losers to the
  other and still live side by side?

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Other questions that these fantasy situations may
evoke include

• Will a catastrophe unify us as citizens of
  planet Earth, or will an apocalypse forever
  alter the world as we know it? 
• Who will survive? 
• What will be left to sustain life? 
• What parts of human nature will survive and gain
  control competition and fear, or compassion and
  humanity?
• These are the questions that authors of
  dystopian novels ponder.

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utopia

• Utopia is a term for an ideal society. It has
  been used to describe both planned communities
  that attempt to create an ideal society, and
  fictional societies portrayed in literature.
  (The Garden of Eden)
• The word was coined in Greek by Sir Thomas
  More for his 1516 book , Utopia describing a
  fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean.
• It has spawned other concepts, most
  prominently dystopia.

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dystopia

• Dystopia is the vision of a society (usually
  futuristic, imagined) that is the opposite of
  ideal. A dystopian society is a state in which
  the conditions of life are extremely bad,
  characterized by human misery, poverty,
  oppression, violence, disease, and/or pollution
• Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case
  scenario, make a criticism about a current trend,
  societal norm, or political system.

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Dystopias for youth are popularWhy?
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Dystopian Film, Television shows, and video games
are popularWhy?
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Setting

• The setting of a dystopian novel usually includes
  mass poverty, warfare, or a militaristic police
  force.  Quite often young people are targets
  either they are used by adults or are expendable
  in order to conserve resources.  At the same
  time, young people often become symbols of hope
  and change their negative experiences have
  driven them to protest the status quo and seek a
  new order.

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Characteristics of a Dystopian Society

• Propaganda is used to control the citizens of
  society.
• Information, independent thought, and freedom are
  restricted.
• A government or an institution that tries to
  make everyone equal but at a cost to
  individuality, autonomy and creativity
• A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the
  citizens of the society.
• Citizens are under constant surveillance.
• Citizens fear the outside world.
• Citizens live in a dehumanized state.
• The natural world is banished and distrusted.
• Citizens conform to uniform expectations.
  Individuality and dissent are bad.
• The illusion of a perfect utopian world is
  broken.
• Victims hiding or escaping the constrictions of a
  government
• Sub-cultures planning a rebellion or vindication
• Social classes that are divisive, usually based
  on those who have and those who have not

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More characteristics

• A catastrophe either natural or manmade has
  altered the world and its citizens
• Science and technology have perfected humans,
  but unnaturally so to the point where humans are
  more machine-like and heartless than their
  ancestors.
• Futuristic or technical terminology
• Generation gaps between young and old  elders
  who survived the catastrophic change and agreed
  to a controlled system to avoid fatal errors from
  the past the next generation of youth who
  question the status quo and resist rules, seek
  change, or take over power
• A quest to travel through unsafe settings, to
  deliver information or something valuable, to
  incite others to rebel, etc.
• A coming-of-age theme a young person matures
  quickly and learns his/her place in the order of
  things or a mission in life
• Antagonists a government that has taken all
  individual rights and decision-making away from
  the people a police force of bullies who abuse
  power neighbor versus neighbor, turning each
  other in to the authorities out of fear or for
  personal gain.

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Dystopian Protagonists

• sense that something is fundamentally wrong with
  their society.
• question the existing social and political order.
• feel trapped and struggle for change or escape.
• help readers recognize negative aspects of their
  society through their perspective.

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The 13 Best Dystopian Novels(according to
Ranker.com)

• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (1895)
• 1984 by George Orwell (1949)
• The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)
• The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter (1977)
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008)
• The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993)
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954)
• V For Vendetta by Alan Moore (1982-1989)
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)
• Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (1963)
• Logan's Run By William F. Nolan and George
  Clayton Johnson (1967)
• http//www.ranker.com/list/the-13-best-dystopian-n
  ovels/ivana-wynn?page1

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Visual analysis

• For each work of art
• Identify one detail in the foreground.
• Identify one detail in the background.
• Make 10 observations about the work. Apply the
  elements of design you learned in Media Arts.
• Identify the mood.
• Write a sentence identifying the theme of the
  work.
• List three or more specific details that support
  this theme.

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Utopia New Harmony
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Underwater utopia
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Urban, futuristic, absence of natural world,
monochrome
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• Barren
• Black white
• Contaminated earth
• Bleak landscape
• Nature gone

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So, is Cormac McCarthy's The Road a dystopian
work?

• Write a 3.8 paragraph in which you answer this
  question.
• Topic Sentence Your claim/argument (TS)
• Support 1 (SS)
• Explanation (EX)
• Support 2 (SS)
• Explanation (EX)
• Support 3 (SS)
• Explanation (EX)
• Concluding Sentence (CS)