Life inKowloon Walled City has often inspired the dystopian identity in modern media works.[1]
Adystopia (from Ancient Greekδυσ (dus)'bad' and τόπος (tópos)'place'), also called acacotopia[2] oranti-utopia, is a community or society that is extremely bad or frightening.[3][4] It is often treated as anantonym ofutopia, a term that was coined byThomas More and figures as the title ofhis best known work, published in 1516, which created a blueprint for an ideal society with minimal crime, violence, and poverty. The relationship between utopia and dystopia is in actuality, not one of simple opposition, as many dystopias claim to be utopias andvice versa.[5][6][7]
Dystopias are often characterized by fear or distress,[3]tyrannical governments,environmental disaster,[4] or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Themes typical of a dystopian society include: complete control over the people in a society through the usage ofpropaganda andpolice state tactics, heavy censoring of information or denial of free thought, worshiping an unattainable goal, the complete loss of individuality, and heavy enforcement of conformity.[8] Despite certain overlaps, dystopian fiction is distinct from post-apocalyptic fiction, and an undesirable society is not necessarily dystopian. Dystopian societies appear in manyfictional works and artistic representations, particularly inhistorical fiction, such asA Tale of Two Cities (1859) byCharles Dickens,Quo Vadis? byHenryk Sienkiewicz, andA Man for All Seasons (1960) byRobert Bolt, stories set in thealternate history timelines, likeRobert Harris'Fatherland (1992), or in the future. Famous examples set in the future includedRobert Hugh Benson'sLord of the World (1907),Yevgeny Zamyatin'sWe (1920),Aldous Huxley'sBrave New World (1932),George Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four (1949), andRay Bradbury'sFahrenheit 451 (1953). Dystopian societies appear in many sub-genres of fiction and are often used to draw attention to society,environment, politics, economics, religion, psychology, ethics, science, or technology. Some authors use the term to refer to existing societies, many of which are, or have been,totalitarian states or societies in an advanced state of collapse. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, often make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.[9]
"Dustopia", the original spelling of "dystopia", first appeared in Lewis Henry Younge'sUtopia: or Apollo's Golden Days in 1747.[10] Additionally,dystopia was used as an antonym forutopia byJohn Stuart Mill in one of his 1868 Parliamentary Speeches (Hansard Commons) by adding the prefix "dys" (Ancient Greek:δυσ- "bad") to "topia", reinterpreting the initial "u" as the prefix "eu" (Ancient Greek:ευ- "good") instead of "ou" (Ancient Greek:οὐ "not").[11][12] It was used to denounce the government's Irish land policy: "It is, perhaps, too complimentary to call them Utopians, they ought rather to be called dys-topians, or caco-topians. What is commonly called Utopian is something too good to be practicable; but what they appear to favour is too bad to be practicable".[13][14][15][16]
Decades before the first documented use of the word "dystopia" was "cacotopia"/"kakotopia" (usingAncient Greek:κακόs, "bad, wicked") originally proposed in 1818 byJeremy Bentham, "As a match for utopia (or the imagined seat of the best government) suppose a cacotopia (or the imagined seat of the worst government) discovered and described".[17][18] Though dystopia became the more popular term, cacotopia finds occasional use;Anthony Burgess, author ofA Clockwork Orange (1962), said it was a better fit for Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four because "it sounds worse than dystopia".[19]
Some scholars, such asGregory Claeys andLyman Tower Sargent, make certain distinctions between typical synonyms of dystopias. For example, Claeys and Sargent defineliterary dystopias as societies imagined as substantially worse than the society in which the author writes. Some of these areanti-utopias, which criticise attempts to implement various concepts of utopia.[20] In the most comprehensive treatment of the literary and real expressions of the concept,Dystopia: A Natural History, Claeys offers a historical approach to these definitions.[21] Here the tradition is traced from early reactions to theFrench Revolution. Its commonlyanti-collectivist character is stressed, and the addition of other themes—the dangers of science and technology, of social inequality, of corporate dictatorship, of nuclear war—are also traced. A psychological approach is also favored here, with the principle of fear being identified with despotic forms of rule, carried forward from the history of political thought, and group psychology introduced as a means of understanding the relationship between utopia and dystopia. Andrew Norton-Schwartzbard noted that "written many centuries before the concept "dystopia" existed,Dante'sInferno in fact includes most of the typical characteristics associated with this genre – even if placed in a religious framework rather than in the future of the mundane world, as modern dystopias tend to be.[22] In the same vein, Vicente Angeloti remarked that "George Orwell's emblematic phrase,a boot stamping on a human face – forever, would aptly describe the situation of the denizens in Dante's Hell. Conversely, Dante's famous inscriptionAbandon all hope, ye who enter here would have been equally appropriate if placed at the entrance to Orwell's "Ministry of Love" and its notorious "Room 101".[23]
People Leaving the Cities, photo art byZbigniew Libera, which imagines a dystopian future in which people have to leave dyingmetropolises
