List all of the books, movies, tv shows, and video
games that you can think of that have futuristic
settings.
• Books:
• Movies:
• TV Shows:
• Video Games:
• Upon discussion of your lists, what did you
discover?
• Why do you think there are many more
negative futuristic stories than positive ones?
• What does this say about our culture?
• As an individual with a future in the career of
media arts, why is this important?
• The world can be a scary place. Every generation
notices things that need to be changed – devastation
of the environment; pervasive poverty; continual
prejudice and discrimination. But hope seems to be
a human quality that keeps us going.
• Some authors have explored the world of the
future and have tried to imagine what could
cause a major change and what the results of
that change may be. For instance, some
writers consider a natural disaster that topples
cities and ruins infrastructures, which once
supported communication, transportation and
distribution of basics like food and
water. Survival of the fittest takes over.
• Other authors consider how political issues
polarize a country and cause civil war. Who
wins? How are laws and governments
reorganized? How can one group of citizens
be “losers” to the other and still live side by
side?
• Will a catastrophe unify us as “citizens of planet
Earth,” or will an apocalypse forever alter the world
as we know it?
• Who will survive?
• What will be left to sustain life?
• What parts of human nature will survive and gain
control – competition and fear, or compassion and
humanity?
• These are the questions that authors of
dystopian novels ponder.
• Utopia: is a term for an ideal society. It has
been used to describe both planned
communities that attempt to create an ideal
society, and fictional societies portrayed in
literature. (The Garden of Eden)
• The word was coined in Greek by Sir Thomas
More for his 1516 book , Utopia describing a
fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean.
• It has spawned other concepts, most
prominently dystopia.
• Dystopia: is the vision of a society (usually
futuristic, imagined) that is the opposite of
ideal. A dystopian society is a state in which
the conditions of life are extremely bad,
characterized by human misery, poverty,
oppression, violence, disease, and/or
pollution
• Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case
scenario, make a criticism about a current
trend, societal norm, or political system.
• The setting of a dystopian novel usually
includes mass poverty, warfare, or a
militaristic police force. Quite often young
people are targets – either they are used by
adults or are expendable in order to conserve
resources. At the same time, young people
often become symbols of hope and change;
their negative experiences have driven them
to protest the status quo and seek a new
order.
• Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society.
• Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted.
• A government or an institution that tries to “make everyone equal”
but at a cost to individuality, autonomy and creativity
• A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society.
• Citizens are under constant surveillance.
• Citizens fear the outside world.
• Citizens live in a dehumanized state.
• The natural world is banished and distrusted.
• Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are
bad.
• The illusion of a perfect utopian world is broken.
• Victims hiding or escaping the constrictions of a government
• Sub-cultures planning a rebellion or vindication
• Social classes that are divisive, usually based on those who
“have” and those who “have not”
• A catastrophe – either natural or manmade –has altered the world and its
citizens
• Science and technology have “perfected” humans, but unnaturally so to
the point where humans are more machine-like and heartless than their
ancestors.
• Futuristic or technical terminology
• Generation gaps between young and old – elders who survived the
catastrophic change and agreed to a controlled system to avoid fatal errors
from the past; the next generation of youth who question the status quo
and resist rules, seek change, or take over power
• A quest – to travel through unsafe settings, to deliver information or
something valuable, to incite others to rebel, etc.
• A coming-of-age theme – a young person matures quickly and learns
his/her place in the order of things or a mission in life
• Antagonists – a government that has taken all individual rights and
decision-making away from the people; a police force of bullies who abuse
power; neighbor versus neighbor, turning each other in to the authorities
out of fear or for personal gain.
• sense that something is
fundamentally wrong with their
society.
• question the existing social and
political order.
• feel trapped and struggle for
change or escape.
• help readers recognize negative
aspects of their society through
their perspective.
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The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (1895)
1984 by George Orwell (1949)
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)
The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter (1977)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008)
The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954)
V For Vendetta by Alan Moore (1982-1989)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (1963)
Logan's Run By William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson (1967)
http://www.ranker.com/list/the-13-best-dystopian-novels/ivana-wynn?page=1
For each work of art:
1. Identify one detail in the foreground.
2. Identify one detail in the background.
3. Make 10 observations about the work. Apply the
elements of design you learned in Media Arts.
4. Identify the mood.
5. Write a sentence identifying the theme of the work.
6. List three or more specific details that support this
theme.
Urban, futuristic, absence of natural world, monochrome
•Barren
•Black & white
•Contaminated earth
•Bleak landscape
•Nature gone
Write a 3.8 paragraph in which you answer this question.
• Topic Sentence = Your claim/argument (TS)
• Support #1 (SS)
• Explanation (EX)
• Support #2 (SS)
• Explanation (EX)
• Support #3 (SS)
• Explanation (EX)
• Concluding Sentence (CS)