Many novels, as well as video games, deal with texts of the dystopic genre. Dystopia has become an instrumental form of literature in all countries; however, some texts are better at relaying their message than others. For example, in the video game, The Last of Us, the two protagonists, one adult male and one young girl, fight through hordes of “the infected”. They do so in order to save mankind from utter extinction. Despite being a video game, this text captures the quintessential elements needed in order to become a relatable piece of work and does so by making both Joel and Ellie (the protagonists) truthful characters. In addition to The Last of Us, the novel The Running Man, by Steven King, also deals with the topic of dystopia. This …show more content…
He soon approaches what looks like an injured man; however, the man was not injured and attempts to kill Joel and Ellie to steal his truck. This is a prime example of the modified human nature present in dystopian societies. In an attempt to preserve what human kindness Joel has left , he ends up in a situation much like that of Richards in The Running Man, creating a similarity in the two story arcs. The use of cliché as a rhetoric device is present in both Richards, and Joel and Eli’s lives, and serves as one of the reasons why both story arcs hold the attention of the player/reader. However, The Last of Us serves as a much more relatable situation for the player than that of the reader of Stephen King’s famous novel, due to the realism and player emersion that the game provides. The Last of Us puts the dystopian society into the hands of anyone that can hold a controller, yet still provides a meaningful plot with character development to bout. The length of the game in itself is an effective way to persuade the player of its meaning, and the dangers of a potential future. For the average player, it can take anywhere from 15 to 30 hours of playing time to complete the storyline for The Last of Us, constantly driving home the nature of the dystopian society. The fact that The Last of Us is a video game too makes it much more accessible and appealing to the younger generations. While Stephen King is a legendary author in his own right, it can be intimidating for someone to read one of his novels. Along with this comes the general growth of technology, and the fact that paperbacks are soon becoming irrelevant. The dramatic increase in technology makes a video game much more likely to get selected over a novel for leisure, regardless of the topic that each chooses to address. This is what makes The Last of Us a more realistic option for the spreading awareness of
One night, a very dark night, trouble was lurking in the shadows. You could just smell it in the air everywhere you go. It was like choking on a dark cloud filled with danger. Legend has it that it targets one person until they die. It fills them with dreadful thoughts, making them do bad deeds, and leading them to suicide. Today it chose to pick me...
I look to the right of my bed and it’s there; crouching beside me. Its face is pure white and doesn’t resemble skin at all, but a shining porcelain. The monster doesn’t have a mouth - there is just skin running down from the bottom of its nose to its chin. Shielding it’s beady eyes are a pair of raven-black goggles strapped to its bald head. It wears what resembles a completely circular helmet the colour of a neon orange and its hands are covered in tactical gloves, dark as a jet-black night. It wears an amber jumpsuit and stare into my soul. Its wretched face is about five centimetres away from mine and I can feel an ice cold breath creep onto my forehead.The creatures body is hunched over and strange
Roth’s, Divergent has elements of a dystopian setting, and it is a possible warning for our society. Though the novel primary reveals to be dystopian, there were originally good intentions of a utopian society. Harmon describes a utopian society as, “a perfect political state that is an imaginary ideal world,” (Harmon 492). No society is created to become the epitome of destruction. The Abnegation government created the factions to act as each working part of a successful society. They must have had a utopian mindset before the society shifted by elements that led to dystopia. Harmon also examines a dystopian society as a, “bad place.” He continues by describing, “Imaginary worlds, usually in the future, in which present tendencies are carried out
Science is always attempting to cure ailments of humans, such as cancer; however, do all ailments need to be cured? In Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s “2 B R 0 2 B,” death and old age has been cured, creating a utopia in concept; however, upon closer inspection, the society is a dystopian society driven by suicide. In current times, suicide is a plague that science is attempting to help bring down; however, in “2 B R 0 2 B,” suicide is the only way to allow a newborn child to survive, a national department was created, and people became willfully ignorant of what occurs in the department. Through this dreary image of a society, one character gives insight to the true nature- the painter, a nameless character whose role in the story is to paint a
A dystopia the darkest form of government, a utopia gone wrong, a craving for power, struggling for fewer rules. The dystopia is factual the worst possible form of a government. Its the struggle to be so perfect that it fails. There are typically two types of dystopias first a monarchy. A monarchy is a group of people controlled by a king or queen, and they make every last decision. What they want they get. A monarchy is typically born like this example from lord of the flies. “He became absorbed beyond mere happiness as he felt himself exercising control over living things. He talked to them, urging them, ordering them"(Golding 58). This shows that a monarchy starts by one just taking over from the start rather than being a
In what country does the most democratic society exist? In today’s world, the United States is the well-known example. The democracy in the United States makes it possible to secure one’s economic freedom without government interruption, alternatively termed capitalism. In modern world, the contemporary take on capitalism is consumerism. Ironically, given that capitalism is part of democracy, it is not equally distributed. The presence of social class separates one consumer from another and restricts one’s ability to purchase his or her want. Even with this constraint, consumerism is widely practiced right in democracy. Although the consequences of practicing consumerism are not apparent to everyone, Aldous Huxley discloses the detrimental impact of consumerism in society. He depicts two fictional societies in his works: the dystopian society of the World State in the Brave New World and the utopian society of Pala in Island. In both works, Huxley warns the readers about the influence of consumerism by illustrating its usage in manipulating individual thoughts in the World State and its function in bringing materialism to Pala.
