Dyst
opian themes have been a part of our pop cultural landscape for a very long time. Stories about crumbling governments, societal collapse, pandemics, plagues, and impending apocalypses, whether made by man, alien, or artificial intelligence, cycle through or collective psyches with startling regularity. Whether it’s George Orwell’s 1984, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Blade Runner, Soylent Green, Mad Max, Terminator, Children of Men, or The Hunger Games, we seem instinctively drawn toward the worst possible End.
Of course, there’s a difference between shambling zombies, nuclear winters, biological fallout, and alien invasions. Not all of these fall neatly into the category of dystopia. Nevertheless, all of them are tied to a view of the future that is bleak.
So why do we keep coming back to this? You’d think we’d want to focus on futures more rosy. I mean, what happened to our belief in utopia, the one where we’d cure cancer, stop nuclear war, stop fighting, and evolve? Somewhere along the way Ozzie and Harriet gave way to Doomsday Preppers.
Now, a dystopian future seems far more realistic than a utopian one.
In a way, our embrace of dystopia is a rejection of utopia. History and personal experience have shown us, over and over again, that when left to his devices Man fails. No amount of drugs, diplomacy, technology, education, or entertainment can prevent collapse, both internal and external. There isn’t enough silicone on earth to keep us from sagging. And there’s no amount of preservatives that can stop the decay.
Eighteenth century British philosophers Jeremy Bentham and James Mill believed that “with universal education all serious social problems would be solved by the end of the century.” That lie, and its multiple offspring, have been left orphaned by reality.
The dystopian trend is evidence of a creeping realization that we are broken and things will only get worse.
What I find most fascinating about this is how much it jibes with Scripture. The Bible does not paint a pretty picture about the fate of mankind. If the Book of Revelations is to believed, it doesn’t End with a whimper, but in blood and fire and plague. It is the ass-kicking of the ages… and we’re the punching bag. Katniss wouldn’t stand a chance. All our peace treaties, technological advances, and therapeutic skills land us in Armageddon. Far from Shangri la, we end up in an arena, pitted against God, nature, and each other. No amount of firepower or psycho-babble can stave off these approaching hoofbeats.
The genre of dystopian films and fiction reinforces a vital biblical theme — Man is broken. History and personal experience bear this out. Society crumbles because WE have. Which is why we keep returning to gaze at the awful vision.
It is our future.
Dystopia far more accurately reflects the human condition than does utopia.
G.K. Chesterton once suggested that the only empirically verifiable Christian doctrine is original sin. We cannot prove God exists. We can, however, prove that human beings are terribly screwed up. It is all around us. It is inside us. It’s even on the best-seller list.
So let me suggest that one such “evidence” of a Christian doctrine is… the dystopian trend.
So true. And like not being able to pull our gaze away from a blocked off car accident or an atrocity, we contemplate, write about, or view “the end” and seriously consider the hereafter.
I never thought of it this way, thanks. It’s definitely worth thinking about.
Dang. Well said.
It’s somewhere in Romans quoting Psalms, I think, that it says (or I extrapolated) that the reason God lets history play out, is not because He doesn’t know what’s going to happen. It’s so we’ll be silenced. “Yeah, God, you’re right. Your ways are great, ours . . . well” we indicate over our shoulder. “Big told you, so coming, eh?”
It’s like you hear the news coming out of England how their social medicine program has included killing old people and children without consent (though they changed the consent part a week or two ago), and I’m looking at the people who want bigger government and I can’t understand how they think this is not our future?
Then again, it doesn’t help that I’m reading a historical dystopian fiction by the Theones.
There is no utopia on earth, nor will be until Christ establishes His throne here. All societies are dystopian to some degree, some more than others (Nazi Germany, for example). I think its the premise behind dystopian stories that appeal to youth (and to me). What would the world look like if ‘this’ happened? Better to explore it intellectually than to have to live through it.
Great post (again)!