Dystopias typically reflect contemporarysociopolitical realities and extrapolate worst-case scenarios as warnings for necessary social change or caution.[24] Dystopian fictions invariably reflect the concerns and fears of their creators' contemporaneous culture.[25] Due to this, they can be considered a subject ofsocial studies.[citation needed] In dystopias, citizens may live in a dehumanized state, be under constant surveillance, or have a fear of the outside world.[26] In the filmWhat Happened to Monday the protagonists (identical septuplet sisters) risk their lives by taking turns onto the outside world because of aone-child policy place in this futuristic dystopian society.[27]
In a 1967 study,Frank Kermode suggests that the failure of religious prophecies led to a shift in how society apprehends this ancient mode. Christopher Schmidt notes that, while the world goes to waste for future generations, people distract themselves from disaster by passively watching it as entertainment.[28]
In the 2010s, there was a surge of popular dystopianyoung adult literature and blockbuster films.[29][28] Some have commented on this trend, saying that "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine theend of capitalism".[30][31][32][33][34] Cultural theorist and criticMark Fisher identified the phrase as encompassing the theory ofcapitalist realism—the perceived "widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it"—and used the above quote as the title to the opening chapter of his book,Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?. In the book, he also refers to dystopian film such asChildren of Men (originally anovel byP. D. James) to illustrate what he describes as the "slow cancellation of the future".[34][35]Theo James, an actor inDivergent (originally anovel byVeronica Roth), explains that "young people in particular have such a fascination with this kind of story [...] It's becoming part of the consciousness. You grow up in a world where it's part of the conversation all the time – the statistics ofour planet warming up. The environment is changing. The weather is different. These are things that are very visceral and very obvious, and they make you question the future, and how we will survive. It's so much a part of everyday life that young people inevitably – consciously or not – are questioning their futures and how the Earth will be. I certainly do. I wonder what kind of world my children's kids will live in."[29]
The political principles at the root of fictional utopias (or "perfect worlds") areidealistic in principle and result in positive consequences for the inhabitants; the political principles on which fictional dystopias are based, while often based on utopian ideals, result in negative consequences for inhabitants because of at least onefatal flaw.[38][39]
Dystopias are often filled withpessimistic views of the ruling class or a government that is brutal or uncaring, ruling with an "iron fist".[citation needed] Dystopian governments are sometimes ruled by afascist or communist regime or dictator. These dystopian government establishments often have protagonists or groups that lead a "resistance" to enact change within their society, as is seen inAlan Moore'sV for Vendetta.[40]
The economic structures of dystopian societies in literature and other media have many variations, as the economy often relates directly to the elements that the writer is depicting as the source of the oppression. There are severalarchetypes that such societies tend to follow. A theme is the dichotomy ofplanned economies versusfree market economies, a conflict which is found in such works asAyn Rand'sAnthem andHenry Kuttner's short story "The Iron Standard". Another example of this is reflected inNorman Jewison's 1975 filmRollerball (1975).[citation needed]
Some dystopias, such as that ofNineteen Eighty-Four, featureblack markets with goods that are dangerous and difficult to obtain or the characters may be at the mercy of the state-controlled economy.Kurt Vonnegut'sPlayer Piano depicts a dystopia in which the centrally controlled economic system has indeed made material abundance plentiful but deprived the mass of humanity of meaningful labor; virtually all work is menial, unsatisfying and only a small number of the small group that achieves education is admitted to the elite and its work.[43] InTanith Lee'sDon't Bite the Sun, there is no want of any kind – only unabashed consumption and hedonism, leading the protagonist to begin looking for a deeper meaning to existence.[44] Even in dystopias where the economic system is not the source of the society's flaws, as inBrave New World, the state often controls the economy; a character, reacting with horror to the suggestion of not being part of the social body, cites as a reason that works for everyone else.[45]
Dystopian fiction frequently draws stark contrasts between the privileges of the ruling class and the dreary existence of the working class. In the 1931 novelBrave New World byAldous Huxley, a class system is prenatally determined with Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons, with the lower classes having reduced brain function and special conditioning to make them satisfied with their position in life.[46] Outside of this society there also exist several human settlements that exist in the conventional way but which the World Government describes as "savages".[citation needed]
