Top 10 Fictional Dystopias
THX 1138
George Lucas made his name with Star Wars
but many film lovers cite this cult movie
from 1971 as his masterpiece.
It was his directorial debut on a feature
length film and he also co-wrote the screenplay.
The movie is set in the 25th century and the
totalitarian authorities use mind-controlling
drugs, which suppress emotion and sexual desire,
to sedate the populace.
Robert Duvall stars as THX 1138, a production
worker, who dreams of freedom.
The loss of personal identity and individual
liberty are the powerful themes.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, created
a feminist interpretation of dystopia in her
1985 novel.
The Republic of Gilead, (formerly the USA)
is the post-nuclear setting in which a military
coup follows a revolution.
The result is a chauvinist, totalitarian state.
There is a population crisis owing to mass
infertility and women who are able to breed
are forced to be concubines, (or handmaidens).
The film adaptation from 1990 stars Natasha
Richardson as the central figure, Offred.
The story has also been adapted for radio
and as a stage play and opera.
Fahrenheit 451
Ugly scenes of book burning in Nazi Germany
are recalled in Ray Bradbury’s novel from
1953.
In this future American society, the population
is monitored for any signs of freethinking.
The chief character, Guy Montag, is a fireman,
which means someone assigned to burn books.
Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which
book paper ignites.
Montag begins to question the morality of
his job and finds others who want to rebel.
Francois Truffaut directed the 1966 movie
based on the novel, starring Oskar Werner
and Julie Christie.
The Terminator
This film, released in 1984, was a low budget
enterprise that became a hugely successful
franchise with three sequels.
Directed by James Cameron, it starred Arnold
Schwarzenegger as The Terminator, a cyborg
assassin sent back from the year 2029.
The post-apocalyptic Los Angeles of the future
is ruled by a race of computer-controlled
machines that want to wipe out the human race.
The Terminator’s mission is to kill Sarah
Connor because her yet to be born son, John
is destined to lead a human rebellion against
the machines.
It’s a cautionary tale of humans versus
technology in a popular action film.
Metropolis
Although this German made, silent film dates
from 1927, the special effects still impress
today’s audiences.
Fritz Lang directed in the German Expressionist
style, using a blend of Art Deco buildings
and futuristic designs to show the city of
Metropolis.
The year is 2026 and society is divided into
two groups.
The thinkers live in comfort on the surface
whilst the workers live in terrible conditions,
underground.
Metropolis had an enormous influence on future
science fiction films and even features a
robot.
The heart of the story is a human one however,
as workers and bosses are in conflict, reflecting
the moral questions of capitalist societies.
Clockwork Orange
The Anthony Burgess novel from 1962 is one
of the most controversial ever published.
Set in a near future England, Alex and his
friends, known as droogs, are a thuggish gang
obsessed with rape and violence, and they
communicate through a slang language, invented
by Burgess.
Alex however, is not a typical teenager, as
he loves classical music, and Beethoven in
particular.
After being sent to prison for a brutal crime,
Alex participates in a trial to test out the
Ludovico Technique.
This involves giving him a nausea-inducing
drug whilst watching footage of violent acts.
Alex is released and can no longer act out
his violent urges, due to the aversion therapy.
The story prompts the question, should mind
control be a part of rehabilitation for offenders?
Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation, starring
Malcolm McDowell, was released ten years later,
continuing the controversy.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
/ Blade Runner
The Philip K. Dick penned novel from 1968
led to the famous movie adaptation, Blade
Runner, released in 1982.
It’s a post-apocalyptic society in which
androids perform menial jobs.
The main character is Rick Deckard, a bounty
hunter whose task is to recapture androids
that have taken on a human identity.
Ridley Scott directed the visually inventive
film, starring Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer.
The story makes us question the place of technology
in our lives and what it means to be a human
being with emotions.
The Trial
To be arrested and put on trial and not to
be told what crime you are accused of is a
nightmare vision.
This is the plot, which Prague born author,
Franz Kafka, featured in his 1925 novel.
It’s a touchstone in literature for every
regime that uses internment without trial
and imprisonment without charge.
The protagonist, Josef K, is unable to stop
his life spinning out of control.
He is a respectable, senior bank clerk.
What crime has he committed?
A 1963 movie starring Anthony Perkins and
Orson Welles was based on the book as well
as a 1993 movie version stars Kyle MacLachlan.
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley set his novel, published in
1932, in London in the 25th century.
The World State produces test tube babies,
which are socially engineered to fit into
one of five castes in order to determine their
status in life, from managers to manual laborers.
Sleep conditioning is used to stimulate certain
desires such as consumption of products.
This is a world dedicated to pleasure and
shopping and its citizens’ moods are controlled
by Soma, a hallucinogenic drug.
Henry Ford, the pioneer of the modern assembly
line, is worshiped as a god.
Huxley’s story is a warning against a hedonistic
society with no moral basis.
Test tube babies became a reality in the real
world and the novel’s premise raises many
questions about pre-determination.
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell’s 1949 novel made such an
impact, that it became a byword for dystopia.
References from the book, particularly ‘Big
Brother’, are part of our language and are
shorthand for a society where surveillance
keeps the population in check.
In this imagined future, London is part of
a super state known as Oceania.
The news is controlled by the repressive regime
and the central character of Winston Smith
is a civil servant whose job involves falsifying
official information.
His illicit liaison with Julia leads to an
encounter in the notorious Room 101.
The story is more relevant than ever as we
live with CCTV cameras on every corner and
repressive governments around the world censor
information from their citizens.
Adaptations include a 1954 BBC television
play, a 1956 film and a 1984 film, starring
John Hurt and Richard Burton.