I’ll add that we’re also drawn to dystopia because we’re living in unarguably the most peaceful, prosperous time in human history. We’re death-obsessed, so it makes sense we’re constantly pondering the death of society as we know it.
I also believe we appreciate dystopia because it represents a reset button from the society and its constraints that we’ve built up for ourselves. It could be suggested that we, as a culture, are addicted to gadgets, fast food, consumption and ease of living. Thus, the only way we can escape that is, well, going cold turkey, or having a “Flood” event (super-plague, economic collapse, natural disasters, etc.) reset everything.
Interesting idea, Bobby, that dystopia represents a societal “reset button”. In that sense, we both fear it and know we need it.
“The genre of dystopian films and fiction reinforces a vital biblical theme — Man is broken.”
Yup, nailed it. Broken people making broken choices. I think the other thing YA dystopian stories focus on is how to hold on to your humanity in the midst of the craziness. I’ve seen that theme over and over again, with Katniss being a forefront example. (Also a theme in Ship Breaker and The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi.)
The exciting thing is, Christians have a great answer for those two issues. We just need to be skilled in our craft so we can lead people to the answer rather than beat them over the head with it.
Personally, I think it depends on the dystopian fare. The Hunger Games isn’t popular because young people desire to be IN them or because they rejected a utopia, but that the books strike a chord with their own commentary on how culture is actually steering away from utopia.
Ultimately, Dystopian books serve to give a visual picture of the end toward which a society trends should it not correct itself. In a world with so little imagination this is absolutely necessary. For Brave New World readers, the yellow light was drugs. For 1984 readers, the yellow light was Big Brother. For Animal Farm readers, the yellow light was trusting those in power too much. In most ways, The Hunger Games is a reitiration of the message in Upton Sinclair’s Jungle only on a global scale. The author is still portraying a single nation, but the metaphor is international. When do we limit our excess lifestyle so that it doesn’t cost someone else? When do we forgive our enemies? To Collins’ villainous capitol, the answer to both these questions is “never.”
Until society has a tangible picture that sparks the response, “not THAT far!” it just progresses toward darkness. Hence, Dystopia. Hunger Games portrays an up close and personal picture of the pain our society normally inflicts on people at a comfortable distance. She brings that reality closer, makes readers squirm. So, I think readers are embracing the books, but rejecting the Capitol’s world. They aren’t rejecting utopia, necessarily, but saying the Capitol isn’t it, and if we don’t stop, that is what we will become.
As Christians, of course, we know that all governments are a dystopia – the result of a great human cataclysm centuries ago. Each Dystopian novel is a chance to say “look, humans can’t do this right” and “earthly utopia is an illusion.” We know we won’t experience utopia here (in Plato’s Cave – or, the City of Ember) but only when we exit, chased by a bear.
Hope within dystopia resonates in our souls. Utopia, however, is fallen man’s way of claiming to know what a perfect world looks like. Never, ever trust a person who wants to foist a utopia on you. That person is evil at a very basic level.
Yes. But besides, books about Utopias are boring. We like dystopian lit because we like struggle and conflict. I think.
Speaking of dystopian governments, have any of you read Escape from Camp 14? I haven’t read it, but North Korea is just chilling. It hardly seems possible that such a place exists.
I’m thinking that Sally is correct. Dystopia “sells” because it makes interesting fiction. Take our current world, shake it up and create drama and conflict, and there you have an engaging story. I’m not sure it indicates that dystopia “fans” reflect some kind of consensus that our world is going to hell in a handbasket.
It might not represent a conscious consensus, but in my experience every good story really is the reader resonating with some part that is truth. God is in the story (even in atheistic evangelism), and there’s a part of us that says He’s right. So it seems natural to think Mike is right on this because Man is broken, and cannot make a perfect society. And yet he keeps trying. So dystopian realities to tell that truth.
I heard about that book and want to read it too, Sally!