InGeorge Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four, the dystopian society described within has a tiered class structure with the ruling elite "Inner Party" at the top, the "Outer Party" below them functioning as a type of middle-class with minor privileges, and the working-class "Proles" (short forproletariat) at the bottom of the hierarchy with few rights, yet making up the vast majority of the population.[citation needed]
In the filmElysium, the majority of Earth's population on the surface lives in poverty with little access to health care and are subject to worker exploitation andpolice brutality, while the wealthy live above the Earth in luxury with access to technologies that cure all diseases, reverse aging, and regenerate body parts.[citation needed]
Written a century earlier, the future society depicted inH. G. Wells'The Time Machine had started in a similar way toElysium – the workers consigned to living and working in underground tunnels while the wealthy live on a surface made into an enormous beautiful garden. But over a long time period, the roles were eventually reversed – the rich degenerated and became a decadent "livestock" regularly caught and eaten by the underground cannibal Morlocks.[citation needed]
Some fictional dystopias, such asBrave New World andFahrenheit 451, have eradicated the family and kept it from re-establishing itself as a social institution. InBrave New World, where children are reproduced artificially, the concepts of "mother" and "father" are consideredobscene. In some novels, such asWe, the state is hostile to motherhood, as a pregnant woman from One State is in revolt.[47]
In dystopias, religious groups may play the role of oppressed or oppressor. One of the earliest examples isRobert Hugh Benson'sLord of the World, about a futuristic world whereMarxists andFreemasons led by theAntichrist have taken over the world and the only remaining source of dissent is a tiny and persecutedCatholic minority.[48] InBrave New World the establishment of the state included lopping off the tops of all crosses (as symbols of Christianity) to make them "T"s (as symbols ofHenry Ford's Model T).[49] InC. S. Lewis'sThat Hideous Strength the leaders of the fictional National Institute of Coordinated Experiments, a joint venture of academia and government to promote an anti-traditionalist social agenda, are contemptuous of religion and require initiates to desecrate Christian symbols.Margaret Atwood's novelThe Handmaid's Tale takes place in a future United States under a Christian-based theocratic regime.[50]
In the Russian novelWe byYevgeny Zamyatin, first published in 1921, people are permitted to live out of public view twice a week for one hour and are only referred to by numbers instead of names. The latter feature also appears in the filmTHX 1138. In some dystopian works, such asKurt Vonnegut'sHarrison Bergeron, society forces individuals toconform to radicalegalitarian social norms that discourage or suppress accomplishment or even competence as forms of inequality.[citation needed] Complete conformity and suppression of individuality (to the point of acting in unison) is also depicted inMadeleine L'Engle'sA Wrinkle in Time.
Fictional dystopias are commonly urban and frequently isolate their characters from all contact with the natural world.[52] Sometimes they require their characters to avoid nature, as whenwalks are regarded as dangerouslyanti-social in Ray Bradbury'sFahrenheit 451, as well as within Bradbury's short story "The Pedestrian".[citation needed] InThat Hideous Strength, science coordinated by government is directed toward the control of nature and the elimination of natural human instincts. InBrave New World, the lower class is conditioned to be afraid of nature but also to visit the countryside and consume transport and games to promote economic activity.[53] Lois Lowry's "The Giver" shows a society where technology and the desire to create a utopia has led humanity to enforce climate control on the environment, as well as to eliminate many undomesticated species and to provide psychological and pharmaceutical repellent against human instincts.E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops" depicts a highly changed global environment which forces people to live underground due to an atmospheric contamination.[54] As Angel Galdon-Rodriguez points out, this sort of isolation caused by external toxic hazard is later used by Hugh Howey in his series of dystopias of theSilo Series.[55]
Contrary to thetechnologically utopian claims, which view technology as a beneficial addition to all aspects of humanity, technological dystopia concerns itself with and focuses largely (but not always) on the negative effects caused by new technology.[57]
Technologies reflect and encourage the worst aspects of human nature.[57]
Jaron Lanier, a digital pioneer, has become a technological dystopian: "I think it's a way of interpreting technology in which people forgot taking responsibility."[citation needed] "'Oh, it's the computer that did it, not me.' 'There's no more middle class? Oh, it's not me. The computer did it'" This quote explains that people begin to not only blame the technology for the changes in lifestyle but also believe that technology is an omnipotence. It also points to a technological determinist perspective in terms of reification.[58]
Technologies harm our interpersonal communication, relationships, and communities.[59]
A decrease in communication within family members and friend groups due to increased time in technology use. Virtual space misleadingly heightens the impact of real presence; people resort to technological medium for communication nowadays.
Technologies reinforce hierarchies – concentrate knowledge and skills; increase surveillance and erode privacy; widen inequalities of power and wealth; giving up control to machines.
