Art by Yosuke Goda
A few weeks back, I watched Equilibrium, set in a futuristic world where everyone is forced to revoke their emotions along with any form of self-expression in exchange for a war-less world. Except anyone who is found with sentimental objects or even pets is shot on sight. Believable, right? This weekend I caught a glimpse of Franklyn, in which everyone must have a religion, even if it’s a made-up one. Also very feasible. Stop me if you can’t catch my sarcasm yet. Then there are also, of course, stories like Hunger Games where children are forced to fight each other to the death, similar to Battle Royale, in which classmates slaughter each other in a bloody brawl. Or Divergent, in which society splits into a bunch of factions and you must choose one and stick to it for the rest of your life.
Of course dystopian stories aren’t realistic, we get that. Otherwise, they would be stories about our own society, which is dystopian in its own sense, just not to the degree of absurdity.
The biggest question dystopian stories try to answer is: well, what if this happened? We’re not saying it can, but just imagine for a second that the world somehow did get effed up in this direction. I believe a dystopian story can be made believable, if it answers a few simple questions:
1) How did it turn into the state it’s currently in? What’s the history?
2) Is the rest of the world like this? If not, is there any way for the characters to find out or escape?
3) Why hasn’t anyone tried to change it? And if they have, why have they failed?
We all know human beings are capable of horrid things, but if a story takes them to extremes, it should be backed up with some form of logic, no matter how demented.
Do you think there’s a limit to “dystopia”?
-The Story Addict
This week I’ve got some books to share as part of the special indie feature that have some superb dystopian premises:
The Priest (The Ginecean Chronicles, book 1) by Monica La Porta
On Ginecea, women rule over a race of enslaved men and heterosexual relations are considered sinful. Mauricio and Rosie, the slave and the President’s daughter, will prove that love doesn’t look at social status and gender.
Pax in the Land of Women (The Ginecean Chronicles, book 2) by Monica La Porta
As a prestigious pure breed woman, Pax would have never thought it possible to fall in love with a man, Prince. When her secret is out, Pax is forced to fight the Ginecean society for her right to love him.
In the distant future, humanity occupies every corner of the Solar System, with current census data placing the population at just over 100 billion. With every last resource tapped and nearing depletion, it is now known that it is only a matter of time before they exhaust the most precious natural resource of all.
As long as there’s a good plot, I don’t think there’s a limit.
I like it when stories make us ask these questions and get us thinking about the possibilities. Yes, in order to be completely plausible there should be a solid foundation, but for me part of the fun of these ideas is filling in the gaps for myself. Another thought-provoking post Margaret!
Very true, that’s in part why it also fits into the speculative fiction category
I’m more logic-oriented so I like questions answered. Definitely depends on the reader. And thank you!
Yes, dystopia is not meant to be entirely realistic. In that, you’re bang on there; the point being that we are shown the problems we have at the point of their extreme. Also, did you enjoy Equilibrium? I ask because I know a few fans and there’s even a fan site dedicated to it. But for my money, it had plot holes so big you could drive a truck through them. I’ve heard people say it’s a take on 1984 with a twist, but it’s actually a ripoff of 1984 and THX 1138. Fun to watch, and I enjoyed mocking it
Haha, nice. I liked the action, I thought some of the fights were pretty well done. But slicing off a guy’s face…at that point I just laughed. Agreed on the plot holes and such. A lot of the time I just didn’t follow the insanity and it also seemed like a wannabe Matrix movie. Still, it made me think about how we do pay a price for self-expression. A very hefty price.
Dystopias work if they connect to recognizable issues in society. I believe one reason Hunger Games works is because of society’s perverted draw to suffering as entertainment. Brave New World is prophetic regarding the role of technology in society. Then there’s Fahrenheit 451, as relevant as ever. Harrison and Bergeron (Kurt Vonnegut) was written in 1961, but can you think of a more fitting satire for today’s issue concerning disabilities? As long as dystopias raise questions about society, there will always be room for them.
Excellent point! Relevance is very important. You’re spot on about the Hunger Games, that’s the same vibe I got from it. And it was a very powerful message, that’s what made it so effective. I think these are the types of stories that have the loudest voice, and show us that, as writers, we can say a lot through our craft. It’s definitely an inspiring thought.
That’s exactly the point I was going to make, Ms. Nine. Most of the great Dystopian novels/movies offer commentary (sometimes satire too) on our own society or issues within our culture, like 1984 or, as you mentioned, Brave New World (which is probably my favorite Dystopian novel after WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin.
I would say, however, that the conditions under which the society becomes dystopian is important from a storytelling perspective. Equilibrium, for instance, is a movie I watch for the gun fights because the premise for the dystopian society’s creation seems far fetched.
Also, thanks for sharing, Margaret.
Great stuff, Mike! (Good to hear from you again too
) Agreed on what you said, and on Equilibrium; the gun fights were epic. The premise was a big stretch. But “take what you can, give nothing back!” 
No, there isn’t such a thing as too dystopian, but I think it’s a trade off between how bad the society is and how long you can get readers to believe it lasted. If you look at the real societies many dystopian stories are based on, they either fall apart or improve within a few decades, because people can only take so much abuse before fighting back. Really bad dystopias need to be relatively new.
Good point
The timeline definitely plays into how believable it is. The more extreme, the shorter the timeline. Then again, we’ve had issues with slavery for centuries, and that’s still going on today. But if it’s a predominant thing in society, it does bring up a lot of questions.