Well... It is true that actually a relatively small amount of dystopian science-fiction is well-put together, and there is a lot of trash at there, particularly in the science-fiction genre. But still, I just love how dystopian literature can make you reflect on society, the values therein and our personal attitudes towards them.
I just thought I'd share some of my favourite dystopian books and films – ones that I've made me think the most and have been the most interesting to read/watch:
Films
- Gattaca, Andrew Niccol
This is a dystopia different from the one usually depicted. Instead of an authoritarian government imposing its tyrannic rule over people, here we witness a society in which people are split by the quality of their genetic makeup. With technological advances, humans have been able to change the genetic makeup of individual, creating 'super'-humans capable of performing better in certain tasks. While highlighting the ethical dangers attached to bio-technology's advancement, and the easiness with which society can fall into a racist mode of functioning, it is also a reflection on what – in the end – makes us profoundly human.
- Ghost in the Shell, Masamune Shirow
Science-fiction anime, one of the greatest of its kind! This time its a reflection on technology, artificial intelligence, and again, what makes us human. Are we just machines that accumulate data and rearranges it in a particular way, or is there something more... a soul so to speak?
- Ex Machina, Alex Garland
Recent Hollywood movie. Great watch. Between a thriller and dystopian, the aesthetic of the movie is fantastic. At the core of this movie is a reflection similar to the above, artificial intelligence and technology. However, this movie deals more with our relationship with said AI, what would come out of it, and also the place for survival instincts.
Books
- 1994, George Orwell
Classic dystopia, cannot be missed to get in the genre! Big Brother, hyper-surveillance, authoritarian regimes, love story, it's all there, and it never goes out of fashion. As timeless as ever, it reads great and you should give it a read if you haven't already.
- We, Yevgeny Zamyatin
George Orwell's 1994 is completely inspired by this book. The themes at the centre are basically the same. This is the modern dystopian fiction's originator! It is quite original and experimental in its writing, but such great food for thought!
- The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula le Guin
In this seminal science-fiction, winner of both the Nebula and Hugo awards, Ursula le Guin portrays a frozen world, where a society as evolved independently from the rest of humanity. The catch here is that this society does not have a binary division of gender. There is no man or woman, instead their reproductive system and cycles are different from the ones we are used to. Individual express traits associated with both masculinity and femininity, but to such a point that it becomes difficult to distinguish them, and indeed is it even all that necessary to make that distinction? This is the sort of question at the heart of this novel, which is a must read for a more modern take on the dystopian genre.
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