Dystopias - search/destroy

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I was going to make this taking sides: "1984" v. "Brave New World", but then I thought I'd through it out to the floor so we can also have:

"We"

"The Handmaid's Tale"

"A Clockwork Orange"

"1985" (another Anthony Burgess book; it's a perhaps tongue in cheek nightmare vision of a Britain run by the TUC)

"V For Vendetta"

which one is your favourite?

and which society would you least object to living in? Obviously all the sex and drugs in Brave New World would make the loss of individual liberty that bit easier to bear. wouldn't they?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 20:31 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.ilxor.com

― jess (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 20:34 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Handmaid's Tale," if only because in the (horrible) film version, some the women get to wear saran wrap and dance to Fine Young Cannibals.

― kirsten (kirsten), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 20:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd pick Brave New World. It's so charmingly gimmicky.

― Sommermute (Wintermute), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 20:55 (twenty-two years ago)

some OF the women, obviously.

― kirsten (kirsten), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 20:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I forgot "When The Kissing Had To Stop" by Constantine Fitzgibbon - a nightmare vision of a Britain conquered by the Soviets, thanks to the machinations of socialist intellectuals and CND types.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 22:00 (twenty-two years ago)

how about fahrenheit 451?

― todd swiss (eliti), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 22:08 (twenty-two years ago)

tho it wasn't intended as a dystopia (i think?), News From Nowhere portrays what seems like a horrible place. no conflict at all = boring as hell.

I think We is the best novel. I have read it too many times, and it grows in emotional power each time. The line "must everyone live with this pain in their heart?" (or something like that) really gets to me. I get the feeling that the protagonist only gives in to the One State once his heart is broken by I-330.

For some reason I think 1984 is underrated as a novel, and im not sure this opinion is based in reality or not. It's incredibly well written, and as a dystopia it seems the most realistic because its a society built on fear, not genetics, technology, or brain washing.

CO is great i guess, but i dont like the added ending. i dont think anyone but burgess does.

― ryan (ryan), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 23:59 (twenty-two years ago)

also - Samuel Butler's Erewhon is pretty good except for some long winded passages on the souls of machines or some such.

― ryan (ryan), Thursday, 12 June 2003 00:02 (twenty-two years ago)

it is also interesting how many of these books seem to hold as their core idea the basic dignity of the individual. the implication is that all utopian projects have as their object the destruction of the individual, a will towards non-being.

can you have an individualist utopia? any novels like this?

― ryan (ryan), Thursday, 12 June 2003 00:05 (twenty-two years ago)

do movies count? if so Godard's Weekend is another good one

― ryan (ryan), Thursday, 12 June 2003 00:06 (twenty-two years ago)

is jess calling himself Tricky?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 June 2003 01:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think I'd want to read any of the books now. Even 2112 can get a little old once the novelty and/or pot wears off. "Mr Roboto" is kind of funny though.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Thursday, 12 June 2003 03:42 (twenty-two years ago)

search: Futurama!

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 12 June 2003 03:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Gattaca was on the SF Channel a couple days ago and it actually stood up to a second viewing. As with Alphaville, if you're going to live in a dystopia, at least have some cool clothes and drive a Studebaker...

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 12 June 2003 04:30 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.movieactors.com/photos-sf/soygreen.jpeg
vs
http://www.movieforum.com/movies/wallpapers/scifi/logansrun/images/logansrun800x600.jpg

― Hunter (Hunter), Thursday, 12 June 2003 04:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I know you'd have included above in our options had they not slipped yr mind. Sorry for the image size, but it's a detailed poster.

― Hunter (Hunter), Thursday, 12 June 2003 04:54 (twenty-two years ago)

it's a detailed example of why juke-box designers shouldn't make posters

― Stuart (Stuart), Thursday, 12 June 2003 18:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Jess stole my answer!

― Nicole (Nicole), Thursday, 12 June 2003 18:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Sartre's "Huis Clos" ("No Exit", or literally "Shut Door") is pretty terrifying. I would never want to live there. Three people who can't stand each other, in a nicely-appointed drawing room for all eternity.

"Red Dawn" might be kind of awesome.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 12 June 2003 18:34 (twenty-two years ago)

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