Many people wonder why us teens enjoy dystopian movies and literature. Our reasons why we enjoy these kind of films and books are because it interest us, it makes us to think outside the box, it shows us a different lifestyle to live. For examples like the book “Anthem” by Ayn Rand and the movie “The Giver” by Philip Noyce. The movie and film both have a dystopian setting. For their dystopian ideas they both made them having some kind of rebel, who believes in more than just black and white or normal.
Fahrenheit 451 and The Hunger Games are both examples of titles that are included in the dystopian genre. This genre includes a futuristic society where government has supreme control and gives citizens the illusion that they have a perfect society. Firstly, both Fahrenheit 451 and The Hunger Games have a society where they are kept away from information, independent thought is discouraged, and freedom is restricted. Also, they both have a society where the general public is constantly paranoid that they are under surveillance. Lastly, both societies dehumanize those living in it.
Dystopian literature has been a popular genre that is mostly aimed towards young adults (YA) and have been showered with much popularity especially in the recent years. Considering that works of literature mainly consists of the records of people’s values, dilemmas, thoughts and conflicts which can also be identified as a reflection of people’s experiences, a dystopian literature contains an author’s questions about the existing political and social systems. Through text, the author picturizes the possibility that something is awfully wrong with the society he or she is in. Psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung stated that humans have a “Collective Unconscious” which is a kind of universal psyche that appeared in myths and dreams. They consist of images and themes that people are
Dystopia: "An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one." The definition of a dystopia is quite clear, but what exactly does a book need to be part of the dystopian genre? A good place to start would be to compare two books such as Fahrenheit 451 and The Hunger Games. For a quick summary, Fahrenheit 451 details how a fireman named Guy Montag learns that the books he's supposed to be burning are an important part of culture and history, and should be protected. In The Hunger Games, the main character, Katniss Everdeen, is forced to compete in the "Hunger Games"― where twenty-four teenagers fight to the death until there is a single victor.
In his cautionary novel against censorship he looks at the possibilities of a society without books. The Hunger Games is a novel about a dystopian society controlled completely by the government. The people are separated into something called district’s. Each district has unique features. For example, district 4’s economy is based primarily on fishing and other such activities, while district 8’s economy is based on agriculture.
In the world of literature, there are books that depict a utopian world and then there are other books that depict a dystopian world. A utopia is a place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions. Whereas 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. Literature that is considered to have a dystopian world explains a current trend, societal norm, or political system through an exaggerated worst-case scenario. The examples of dystopias that are going to be explained throughout this essay is Fahrenheit 451 and The Hunger Games.
Dystopian novels have an entrancing factor that allows them to captivate the American public like no other genre. The mass popularity gained by these novels can be seen dating all the way back to 1950’s with the publishing of George Orwell’s 1984, and through the present day with the publication of various dystopian novels such as Divergent, Maze Runner, and The Hunger Games. The main reason why these dystopian worlds resonate with so many people is because they address present day problems in outlandish but conceivable ways, "whatever its artistic or philosophic qualities, a book about the future can interest us only if its prophecies look as though they might conceivably come true."(Beauchamp). While The Handmaid 's Tale focus on a variety of issues, such as the mistreatment of women, it also realistically illustrates the mental deterioration that occurs during prolonged periods of isolation in captivity. Atwood clearly emphasizes this point through the inclusion of Offred 's inner thoughts; which in turn, help to illuminate to the reader the process of this deterioration.
“Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you 'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It 's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.”(Bradbury 82). The People in the dystopian world wishes to have a better society like the modern society. This is the best way to compare the dystopian society to the modern society because in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the book talks about the government burning books because they think the books are going to hurt other people, while the modern society thinks that books help people and educate others.
The Hunger Game and 1984 “ In the United States today approximately 15 to 20 percent are in the poor, lower class; 30 to 40 percent are in the working class; 40 to 50 percent are in the middle class; and 1 to 3 percent are in the rich, upper class.” The novel 1984 written by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about a man named Winston Smith, who struggles to find individuality in an oppressive government, that scrutinizes every human action of their citizens. The second novel is The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collin, this novel is about a girl named Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers for her sister in an event that the government created to keep control of their citizens. Both these novels are built on a hierarchy with a totalitarian dictator. In The Hunger Games and 1984, these novels address the injustice of social hierarchy, destructive nature of the government, and the dangers of abusive powers. These novels are showing what could possibly happen to today’s society if the power ends up leading to corruption.
Teens nowadays feel many emotions and think many thoughts. Some feel trapped and they like to get out by reading books. Young adults can relate to dystopian books a lot more than many other books because the characters in the novels feel the same way as the readers do. Anthem can especially relate to teens because i is about a man who feels trapped in his world and just wants knowledge and to find his own love. He wants what he wants for him not for the good of the society in the book.