Utopias, Dystopias and
Science Fiction
Utopia
► “No
Place”
► Model of the good
society
► Unrealistic
daydream
Eutopia
► “The
Good Place”
► Ambiguity of terms
► Dream
place
Aspects of Utopias
► Art
► Consumerism
► Time
– energy
► Social responsibility
► Punishment
► Women / Sex
► Education and upbringing
Works
Huxley – Brave New World, 1932
► James Hilton – Lost Horizons, 1933
► B. F. Skinner – Walden Two, 1948
► George Orwell, 1984, 1949
► Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451, 1950
► Aldous Huxley – Island, 1962
► Philip K. Dick – Do Androids--, 1965
► Aldous
Dystopia
► Society
unworthy of humans
► Totalitarian state (1984, Kallocain)
► Developmental derailment (Fahrenheit 451)
► No choice
► No freedom
► No alternatives
► Equilibrium
Dystopias
► Social
restrictions
► Egalitarian – no excelling
► Only the State
► Religion as control
► Family non-existent
► City / Nature
► Politics / Control
Dystopias
► Economy:
state / individual
► Back-story
► Technology
– future
► No Visitor – but a Hero
► Confrontation with powers
► No success
► Subversion / Escape
New Wave
► Mid-60s
► Concern
for humanistic values and
experimental techniques
► Brian Aldiss (Hothouse, 1962)
► James Ballard (Crash, 1973)
► Harlan Ellison (A Boy and his Dog, 1969)
Cyberpunk
► 1980s
► Decentralized
societies
► Dominated by technology and science
► Style mirroring the confusing and dazzling
world (post-modernity)
► William Gibson – Neuromancer, 1984
Questions
► Compare
and contrast the Utopias /
Dystopias in Gulliver’s Travels and Niels
Klim.
► Focus
on the descriptions of:
► Education, Ethics, and Morals
► War and Enemies
► Politics
► The Prince and his Court
► Everyday Life