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Week 11 Part 2 - dystopia
Mar. 21st, 2012 09:58 amPart 2
According to Wikipedia, a dystopia "is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian." Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four are given as examples (both of which I have seen).
More recent examples would be V for Vendetta, a movie which highlights an ultra-controlling government and a ban on many historical items that might successfully prove that the government is lying, and Equilibrium, a movie about governmental control of emotions (through pharaceuticals) and a ban on all possessions that may invoke an emotional reaction. Both of these movies are Orwell-esque (and very reminiscent of Nineteen Eighty-Four) in their illustration of government control and banning connections to the truth. I would highly recommend both of these movies.
Another dystopian movie (and book) is Fight Club - one of my favourite movies of all time. It is different from the others in that it focuses not on governmental control but corporate control through credit card companies and advertising. It shows people as materialistic sheep, blindly following the advertising shepherd, resulting in more and more consumer debt before a group of people get together to radically change the future. For those of you that like movies with many levels of complexity, you are probably already a fan of this movie. It's quite brilliant and really well acted.
I tend to be a fan of these movies (or books) because they are usually well thought out and well written. They examine what it is to be human and the consequences of taking that away even if it is deemed to be the best thing for society. Humans are emotional beings, for instance, even if that emotion is sometimes negative.
These movies or books also take a close look at the idea of governmental control and what is means. The politicians often use rhetoric designed to convince the people that they must go along with a certain idea in order to be a valuable and productive member of society. Those that oppose the status quo are seen as criminals.
So what can this teach us? To look at our governments and corporations with a more diserning eye - to think about what we are being told and why we are being told that. Do our leaders have our best interest in mind - the best interests of those they are elected to govern - or do they have their own agendas. Do large corporations care whether increasing consumer debt is destroying families? It is our responsibility to possess a vast amount of knowledge so we can successfully navigate our way through constant and intentional deception. The really scary thing is that with each generation the knowledge required increases but the analysys of situations seems to happen less and less, which gives more and more control over to corporations and governments to interfere in our lives to the detriment of all.
I don't know where that all came from, but there you go!
According to Wikipedia, a dystopia "is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian." Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four are given as examples (both of which I have seen).
More recent examples would be V for Vendetta, a movie which highlights an ultra-controlling government and a ban on many historical items that might successfully prove that the government is lying, and Equilibrium, a movie about governmental control of emotions (through pharaceuticals) and a ban on all possessions that may invoke an emotional reaction. Both of these movies are Orwell-esque (and very reminiscent of Nineteen Eighty-Four) in their illustration of government control and banning connections to the truth. I would highly recommend both of these movies.
Another dystopian movie (and book) is Fight Club - one of my favourite movies of all time. It is different from the others in that it focuses not on governmental control but corporate control through credit card companies and advertising. It shows people as materialistic sheep, blindly following the advertising shepherd, resulting in more and more consumer debt before a group of people get together to radically change the future. For those of you that like movies with many levels of complexity, you are probably already a fan of this movie. It's quite brilliant and really well acted.
I tend to be a fan of these movies (or books) because they are usually well thought out and well written. They examine what it is to be human and the consequences of taking that away even if it is deemed to be the best thing for society. Humans are emotional beings, for instance, even if that emotion is sometimes negative.
These movies or books also take a close look at the idea of governmental control and what is means. The politicians often use rhetoric designed to convince the people that they must go along with a certain idea in order to be a valuable and productive member of society. Those that oppose the status quo are seen as criminals.
So what can this teach us? To look at our governments and corporations with a more diserning eye - to think about what we are being told and why we are being told that. Do our leaders have our best interest in mind - the best interests of those they are elected to govern - or do they have their own agendas. Do large corporations care whether increasing consumer debt is destroying families? It is our responsibility to possess a vast amount of knowledge so we can successfully navigate our way through constant and intentional deception. The really scary thing is that with each generation the knowledge required increases but the analysys of situations seems to happen less and less, which gives more and more control over to corporations and governments to interfere in our lives to the detriment of all.
I don't know where that all came from, but there you go!
