The Dystopia Film The Greek word 'dystopia' describes an undesirable or frightening society; an anti-utopia. A dystopia predicates on the idea that the world it presents brings terror and unease to the people who live in them. Films have used dystopian settings as a means of drawing in audiences and keeping them interested in the stories presented for over 50 years. There is no shortage of good and bad dystopia films that span every genre. Since 1953 and the film The Day the Earth Stood Still a new dystopia film has graced the silver screen nearly every single year. Dystopia films also make up some of the most well-known series in film. From The Planet of the Apes saga to the more recent Hunger Games trilogy this sub-genre of film has captivated every generation. Closely related to the apocalypse and post-apocalypse sub-genre dystopia films often take place around such apocalyptic events. The dystopia film also takes techniques and symbolism from sci-fy, fantasy, horror, thriller, and action films to create the frightening and uneasy diegetic world. The singular determiner for a true dystopia film centers around the fall or failure of some pivotal part of our lives. Dystopias usually fall into three …show more content…
David Christopher talked at length on this point in his article for Cineaction in 2015 entitled "Dystopian Films." The breakdown of his analysis on dystopias stems from either the complete disregard of the capitalistic state and in turn establishing a new version or from creating a similar capitalistic state that has gone too far and thus is on the verge of collapse. The new states created in this type of dystopia both makes the viewer worry about the effects capitalism could have while also soothing the viewers fears as the portrayal of this future society is not a present
poster typically has the white cowboy large, presented front and center, with the antagonists and co-stars all behind him. An iconic western, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, has a poster picturing the white cowboy alone. Clint Eastwood stands there tall, stoic, and singular. Typical of most other westerns, the white cowboy is the center of attention. Here, however, there are two non-white figures presented: Bart, the Black cowboy, and a large Native American chief. This movie poster has the same style as other westerns with the color and layout, but is unique in the fact that a black man is presented where a white man would normally be dominating. Once again, this makes a statement about racial improvements. Previously having a black man at
The definition of a dystopia is a futuristic universe where oppressive societal control and creating an illusion of a perfect society (or rather a Utopia) are maintained through either corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. A lot of popular books and movies we see today are created from this concept, and often have a character who defines the rules within the dystopian setting. The book Fahrenheit 451 and the movie The Hunger Games both contain a dystopian genre which go by the definition of a dystopia.
Dystopian fiction is a type of fiction that is often described as a “nightmare” world, where society is mainly considered by domination and cruelty. In the novel “Blindness”, written by Joe Saramago and the movie “Elysium” directed by Neill Blomkamp, there were important and common characteristics that they both demonstrated of the dystopian societies. Both protagonist in the movie and novel show many similarities and as well as differences. In both the novel and the movie, the citizens live in a dehumanized state and the natural world has been banished and distrusted. These similarities and differences will be discussed in relation to today’s society.
Saw is a American horror film directed by James Wan. The film is about a killer who calls himself the Jigsaw. He kills and/or “teaches” his victims to respect life. He watches his victims and then abducts them when learning their problems in life.
"Fed Up (Soechtig, 2014)." narrated by Katie Couric, focuses on the growing link between sugar consumption and the obesity epidemic. The film aggressively attacks the food industry, advertising, and the government who, it claims, all contribute to the U.S. sugar-dependent, obesity problem. The film sets out to prove the government, and food industry is knowingly causing an increase in the amount of obese children. It reserves its most critical comments for government advisory panels who make and enforce food and health policy, and its failure to properly regulate the food industry. They claim lobbyists for the sugar board have been instrumental in the removal of negative statistics from research papers worldwide. Instead
One impaction is caused by war. In the movie “Children of Men,” the idea of a dystopia reoccurs just like the
The films I have chosen to focus on that could be well developed into the classes themes of Utopia vs. Dystopia societies and views are “The Matrix” (1999) and “Minority Report” (2002). As The Matrix focuses upon being an example of a dystopia society due to the variety of characteristics that it displays throughout the movie in the fact of demonstrating a totalitarian controlled system manipulated by computers controlling every minute of detail in what humans experience, then bettering the human’s lives while also preserving their own, as Minority Report, represents a unique utopia society through the actions of an all seeing government system that combines visual and cultural aspects, in being able to see all pre-crime actions before happening. Though is debated later on my essay of Minority Report becoming a utopia into a dystopia, because of adding a utopian system to a dystopian society, always becomes affected.
