Dystopia
From Open Encyclopedia
- This article is about the philosophical concept and literary form. For the Half-Life 2 mod, see Dystopia (computer game).
A dystopia (alternatively, cacotopia, kakotopia or anti-utopia) is usually seen as the antithesis of a utopian society.
A dystopian society is usually characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government, or some other kind of oppressive social control.
The first use of the word has been credited to John Stuart Mill, whose knowledge of Greek would suggest that he meant it as a place where things are bad, rather than simply the opposite of Utopia. The Greek prefix 'dys'/'dis' signifies 'ill','bad' or 'abnormal', whereas 'ou' means 'not' (Utopia means 'nowhere', and is a pun on 'Eutopia' meaning 'happy place' - the prefix 'eu' means 'well'). So 'dystopia' and 'utopia' are not exact opposites in the sense that dysphoria and euphoria are opposites.
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Common traits of a dystopian society
A dystopian society usually exhibits at least one of the following traits from the following non-exhaustive list:
- An apparent Utopian society, free of poverty, disease, conflict, and even unhappiness. Scratching the surface of the society, however, reveals exactly the opposite. The exact problem, the way the problem is suppressed, and the chronology of the problem forms the central conflict of the story.
- Social stratification, where social class is strictly defined and enforced, and social mobility is non-existent (see caste system).
- A nation-state ruled by an upper class with few democratic ideals
- 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, e.g. Alan Moore's V for Vendetta
- Strict conformity among citizens and the general assumption that dissent and individuality are bad
- A state figurehead that people worship fanatically through a vast personality cult, such as Nineteen Eighty-Four's Big Brother, We's The Benefactor, or Equilibrium's Father
- A fear or disgust of the world outside the state.
- A common view of traditional life, particularly organized religion, as primitive and nonsensical
- Alternatively, complete domination by a state religion, e.g Ingsoc in the Oceania of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Sisterhood of Metacontrol in FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions, the Technopriests in The Incal or fundamentalist Christianity (with elements of reconstructionism) in Escape from L.A.
- The "memory" of institutions overriding or taking precedence over human memory
- A penal system that lacks due process laws and often employs psychological or physical torture, e.g. Alan Moore's V for Vendetta
- A lack of the key essentials of life for many citizens, like food shortages
- Constant surveillance by government or other agencies, e.g. Alan Moore's V for Vendetta
- Absence or else total co-option of an educated middle class (i.e. teachers, journalists, scientists) who might criticize the regime's leadership
- Militarized police forces and private security forces
- The banishment of the natural world from daily life
- Construction of fictional views of reality that the populace are coerced into believing
- Corruption, impotence or other usurpation of democratic institutions
- Fictional rivalries between groups that actually operate as a cartel
- Insistence by the forces of the establishment that:
- It provides the best of all possible worlds
- That all problems are due to the action of its enemies and their dupes
- An overall slow decay of all systems (political, economic, religion, infrastructure. . .) resulting from people being alienated from nature, the State, society, family, and themselves. Yesterday was better, tomorrow will be worse.
- Everything tends towards zero sum gain relationships rather than non-zero-sum relationships in a slowly decreasing system.
In dystopian societies, the economic system is one that centers around stability and is structured so that the government or the economic system is immune to change or disruption. Usually, the industries operate at maximum efficiency and capacity, and then the excess products or currency is absorbed in some way by the state. In Nineteen Eighty-Four people are put on rations and the excess that is produced is absorbed in the "war" that is always occurring with either Eurasia or Eastasia. In Brave New World the excess produced is sucked up in the extreme consumerism of the population, encouraged by the government. In We the One State there is no currency or exchange whatsoever, either inside or outside the walls of the society, but everything is provided to the people.
Traits of dystopian fiction
Many films and literature featuring dystopian societies exhibit at least a few of the following traits:
- A selectively-told back story of a war, revolution, uprising, spike in overpopulation, natural disaster 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. This is not always the case, however — in Brave New World and Equilibrium, people enjoy much higher material living standards in exchange for the loss of other qualities in their lives, such as independent thought and emotional depth.
- A protagonist who questions the society, often feeling intuitively that something is terribly wrong, such as V from Alan Moore's V for Vendetta.
- Necessarily, if it is based on our world, a shift in emphasis of control, e.g. to corporations, autocratic cliques or bureaucracies.
- Because dystopian literature takes place in the future, it often features technology more advanced than that of contemporary society. Usually, the advanced technology is controlled exclusively by the group in power, while the oppressed population is limited to technology comparable to or more primitive than what we have today.
For the reader to engage with it, dystopian fiction typically has one other trait: familiarity. It is not enough to show people living in a society that seems unpleasant. The society must have echoes of today, of the reader's own experience. If the reader can identify the patterns or trends that would lead to the dystopia, it becomes a more involving and effective experience. Authors can use a dystopia effectively to highlight their own concerns about societal trends. For example, George Orwell originally based the title of Nineteen Eighty-Four on the year it was written (1948), because he saw the world he describes emerging in austere postwar Europe. In similar fashion, Ayn Rand wrote Anthem as a warning against what she saw as the subordination of individual human beings to the state or "the We." Margaret Atwood wrote The Handmaid's Tale as a warning against the rise of religious fundamentalist totalitarianism in the United States and the hypocrisy of 1970s feminism actually aiding the cause of their worst enemies.
Dystopian fiction is often (but not always) unresolved. That is, the narrative may deal with individuals in a dystopian society who are unsatisfied, and may rebel, but ultimately fail to change anything. Sometimes they themselves end up changed to conform to the society's norms. This narrative arc to a sense of hopelessness in such classic dystopian works as Nineteen Eighty-Four. It contrasts with much fiction of the future, in which a hero succeeds in resolving conflicts or otherwise changing things for the better.
There is usually a group of people somewhere in the society who are not under the complete control of the state, and in whom the hero of the novel usually puts his or her hope, although he or she still fails to change anything. In Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell they are the "proles" (short for "proletariat"), in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley they are the people on the reservation, and in We by Zamyatin they are the people outside the walls of the One State.
Criticisms of the concept of dystopias
Just as most modern philosophers, political theorists, and writers have dismissed the idea of utopias – that is, perfect societies – many have also expressed skepticism regarding the liklihood of a real-life dystopia of the sort described by Orwell and others. Although there have been many absolutist states in human history, writers such as Gregg Easterbrook and others have pointed out that such societies tend to rapidly self-destruct or be destroyed by neighbors. Dictatorships – governments with a cult of personality – tend to be particularly short-lived since they are almost continually generating new opponents within their own population. One critic or activist is killed or silenced, which only serves to anger his family or friends, who become critics and activists in their own right and so on.
Absolutist states with communist or other socialist leanings often fail less from their direct persecution of their own citizens (although that occurs too) but rather from the impracticality of their own economic system and its failure to meet the populations' needs for food, money, or work.
Depictions of dystopias in various media
Dystopias are a common theme in many kinds of fiction. The lists linked below contain extensive lists of works with dystopian themes.
- List of dystopian comics
- List of dystopian literature
- List of dystopian films
- List of dystopian music, TV programs, and games
See also
- Social fiction
- Soft science fiction
- Utopia
- Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic science fiction
- fablebg:Антиутопия
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