A Utopian future, life, city or dream is what most people would want or consider – especially in this day and age. Years ago people imagined flying cars and buildings that touch the sky. A place where everything is perfect, peace and no war, an end to world hunger etc., but what’s the opposite? What’s our reality and future really look like? In short answer it leans closer to a Dystopian world which is the complete opposite of a Utopian. A few novels have even been able to represent our society in ways that could be very possible no matter the time frame it was written in.
A classic novel Animal Farm by George Orwell was written 1945 but the writing is still very relevant today. The story follows a farm who wants a change in policy, specifically the animals themselves want to run the farm because they know they can make it better and equal to all animals. How they do this though is through a rebellious attack against their farm owner. The book itself was actually an allegory to the Soviet Union and how the government can be corrupt through absolute power or the dangers of Communism. There’s a twist in the story and the animals end up overworking themselves over a project requested by the leading pig, Napoleon. Whether you’re the leader or the animals working towards a cause the story can reflect on our society and almost mirror a Dystopian.
Steven Spielberg had made a movie based off the dystopian novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. The movie focuses more on the journey of the main character Parzival but the novel shows more of the reality side. The story takes place in the year 2044 where a new type of VR headset takes you to a whole new world called the OASIS, it’s a worldwide phenomenon and everyone uses it as a way to escape the cruel reality. War, Disease, poor economics, Actors for president, overpopulation, nuclear warfare, just a realistic Dystopian of what our world could and may become. A whole new level of reality that’s not even real but it’s enough to change the world in ways that are imaginable in today.
Another Dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, was recently turned into a show the last few years and it’s based off the Dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood. The book is about a civil war that takes place in America in response to a fertility crisis. A Christian run society where women are used in ways based on how fertile they are. If you’re infertile but rich, a fertile, more poor woman would have your baby and the Christians did this with military force and the bible. It’s a very in depth story that follows a woman trying to leave what’s left of America to get to Canada. She was one of the handmaids that had the babies for the much richer families. This harsh Dystopia is very possible in today’s world.
Whether you see our future optimistically or negatively, the reality of it all falls towards a Dystopian-esque society that runs in ways that goes against large amounts of our population. Movies, films, novels, and stories have perfectly portrayed injustice within a suffering and whether the antagonist is ourselves or some otherworldly monster, it’s all an accurate representation of society in many ways. Books seem to catch it better than movies and show a better description and larger picture than movies but movies hold the rush and movement you can get out of it. Change can always be made, we can have a fulfilled future in society that doesn’t have the dread of cruelty, but if we can’t all come together and put someone in charge who will actually make that change everyone needs, we could end up living in a Dystopian society.