What exactly is a dystopia, and how is it relevant today? E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops uses a dystopian society to show how one lives effortlessly, lacking knowledge of other places, in order to show that the world will never be perfect, even if it may seem so. A society whose citizens are kept ignorant and lazy, unknowing that they are being controlled, unfit to act if they did, all hidden under the guise of a perfect utopian haven, just as the one seen in The Machine Stops, could be becoming a very real possibility. There is a rational concern about this happening in today’s world that is shared by many, and with good reason. Dystopian worlds are often seen as fictitious, though this may not be the case in the
dystopian communities, there is always some form of suffering occurring. A dystopia never benefits society as a whole and will provide nightmares for those who do not benefit. A civilization following dystopian characteristics involve illusions of prosperity, people being singled out, and a strong sense of corruption. Dystopian civilizations are full of suffering whether it be covered up, out in the open, or even done in a ceremonious nature.
Dystopian societies are themes often used in writing. A dystopian society is the imbalance of power between certain citizens and the government exerting total control over those people. One such example is Hitler and his Nazi regime. If one were to analyze the data, one could examine decisions Adolf Hitler made in creating the dystopian society of Nazi Germany, and the impact those decisions had on the citizens at the time; additionally, a review of how authors use dystopian-themed stories as a means to educate readers about dystopia will be addressed.
The destruction of nature, increase in the pollution across the globe, constant surveillance upon everyone, and the inability to have the freedom to search what you would like on electronic devices. This action will result if the cautionary text, Fahrenheit 451, is not utilized to locate and withdraw flaws in our own modern and developing North American society. Despite the date of the text, the messages displayed can directly correlate to current dilemmas that may ultimately lead the U.S.A down the route of dystopia. This nation is making advancement toward a dystopian society because the NSA and Google are combining to form a super team in surveillance of its citizens and the
In literature, dystopias have always been given a bad reputation for being detrimental to a society. However, this belief does not represent the positives of a society being dystopian. It is known that any dystopia, a detrimental society, was created originally as a utopia, a pleasant society. This means that any dystopia was started with the hope of helping people, but since no government can make everyone happy, the society eventually breaks down into a dystopia.The fact that many dystopias are rooted in good intentions means that, while contrary to popular belief, there must be some good things to a dystopian society. Despite most people thinking that dystopias are completely rotten, there are in fact some benefits to a society being dystopian.
Looking backward to the last essay, which I envision our world end up in a dystopian future. After our readings and discussions, I have reinforced my stance on dystopias. Even though global climate changes were a threat to us for a long time, and it has the ability to turn our world in a truly dystopian future. But rather than finding a solution for this threat, our human nature hypnotized ourselves that everything will go to work out by itself. And also thanks to the greedy side of human nature, we are more concerned in how to profit it. In the final stage, where people began to fight for resources, don 't expect the police to establish order for us since they have already turned against us. After all, the main reason for me to reinforced
The things that drive each generation continues to change, as for today’s society people have become self-invested, mindlessly going along with what they are told. According to research presented by Justin Scholes and Jon Ostenson, key themes in dystopian novels are “measures to cover up flaws and lies in society”, “Attempts to Erase or Revise Society’s History”, “Limited or Complete Lack of Individual Freedom”, “People Divided into Groups”, “Flawed or Abused Advances in Technology” (Scholes and Ostenson). Much like what was depicted in the Stephen King novel, The Running Man, Richard Bachman was trying to show that the government was covering up lies and flaws within their society through the tapes he used when in the game. King also portrays
There will always will be a power or a government with a society. Whether it be as small as a group or as large as a country. According to multiple sources, government has been around since the first city-state was created. Just by this source alone we demonstrate how society has always needed an order and power: Government. Dystopian: An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. Lord of the Flies, a novel that is realistic is the fact that it parallels with the real world. The moral that Golding was taking example of was the evil inside all of us. He created this novel to express dystopia, which was how boys were stuck on an island and how they created their
Dystopian literature and film has been quite a popular genre for readers. In most texts, they are set in a post-apocalyptic or dystopian world where the protagonist struggles to fit into these corrupted worlds and these protagonists rebel because they feel like the government has turned their backs on them, leaving them treated unfairly. The protagonist fight back in the hopes of restoring society to its sensible state. All the main protagonists in the plots are put into inhumane situations as they are controlled by the government in order to fit their ideas and beliefs or just the plain simple reason, for their own entertainment. Through the actions and perspective of these protagonists, it shows a reflection of how we deal with certain issues