One of the first dystopian fiction novels is Erewhon (1872) by Samuel Butler, an early commentary on the dangers of artificial intelligence. In this video, Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, discusses dystopian speculative fiction and her experience writing dystopian fiction:ĭystopian Fiction Examples Dystopian Literatureĭystopian literature is very common and has been around since at least the late 19th century. This type of fiction speculates what might happen to society if humans don’t deal with existential threats such as climate change, nuclear war, over-population, or authoritarianism. However, this can also look very different than the best sci-fi movies.īoth science fiction and dystopian fiction belong to the larger category of “speculative” fiction. Because dystopian literature and cinema is set in the future, it is by definition science fiction. Dystopian speculative fiction The purpose of Dystopian Fictionĭystopian fiction is usually set in the near - rather than far - future to generate urgency about real current events. It figures prominently in famous dystopian novels such as George Orwell’s 1984, which we investigate further below. Totalitarianism - defined as total social control over a given population through techniques such as thought police and surveillance - is also a feature of dystopian fiction. Dystopian authors represent social control as wielded by any number of powerful entities, including: As the video details, social control is another major feature of dystopian fiction.
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