Lecture 3:
Utopia/Dystopia
Does Technology Determine Culture?
Professor Victoria Meng
1
Previously…
Media Continuity
• All “old” media was
once “new.”
• All media are
human extensions.
Previously…
Key Terms
• Content
• Form
• Message
• Medium
Lesson 3: Imag(in)ing New Media
Lecture 3: Utopia/Dystopia:
Does Technology Determine Culture?
4
5
Thomas More
(1478-1535)
6
Utopia
(published 1516)
7
Utopia |yoōˈtōpēə| (also utopia)
noun
An imagined place or state of things
in which everything is perfect. The
word was first used in the book
Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More.
The opposite of dystopia .ORIGIN
based on Greek ou ‘not’ + topos
‘place.’
8
Dystopia |disˈtōpēə|
noun
An imagined place or state in which
everything is unpleasant or bad,
typically a totalitarian or
environmentally degraded one. The
opposite of Utopia
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from dys[bad] + Utopia.
9
Some Popular Dystopian Works
A Brave New World
1984
Fahrenheit 451
The Terminator series
The Matrix series
Minority Report
I, Robot
V for Vendetta
Watchmen
Samurai Jack…
10
Dystopian Stories
• Dystopias are entertaining!
11
Dystopian Stories
• Dystopias are entertaining!
• Dystopias are cinematic!
12
Dystopian Stories
• Dystopias are entertaining!
• Dystopias are cinematic!
• Dystopias often use futuristic
technologies as an allegory or
displacement of social problems.
13
Blade Runner (1982)
14
Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner uses its
dystopic setting to
make its storyline
more engaging; it
uses imaginary
technologies to
exaggerate the nature
and effects of the
characters’ conflicts.
15
Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner exploits the cinematic
potentials of its dystopian setting.
16
Blade Runner (1982)
Dilemma: If machines are too
human, should we change our laws
and our culture to accommodate
their “human” rights?
17
Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner (and other dystopias) allegorize
and displace existing social problems.
18
Blade Runner (1982)
Allegory 1: New technologies have
both improved and complicated our
lives.
19
Blade Runner (1982)
Allegory 1: New technologies have
both improved and complicated our
lives.
Allegory 2: Our industrialized and
capitalistic society has alienated us
from many other people.
20
Raymond Williams, “The
Technology and the Society”
• Technology is a part of history.
21
Raymond Williams, “The
Technology and the Society”
• Technology is a part of history.
• Technologies are both causes and
effects.
22
Raymond Williams, “The
Technology and the Society”
• Technology is a part of history.
• Technologies are both causes and
effects.
• Technology does not emerge from a
vacuum. It is informed by economic,
political, technological and cultural
factors.
23
Wrapping Up the Lecture
• Debunk technological determinism
• Technology is not a bad genie; it is
not separable from society.
• Ted Friedman, “Tweeting the
Dialectic of Technological
Determinism.”
• Ray Bradbury, “There Will Come Soft
Rains.”
24
End of Lecture 3
Next Lecture: Extended Abilities:
Where is the body/world boundary?
25