Horror and Sci-Fi
Synthesis Essay Model Outline
Why are you interested in this subject? A personal Intro
I’ve always been interested in dystopian fiction. A dystopia is a community or society that is undesirable and frightening. A group rules a dystopian society with a private agenda shrouded in euphemisms or outright lies. In works of art and literature, they are often characterized by: dehumanization, totalitarian government, advancement in technology, or other characteristics of cataclysmic decline in society. Several works, such as films and novels, provides examples and imageries of a dystopia, a dysfunctional, perfectly imperfect society. Some works may even show us a dysfunctional world that may seem unrealistic; however, they each contain an element that portrays an allegorical significance that relates to aspects of our own world. Its fascinating to see how several works of literature can reveal the dystopian aspects of our society and the things that we humans truly fear. Dystopias often start with an illusion of a perfect society, or in other words, a utopia. But as the story progresses, the reader and characters both realize that this fictional world is the opposite of perfect. The question that I always ask myself is “Will our world be like that too?” Through films, short stories, and novels, we can distinguish that the world fairly resembles the world we live in today or how it can be in the later future. Human intelligence may slip downwards to the point where we don’t even know what water really is, or we may have a surveillance camera following us every minute of every day. In the end, through dystopian literature, we can see just how similar our society is to those in the novels, or just what our societ...
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...ace, how some react bravely, and how some react cowardly or with resignation fascinate us. As readers, we can’t avert our eyes even as we’re enraged by what other vicious officials are doing to citizens, and compelled to turn the pages as we wonder If rebels and other members of the populace can somehow remake a wretched society into something more positive. Our government may become tyrannical, we may have a surveillance camera following us every minute of every day, we may have our memories completely erased, etc. Society may dehumanize its citizens by forcing us to conform strictly to their expectations. Human intelligence may slip downwards to the point where we don’t even know what water really is. These works of literature magnifies the dystopian world we live in today, and illustrates and exposes the dystopia that our world may grow to be in the future.
Dystopias in literature and other media serve as impactful warnings about the state of our current life and the possible future. Two examples of this are in the book Fahrenheit 451 and the movie The Truman Show. Both works show the harmful effects of advancing technology and the antisocial tendencies of a growing society. The protagonists of these stories are very similar also. Guy Montag and Truman Burbank are the only observant people in societies where it is the norm to turn a blind eye to the evils surrounding them. Fahrenheit 451 and The Truman Show present like messages in very unlike universes while giving a thought-provoking glimpse into the future of humanity.
The book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury illustrates a dystopia of what Bradbury believes might eventually happen to society. This is extensively referenced to in Captain Beatty’s monologue lecture to Guy Montag explaining how Bradbury’s dystopia came to be, and why books are no longer necessary to that society and therefore were completely removed and made illegal. Ray Bradbury’s main fears in the evolution of society can be broken down into three ideas; loss of individuality, overuse of technology, and the quickening of daily life. If society goes on as it is, Bradbury is afraid that media will be more brief, people will become less individual, life will be more fast paced, minorities will have too much voice, and technology will become unnaturally prominent everyday life.
Several conflicting frames of mind have played defining roles in shaping humanity throughout the twentieth century. Philosophical optimism of a bright future held by humanity in general was taken advantage of by the promise of a better life through sacrifice of individuality to the state. In the books Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 clear opposition to these subtle entrapments was voiced in similarly convincing ways. They first all established, to varying degrees of balance, the atmosphere and seductiveness of the “utopia” and the fear of the consequences of acting in the non-prescribed way through character development. A single character is alienated because of their inability to conform – often in protest to the forced conditions of happiness and well being. Their struggle is to hide this fact from the state’s relentless supervision of (supposedly) everything. This leads them to eventually come into conflict with some hand of the state which serves as the authors voice presenting the reader with the ‘absurdity’ of the principles on which the society is based. The similar fear of the state’s abuse of power and technology at the expense of human individuality present within these novels speaks to the relevance of these novels within their historical context and their usefulness for awakening people to the horrendous consequences of their ignorance.