Douglas Rushkoff, a technological utopian, states in his article that the professional designers "re-mystified" the computer so it wasn't so readable anymore; users had to depend on the special programs built into the software that was incomprehensible for normal users.[57]
New technologies are sometimes regressive (worse than previous technologies).[57]
The unforeseen impacts of technology are negative.[57]
"The most common way is that there's some magic artificial intelligence in the sky or in the cloud or something that knows how to translate, and what a wonderful thing that this is available for free. But there's another way to look at it, which is the technically true way: You gather a ton of information from real live translators who have translated phrases… It's huge but very much like Facebook, it's selling people back to themselves… [With translation] you're producing this result that looks magical but in the meantime, the original translators aren't paid for their work… You're actually shrinking the economy."[according to whom?][59]
More efficiency and choices can harm our quality of life (by causing stress, destroying jobs, making us more materialistic).[60]
In his article "Prest-o! Change-o!", technological dystopianJames Gleick mentions the remote control being the classic example of technology that does not solve the problem "it is meant to solve". Gleick quotes Edward Tenner, a historian of technology, that the ability and ease of switching channels by the remote control serves to increase distraction for the viewer. Then it is only expected that people will become more dissatisfied with the channel they are watching.[60]
New technologies can solve problems of old technologies or just create new problems.[57]
The remote control example explains this claim as well, for the increase in laziness and dissatisfaction levels was clearly not a problem in times without the remote control. He also takes social psychologist Robert Levine's example of Indonesians "'whose main entertainment consists of watching the same few plays and dances, month after month, year after year,' and with Nepalese Sherpas who eat the same meals of potatoes and tea through their entire lives. The Indonesians and Sherpas are perfectly satisfied". Because of the invention of the remote control, it merely created more problems.[60]
Technologies destroy nature (harming human health and the environment).
The need for business replaced community and the "story online" replaced people as the "soul of the Net". Because information was now able to be bought and sold, there was not as much communication taking place.[57]
"An imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible; opp. UTOPIA (cf. CACOTOPIA). So dystopian n., one who advocates or describes a dystopia; dystopian a., of or pertaining to a dystopia; dystopianism, dystopian quality or characteristics."
The example of first usage given in theOED (1989 ed.) refers to the 1868 speech by John Stuart Mill quoted above. Other examples given in theOED include:
1952 Negley & Patrick Quest for Utopia xvii. 298 The Mundus Alter et Idem [of Joseph Hall] is...the opposite of eutopia, the ideal society: it is a dystopia, if it is permissible to coin a word. 1962 C. WALSH From Utopia to Nightmare 11 The 'dystopia' or 'inverted utopia'. Ibid. 12 Stories...that seemed in their dystopian way to be saying something important. Ibid. ii. 27 A strand of utopianism or dystopianism. 1967 Listener 5 Jan. 22 The modern classics Aldous Huxley'sBrave New World and George Orwell'sNineteen Eighty Four are dystopias. They describe not a world we should like to live in, but one we must be sure to avoid. 1968New Scientist 11 July 96/3 It is a pleasant change to read some hope for our future is trevor ingram ... I fear that our real future is more likely to be dystopian.
^Dr. Andrew C. Norton-Schwartzbard, "Foretastes of Modernity in Renaissance Literature and Art" in Catherine Summers (ed.) "Papers Presented to The Fourth Inter-University Symposium on Late Medieval Culture", p.59, p.71 (note).
^Vicente Angeloti, "Leggere Dante con gli occhi del tardo Novecento", Trimestrale Letterario di Firenze, Estate 1987, pp. 38-56.
^Baker, Stephen; McLaughlin, Greg (1 January 2015). "From Belfast to Bamako: Cinema in the Era of Capitalist Realism".Ireland and Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan UK:107–116.doi:10.1057/9781137496362_10.ISBN978-1-349-56410-1.
^William Steinhoff, "Utopia Reconsidered: Comments on1984" 153, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^William Steinhoff, "Utopia Reconsidered: Comments on1984" 147, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^Jane Donawerth, "Genre Blending and the Critical Dystopia", inDark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination, ed. Raffaella Baccolini and Tom Moylan (New York: Routledge, 2003).
^Howard P. Segal, "Vonnegut'sPlayer Piano: An Ambiguous Technological Dystopia," 163 in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^Lee, Tanith.Don't Bite the Sun. Bantam Books:1999.
^William Matter, "On Brave New World" 98, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^William Matter, "OnBrave New World" 95, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^Gorman Beauchamp, "Zamiatin'sWe" 70, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^William Matter, "OnBrave New World" 94, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^Margaret Atwood,The Handmaid's Tale, McClelland and Stewart, 1985.ISBN0-7710-0813-9.
^Berne, Suzanne. "Ground Zero".Patterns for College Writing: 182.
^Eric S. Rabkin; Martin H. Greenberg; Joseph D. Olander, eds. (1983). "Avatism and Utopia 4".No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction. Southern Illinois University Press.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
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