GLH+P4+2014-15+Dystopia

Sarah - Audience The audience of dystopia can be anyone that is interested in a fantasy world and people that want to keep their mind of the world that is around them. Kitto states, “The spikes in popularity seems to have started from the lead up to the world war two and the cold war and then as a result of 9/11 and the war on terror. Escapist fiction; as a way to substitute the problems with the world with a more nightmarish world” (“Dystopian Fiction; A brief History”). People want to distract themselves from the world around them to make their life bearable. Creating a life that is worse than the one around them can create a state of mind where their life isn’t so bad, especially compared to their made up dystopia. The audience began to grow when bad things started happening in the society. More and more people had to deal with horrible circumstances in their life and they needed a distraction. One major event that led to the popularity of dystopia was 9/11. Family members and homes were lost and people were looking for something to distract themselves.

"All About Dystopia." //Dystopia//. Utopia and Dystopia. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. Kitto, Michael. "Dystopian Fiction; A Brief History." // Literary Exploration. // 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2014

Hsin-Yu Chen  Aim Dystopia is a “broad term” involving “a controlling, oppressive government or [lack of] government”, “extreme poverty”, and often banning things connotated with “freedom”. This is actually more often portrayed in captivating novels than in societies’ affairs because of how modern governments operate for the people, instead of for their own personal gain. In exaggerating contemporary issues of today, authors characterize a dystopian world through their story plots and setting (Pryor). However, this could easily come to reality if more likely a ruling law was not being implemented and enforced. Including this circumstance, a government is able to become the power that may control society (Heck). A country’s citizens also have the ability and responsibility to create any society depending on their cooperation with one another. Thus, society cannot function without human interaction and have a consensus on all matters that may throw society leading up to a dystopian situation.

Pryor, Megan. "Utopia & Dystopia: Definition, Characteristics & Examples." //Education Portal.// Educational Portal. Web. 10 Nov. 2014 Heck, Courtney. "Dystopian Culture's Influence on Society." //Medium.// 12 May 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.

Hannah Morse  Cultural Dystopian themes are frequent in pop culture, more specifically sci-fi. See, for example, popular shows like The Walking Dead and Doomsday Preppers. Courtney Heck theorizes that “in a time of fear, crises, and anxiety dystopian futures become more popular in pop culture, this is because they give us a sense of comfort and a form of control” (Heck). People in modern American society often romanticize the idea of having to survive within a dystopian world due to the exhilarating thought of being in danger and truly having to put themselves to the test in order to continue living. Meanwhile, perhaps it is the idea of a dystopian future that motivates modern culture to continue working for the benefit of the whole. In the instance of a dystopia emerging from modern society, people would most likely do anything to revert back to how the world was before said dystopian times. A state of dystopia would cause a state of panic before possibly (if not fixed) settling into melancholy and despair. In pop culture, however, the romanticism of dystopia gives it a rather mellowed scenario. Take, for example, the popular theme of zombie apocalypses. Stephanie Pappas states that “zombie apocalypse tales actually invoke hope amidst destruction and death, as survivors battle for their lives” (Pappas). Courtney Heck also suggests that “the attraction lies in the thought that maybe we should return to a more simple life, and maybe we could survive and be happier after a catastrophic event” (Heck). In reality, there would be more panic than actual preparation to survive this sort of catastrophe. Perhaps pop culture’s effect on the public’s mind would actually assist the population in preparing and understanding dystopia.Pop culture’s beliefs of how dystopia works have ingrained themselves in the general public as fantasies of how dystopia truly functions.

Heck, Courtney. "Dystopian Culture's Influence on Society." //Medium.// 12 May 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. Pappas, Stephanie. "Why We're Obsessed with the Zombie Apocalypse." //LiveScience.// 20 Feb. 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.



Mikaylah - Historical The term dystopia is the opposite of the term utopia. Dystopia means an imaginary society of which conditions are chaotic and horrific (Liptak). When this term is used novels, it gives the sense of a future filled with fear and chaos. Dystopia comes from many origins, yet the most commonly known knowledge of utopian and dystopian novels was Plato (Matteo, Qian Shuo, and Yu Lan 1). Plato’s literature of utopian stories is where the opposition began; with his thoughts and ideas of a thriving society, or a utopia, people later on found the differences of a dystopian society in Plato’s works. Dystopian novels became popular in the 1900s because they were known for distracting the suffering citizens from the wars occurring at the time (Kitto). People would compare their life of war to the dystopian society’s horrific scenes; it would bring their moral to higher spirits knowing their life was not as bad as they thought. In modern day, many books use the dystopian and utopian visions and ideas to show the consequences of the choices people make today. Thinking of what could happen due to certain choices people choose today is the point of dystopian novels such as Anthem.

Kitto, Michael. “Dystopian Fiction; A Brief History.”Literary Exploration. Literary Exploration. N.p. 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

Levitas, Ruth. “Dystopian Times The Impact of the Death of Progress on Utopian Thinking.” Theory Culture and Society. Sage Journals. N.p. 16 Sept. 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

Liptak, Andrew. “A Brief History of the Dystopian Novel.” //Kirkus//. 25 Jun. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. Matteo, Qian Shuo, and Yu Lan. “Utopia and Dystopia.” //The World in a Book//. Asia Europe Classroom. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.