Talk:Dystopia

"[T]he best and most innovative dystopia is in the Russian novel We." I know you folks don't have an NPOV policy around here, but really, according to whom? Some guy we found on the street? I'm rephrasing this.^{— Unsigned, by: 128.208.87.126 / talk / contribs}

The Iron Heel

I wonder if 'the Iron Heel' by Jack London deserves a mention in the list of books. It predates 'We' by over a decade and was an influence for '1984'. AMassiveGay (talk) 19:47, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

More's Utopia

... does sound a tad dystopian to most of us (and is unlikely to be stable in the long run). :) 171.33.222.26 (talk) 17:50, 23 December 2013 (UTC)

Forgotten fictional Dystopias?

What about music? I'm certain there's songs or even albums about dystopian topics! For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2112_%28album%29 And even, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_Was_Here_%28album%29

Idiocracy reminded me of dystopia parodies. Here's some more for games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoia_%28role-playing_game%29 I think this would count: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hol_%28role-playing_game%29 Chair tater (talk) 07:23, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Deus Ex

Shouldn't this one be added to the list of dystopian games? http://deusex.wikia.com/wiki/Deus_Ex ^{— Unsigned, by: Tinribmancer / talk / contribs}

I dunno that it's dystopic enough, but I've never sat through the plot that closely. If you think it belongs on the page, write up a concise and relevant portion on it and add to the article. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 01:12, 19 January 2017 (UTC)

Brave New World

How a society that involves massive amounts of indoctrination, censure and lack of religious and reproductive freedom can be viewd as an utopia? ^{— Unsigned, by: 179.155.198.244 / talk 15:43, 15 February 2018 (UTC)}

Good catch. RoninMacbeth (talk) 16:35, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

Viability of dystopias

It occurs to me that quite a few dystopias would be non-viable in the middling to longer term.

• Most computer-run set ups: programming errors and conflicts, lightning strikes 'running through the wires'/hitting key computer housing etc - and hackers etc.
• Logan's Run: who keeps the city working, and who looks after and teaches the children (children will be orphaned very young)
• 1984 - what happens when the Anti-Sex League is too effective/how does the Party deal with problems which have been un-name-ified etc.
• The Handmaid's Tale - many women withdrawn from the labour market, 'some men' have more than one woman (so that other men will not have such access, which will have consequences), and low fertility.

Other likely 'eventual fails'? Anna Livia (talk) 17:59, 6 June 2019 (UTC)

• Computers can be redundantly networked, and repaired by their friends. The computer is your friend.
• Logan's run was a purposefully impossible dystopia used as a metaphor for the media's youth obsession.
• The point of the anti-sex league was to detangle sex from individual happiness, but procreation was still a mandatory process, done for the good of the state, not one's own pleasure. I think you missed the theme of 1984 that infractions on human freedom was always made for the sake of showing that they could take that freedom, not for any tangible benefit to the government.
• You've described a great number of societies that actually existed in actual history

My answer though is I want to find the instability in this dystopia that's actually happening. ikanreed ^{🐐Bleat at me} 19:23, 6 June 2019 (UTC)

I was covering the superficial/obvious points.

In the conflict between computers and lightning strikes/Carrington Events 'the large lump of energy is likely to win' - and would the computer understand Sir Humphrey's 'You are very brave Minister' and similar phrases as meaning something quite different.

I know 1984 was to some extent a satire of contemporary events - but there are likely to be problems of various kinds (and we know nothing about the rest of the world).

The Handmaid's Tale - 'The ##### government has made me an incel, let me get my 'Freudian substitute gun.'

Real life is not necessarily a dystopia - RW and those it comments on can exist together.

The point is to analyse the dystopias and see how they can and could not work (and what the likely consequences could be). Anna Livia (talk) 20:21, 6 June 2019 (UTC)

Bear in mind

Christian Heaven would appear a dystopia to a Viking hoping for Valhalla.

And to what extent are 'components of the existing systems seen as being dystopian' a driver for societal change? Anna Livia (talk) 14:04, 13 May 2020 (UTC)