Sally, I’d argue that there are no genuine “utopian” novels. Even Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek who was a humanist, set the Enterprise’s struggle against dystopian elements. So I’d agree that we like dystopian themes because they provide more compelling stories. But is that the ONLY reason? I’d suggest it’s not just drama, but the sense of societal Reckoning embedded in our psyches that causes us to keep coming back to these stories.
There’s a few. Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach is purely utopian with no dystopian elements. It may seem dystopian to people who don’t subscribe to it’s weird future world, though. Islandia by August Tappan Wright also is. There’s Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Erewhon by Samuel Butler. The Green Child by Herbert Read has conflict, but it’s not really through dystopian means. It’s idea of a utopia is very alien to most people though. I’m about to read the City of the Sun by Tomas Campanella, which is described as a proto-utopian work.
Most of these are older novels though, and Utopian literature has really dried up in recent years. There’s also the classic dilemma that is personified when looking at Moore’s Utopia-did he do it as a commentary on current social values, or does he really believe this was a good or perfect way to live? So the idea of a genuine utopian novel is hit from another end-that no one actually believes in the world they make.
Love it and was just discussion this w/my hubby.
Also, I’d add EARTH ABIDES to your list of classic dystopian novels. That book, though pretty godless in its philosophical conclusions on humanity, was waaaaay ahead of its time. It only takes a few minutes for an entire country to go from great to dystopian. Worth the read.
(Oh my word. Was just DISCUSSING this w/my hubby. Just addressed about 100 Christmas cards–sorry!)
Of course, utopia actually means “no place” – which is the ironic meaning Sir Thomas Moore intended when he coined the term in 1516 (it’s also a play on the word eutopia) and poses the question, can such a good place really exist? The answer is no, not on earth, not under the present circumstances.
VERY cool thoughts, Lyn. Didn’t know that was the meaning of “utopia.”
I’m not sure the YA dystopian books are focusing on the brokenness of man. Many are more about persecution porn in a neo-gothic sort of way. Instead of the heroine being taken to a faraway castle to endure indignities at the hand of its master and find love with a fellow inhabitant, they just make it a faraway future and the indignities are suffered at the hands of a president. There’s not much reflection on man or the system that was raised up by them.
I think dystopian novels have to be tied to a system to really work. That’s why they rose up as Communism did, because at heart, all dystopian books criticize a system or philosophy that is meant to be a guiding light for humanity. Many modern ones don’t really explore the system as use it to make characters suffer, and that whole brokenness of man aspect is missing or muted in favor of typical good, and typical evil.
For some reason, I feel like I’m the only person who has not gotten into the dystopian trend. I’ve read a few – Birthmark, City of Ember, the Giver, etc – and am familiar with the plots/premises of Divergent, the Hunger Games, etc – and know both YA authors and young authors who all write dystopian. About half of the YA dystopian books I’ve skimmed at the library are about loss of personal identity and lack of free will to choose your career/mate/future. They’re not really about big government. I think that if we view dystopian as political only, we’re really missing out on the other aspects.
But I personally have been off dystopian for a couple years now because of the prevailing attitude among the people I’ve been around: “this could happen to us.” I need to stay in more firmly fantasy or historical genres as dystopian usually affects my mood very negatively. (depression) I don’t see it doing a lot of good for the people I hang out with who adore it either.
I see dystopian as the Next Big Thing in YA lit, for the people who don’t like werewolf/vampire/etc romance. That’s all. There used to be (especially in the CBA but also in the mainstream market) a ton of LotR- and Narnia-inspired YA lit. Now we’ve got forty kajillion Hunger Games “I’m the only one who stood up for my rights against the evil gov’t” books next to the “I fell in love with a dangerous creature who happens to be a gorgeous boy” books. I suspect the Next Big Things will be fairy tale and superhero genres, as book trends and tv series trends seem to go with each other and we already have a resurgence in fairy tale lit.