At what point can a society be described as dystopian? Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, tells the story of a man named Guy Montag who lives in a dystopian society where life isn’t as great as the government makes it out to be. Our society is slowly becoming more and more similar to the dystopian society found in Fahrenheit 451 in the fact that many families aren’t as stable as most might desire them to be, the government mostly ignores the country’s ideals and only focuses on its own for the sake of its own benefit, and many of society’s ideas are being disrespected or noted as activities that people shouldn’t be allowed to indulge in while in this country through censorship.
In Bradbury’s dystopia, books are banned and are to be burned if found, because they cause people to become too intellectual. In The Giver, a supposed utopia, the government tells the members of the community what jobs they will have, and how many children are acceptable in each family. In each of the novels, the main characters, reveal their deep animosity towards the government and its policies. They work to end the prolonged oppression faced. The Hunger Games and Fahrenheit 451 attempt to change for the better; On the contrary The Giver takes a turn for the worst. Contemporary works, such as The Hunger Games, Fahrenheit 451, and The Giver, portray utopic and dystopic societies through the eyes of the narrators, and the properties of these societies are inverted as the government’s of each novel oppress the citizens. The elements of idealistic societies, generally develop into dystopias; Whereas dystopian societies begin to adapt to quixotic ideals as the narrators begin to see the world
In a dystopian society, the government watches and dictates everything. It is the opposite of a perfect world in the sense that careers and social status are pre-destined. The government of this society does everything in its power to make the citizens believe that this is the most ideal place to live. The word “dystopia” ultimately roots back to the Greek word “dys” meaning bad and “topos” meaning place (www.merriam-webster.com). Citizens in a dystopian society rarely question their government. Many citizens are brainwashed and others are just too frightened to speak out against injustices evident in their society. The Hunger Games and The Giver are perfect examples of dystopian texts d...
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
Society will never be perfect. Equality will never be sustained. A dystopian society will always have corruption of government. Corruption is present all around the world but is swept under the rug. Abridgment of human rights happens every day in our country or another. Oppression is the cause for all the sadness in our world. There will be always selfishness in dystopia. One must sink for another to rise, but “good doesn’t mean good for everyone. It means worst for someone.”
Fantasy and Dystopian Genres Essay The Northern Lights, written by Philip Pullman, clearly follows the conventions of the fantasy and dystopian genre as it contains many aspects of a typical fantasy and dystopian novel. The Northern Lights follows a young girl named Lyra as she travels to the North with her daemon Pantilimon in search of her kidnapped friend Roger. The author has incorporated many literary devices to ensure that the text meets the fantasy and dystopian criteria by incorporating elements such as Mythical Creatures, Magic, and betrayal.
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.
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.
“The life where nothing was ever unexpected, or inconvenient, or unusual. The life without color, pain, or past” – Louis Lowry. Dystopia is a very difficult thing to fix. A dystopian society is a society where nothing is experimental or free to be explored. There are more controlled things than uncontrolled. Dystopian societies are very unfortunate. The government of the societies thinks that their people are happy and they spend their lives trying to build a utopia. The effort to build a utopia usually consists of limiting too much stuff and sending the society to the ground. So much so that citizens hate their lives they lack imagination, creativeness, and knowledge. In some dystopias you cant even read, write, speak, or do leisure activities that we take for granted. There are many forums of dystopia out there and people might not even recognize it.
The future holds a different meaning for everyone, for some it holds hope while for others it holds despair. This constant wondering about the future has influenced many works to be written about the future. Some of these works propose a blissful future, but the majority paint the picture of an unfortunate dystopian world. Recently I read Daughters of the North, a novel in which the dystopian future of England is shown. Shortly after reading Daughters of the North, I watched The Road. This film showed a similar view of the future, yet more grim and unappealing that Daughters of the North. In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting these two works to show two different points of view of what a dystopian world is. After watching The Road I realised there was a large amount of books and movies that believe the future will be grim. I believe this is because as humans we fear what may be in our future due to the conflicts that we face today and wish to warm the world.
Dystopias are set in the future as a fictional society. The problem is that the society is in times of hardship and depression or oppression. A trait can be that the nation is over...
...y to write a novel that so clearly shows the power of the state and diminish of the individual send chills to those who read his book. Even in the future, every reader is faced with the reality of the possibility of such a society existing. With technology advances and many history defining issues arising, the possibility of elements of the book coming true seems to become more and more of a reality.