The most alarming aspect of dystopias stem from their power to challenge personal and societal values surrounding the central notion of what it means to be human. This instigates the startling realisation that the future is greatly dependent on value-driven responses to the environmental, social and political issues of contemporary society. Korean director Joon-Ho Bong’s 2013 post-apocalyptic dystopian film ‘Snowpiercer’ depicts the environmental collapse of the Earth as a direct result of human response to global warming. It also explores the ethical concerns faced by the lower class citizen within their confined setting on a train in which horrific social stratification is enforced. Bong presents a dystopian society set in 2031 to prompt …show more content…
This provokes the shocking realisation that the future is contingent on the response to contemporary issues. Most dystopian texts ‘paint…a future world that could plausibly happen’ (DeStefano, 2011) evident in Bong’s ‘Snowpiercer’, which was inspired by the threat of geoengineering, a conceptual global intervention aimed to counteract climate change. At the start of the film, the artificial cooling substance, CW7, is dispersed into the atmosphere, however a dramatic sting effect foreshadows it eminent failure. Additionally, the unsettling long shot of the resulting dark, inhospitable wasteland Earth has become exposes technology’s ecological endangerments and the consequential fate of humanity. The eponymous train bound to circle the uninhabitable Earth is an allegory for the cyclical nature of scientific develop in the destruction of the natural environment. Bong critiques humans’ misplaced reliance on technology to survive – CW7 was thought to be the ‘revolutionary solution to mankind’s warming of the planet’ (Snowpiercer, 2013) and the train is an artificial motif for the natural world. Through the composer’s depiction of an unscrupulous dystopian future beginning from credible responses to global warming, the most shocking aspect emerges to be the realisation of the contingency of the future on present
Dystopia is common theme which dates hundreds of years in literature worldwide. Dystopian novels and short stories often depict a society repressed by a totalitarian government which comes to power after a cataclysmic occurrence, wielding unforgiving power and control over inhabitants for their own good. These dystopias are often perceived by the average citizen as a normal or unavoidable way of life, sometimes even a better way of life, yet there is often a single person or group of protagonists who question the justification of such living arrangements and threaten upheaval of the utopia sold by the ruling class.
Dystopian societies, as described in novels and movies, fascinates all audiences from young to old because they can relate in someway to the portrayed unfortunate circumstances. For instance, the novel 1984 and the movie Divergent, intrigue the imagination for most readers because they can actually sense an overpowering government in their own life. Both of the stories are an extreme of what most people would say is taking place in reality today; however, their story still resonates in the minds of many as it expresses a common theme. Both 1984 and Divergent have a similar theme of a controlling government system that oppresses their citizens.
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...
“The End of Nature,” by Bill McKibben is a startling book of non-fiction depicting the future in store for the environment and humans. His somber yet hopeful approach allows readers to sense the real intensity of this situation of mass environmental changes whilst remaining expectant of the advancements in the
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
“We are a detrimental virus for our mother Earth”. Clarke’s “If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth” and Carson’s “Silent Spring” explore environmental danger, each one in their own narrative style , sending a dismal but honest message: we are consuming this planet and its end is coming soon.
Forster’s short story tells a tale of a woman and her son in a dystopian society to satirize modern day society and its attachment to technology. The story acts as a sort of call to action in which he shines a light on society’s exaggerated dedication to technology and encourages more change away from it; Forster pushes more in favor towards nature as he depicts Earth’s surface as a better place than the
Zbigniew Brzezinski once said “no matter how deeply disturbing the thought of using environment to manipulate behavior for national advantages to some, the technology permitting such use will very probably develop within the next few decades” Throughout the years, humans have seen a significant amount of technology advancements and its implication for human beings and the environment. M.T. Anderson’s novel “Feed” gives readers a representation of ing aa future dystopian world, one in which technology is not just around us but implanted inside our heads. Anderson draws parallels between our society and that of the feed which creates an ominous warning for our own society. The environment turns into a disaster due to how rapidly technology is advancing.
Dystopian science fiction films of the past have frequently presented a critical dystopia, by projecting future cities that perpetuates corporate capitalism’s prominent features. Examples of these features are urban decay, commodification, overcrowding, highly skewed disparities of wealth and poverty, and authoritarian policing. An example of a Dystopian science fiction film that project cities that perpetuates
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
Ever wonder what life in a dystopian society would be like? A dystopian society is a society where nothing is perfect, the bad people live and lurk and life as people know it would cease to exist. Life today would be turned upside down and nothing would ever be the same. But some dystopian societies are similar to our society as well as different. There are many clear attributes and differences in the novels Fahrenheit 451, A Night Divided, and the screenplay “2081” compared to modern-day society, many of these involve entertainment, technology, and government.
Modernism represents an optimistic view of human impact on the environment that has been the dominant viewpoint for the last 200 years. The knowledge that mankind holds the ability to control the environment heavily stresses why climate change is not such a problem to worry about. One of the core beliefs of the modernistic perspective is that people have no need to fear future environmental disaster because the next technological advancement that will prevent it is right around the corner. Furthermore, those who share this view do not include themselves in their image of the ecosystem, believing they are detached from it. Lastly, a laissez-faire approach is taken to environmental problems, focusing on progression through technology, stressing that as long as progress is made in this area all problems will be fixed. For a modernist, climate change is nothing to worry about. This may be a real situation, but it will be solved with advancements in technology before one’s way of life is changed. What people should be worrying about is ensuring a laissez faire approach to the market with sponsorship to new technologies. As a result of reusable energy technology already existing, modernists believe that the problem of climate change has been solved and without disrupting free market system these technologies will be further implemented. As long as there are people given the opportunity to innovate, some will focus on and ultimately solve the concern of climate change. The issue of
Dystopian novels have become more common over the last century; each ranging from one extreme society to the next. A dystopia, “A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control,”[1] through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, criticizes about current trends, societal norms, or political systems. The society in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is divided in a caste system, in which humans are not individuals, do not have the opportunity to be individuals, and never experience true happiness. These characteristics of the reading point towards a well-structured
“A Letter from the Future” by Richard Heinberg describes to readers of a not too distant future (2101) an Earth in which its resources have been squandered and is facing an irreversible environmental meltdown caused by human’s greediness and mismanagement. Heinberg writes from the future to try and educate past civilization on what is happening in the future and how if their actions don’t change in how they treat their natural resources their future will irrefutably be destroyed for all mankind. Heinberg wrote this letter in order to explain just how dangerously high our current use of resources are and how it will impact the future.
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