A dystopian text is a fictional society which must have reverberations of today’s world and society and has many elements and rules that authors use to convey their message or concern. Dystopian texts are systematically written as warnings use to convey a message about a future time that authors are concerned will come about if our ways as humans continue, such as in the short stories called The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury. Dystopias are also written to put a satiric view on prevailing trends of society that are extrapolated in a ghoulish denouement, as in the case of the dystopian film Never Let Me Go directed by Mark Romanek. Dystopian texts use a variety of literary devices and filming techniques to convey their message, but in all three texts there is a main protagonist who questions the rules of society, and all citizens carry a fear of the outside world who adhere to homogenous rules of society.
George Orwell, author of “1984,” portrays a dystopian nation concentrated on despair to warn his readers of Communist governments. Michael Radford, director and screen writer, film adaptation of the fiction story successfully captures the cinematography Orwell portrayed to the reader throughout the three sections of his novel. The industry influence commercialized minuscule topics like sexual affairs to increase the number of viewers and lessens the true horrors illustrated by Orwell.
Dystopian worlds are an imagined place or environment in which everything is unpleasant or hazardous. These worlds make a criticism or warning about society through worst-case scenarios in which the protagonist feels trapped.
To begin, when analyzing the definition, one could depict the true meaning of dystopia and find out how to identify it. “a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression,disease, and overcrowding..” (“dystopia”). Dystopia is a genre created on the base of human misery; essentially it is a nightmare that has become the characters’ unfortunate reality. Many prolific authors create books like
Teenagers nowadays are getting fond of watching and reading dystopian books/films. A More commonly watched ones is the famous Hunger Games. Teenagers today like that particular movie because; It is controlled by one person named Snow. Most teenagers believe that teachers and parents control their lives. They also like dystopian movies because they normally have a rebel who goes against the rules. The two main Dystopian novels or movies I am going to talk about are: Anthem and The Maze Runner.
Dystopia is a term that defines a corrupt government that projects a false image. Thus, in a dystopian society, we have the belief and comfort that the society is proper to its followers. One good example of dystopian society is the Hunger Games. The terms that describe dystopia towards the Hunger Games are a “hierarchical society, fear of the outside world, penal system and a back story” (“Dystopia”). The Hunger Games that follows, the term that defines dystopian fiction.
Dystopia represents an artificially created society to where a human population is administered to various types of oppressions, or a human population lives under the order of an oppressive government. The novel Fahrenheit 451 and the film V for Vendetta both effectively display this dystopian concept in their works. The nature of the society, the protagonist who questions the society, and the political power that runs the society are examples of how the novel and the film efficiently capture the main points of a dystopian society. The authors of the novel and the film use their visions of a dystopian future to remark on our present by identifying how today’s society is immensely addicted to technology and how our government has changed over the past decades. Furthermore, the authors use our modern day society to illustrate their view of a dystopia in our
In Hollywood today, most films can be categorized according to the genre system. There are action films, horror flicks, Westerns, comedies and the likes. On a broader scope, films are often separated into two categories: Hollywood films, and independent or foreign ‘art house’ films. Yet, this outlook, albeit superficial, was how many viewed films. Celebrity-packed blockbusters filled with action and drama, with the use of seamless top-of-the-line digital editing and special effects were considered ‘Hollywood films’. Films where unconventional themes like existentialism or paranoia, often with excessive violence or sex or a combination of both, with obvious attempts to displace its audiences from the film were often attributed with the generic label of ‘foreign’ or ‘art house’ cinema.