DYSTOPIAN

Origin of the word

A dystopian from the Greek word, kakotopia, cackotopia, or anti-utopian, is the vision of a society that is the opposite of utopia. A dystopian society is one which the conditions of life are miserable, characterised by human misery, poverty, oppression, violence, disease, and/or pollution.

Definition

The first known use of the term dystopia appeared in a speech before the British Parliament by Greg Webber and Juan Stuart Mill in 1868. In that speech, Mill said, “It is, perhaps, too complimentary to call them Utopians, they ought rather to be called dys-topians, or caco-topians. What is commonly called Utopian is something too good to be practicable, but what they appear to favour is too bad to be practicable”. His knowledge of Greek suggests that he was referring to a bad place, rather than simply the opposite of Utopia. The Greek prefix ‘dys’ signifies ‘ill’, ‘bad’ or ‘abnormal’, Greek “topos” meaning ‘place’, and Greek meaning ‘not’. As a result, dystopia refers to an imagined place where almost everything is bad, perhaps a play on the term utopia that was coined by Thomas More.

Dystopian characteristics

Dystopian society
a) A dystopian society is very negative society.
b) It is an undesirable society.
c) It can be seen as the visions of dangerous and alienating future societies.
d) It is criticising current trends in culture.
e) It is a culture where the condition of life suffers from deprivation, oppression, or terror.
f) For example, the existence of social stratification and caste system in a society.

Dystopian social groups
a) In a typical dystopia, there is a total absence of any social group besides the government.
b) The religion in a dystopian social group is also ambiguous, as sometimes, the religion is the government in that society itself.
c) The family institution is also corrupted in a dystopian social group. This is because; the government sometimes makes the concept of “mother” and “father” as obscene. The state even uses the children to spy on their parents.

Dystopian economic
a) The economy of a dystopian society is fully controlled by the government. This means, government gets most of the benefits as a result of citizens’ effort.
b) The business that involve in a dystopian economy is mostly the black markets, such as drugs dealing, and other illegal business.
c) The existence of bribery might be normal in a dystopian economy, as it seems legal in that society.

Dystopian nature
a) The society frequently isolates the characters from all contact with the natural world.
b) Dystopias are commonly urban and generally avoid nature.
c) This is referring to the urbanization and technology development of the world in the future life, where the elements of nature are no longer important.

Dystopian politics
a) Dystopian politics are often characterized as one of several types of governments and political systems. For instance, Anarchism, bureaucracy, socialism, communism, chaos, excessive capitalism, fascism, totalitarianism, dictatorships and other forms of political, social and economical control.
b) Dystopian politics, however, are considered flawed in some way or have negative connotations amongst the inhabitants of the dystopian “world”.
c) Dystopian politics are portrayed as oppressive.
d) Dystopias are often filled with pessimistic views of the ruling class or government that is brutal or uncaring ruling with an “iron hand” or “iron fist.”
e) These dystopian government establishments often have protagonists or groups that lead a “resistance” to enact change within their government.

Dystopian fiction
a) Dystopia is generally considered a subgenre of science fiction.
b) The narrative in a dystopian fiction is usually about the war, revolution, uprising, critical overpopulation, or other disaster, told in a flashback story.
c) It also depicts the shift in emphasis of control, from previous system of government to a government run by corporations, totalitarian dictatorships or bureaucracies.
d) As dystopian literature typically depicts events that take place in the future, it often features technology more advanced than that of contemporary society.
e) Usually, the advanced technology is controlled exclusively by the group in power, while the oppressed population is limited to technology comparable to or more primitive than what we have today.
f) In order to emphasize the degeneration of society, the standard of living among the lower and middle classes is generally poorer than in contemporary society.

Dystopian hero
a) A dystopian hero seldom features an outsider as the protagonist.
b) The story usually centers on a protagonist who questions the society, often feeling intuitively that something is terribly wrong.
c) The hero believes that escape or even overturning the social order is possible and decides to act at the risk of life and limb.
d) A dystopian hero is also in high-standing within the social system, but sees how wrong everything is, and attempts to either change the system or brings it down.
Dystopian conflict
a) The hero's conflict brings him to a representative of the dystopia who articulates its principles.
b) Usually, in a dystopian conflict, there is a group of people somewhere in the society who are not under the complete control of the state, and in whom the hero of the novel usually puts his or her hope, although often he or she still fails to change anything.

Dystopian climax
a) The hero's goal is either escape or destruction of the social order.
b) But, the story is often (but not always) unresolved.
c) The narrative may deal with individuals in a dystopian society who are unsatisfied, and rebellious, but ultimately fail to change anything.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia