Utopias Dystopias and Science Fiction Utopia No Place

Utopias, Dystopias and Science Fiction

Utopia ► “No Place” ► Model of the good society ► Unrealistic daydream Eutopia ► “The Good Place” ► Ambiguity of terms ► Dream place

Aspects of Utopias ► Art ► Consumerism ► Time – energy ► Social responsibility ► Punishment ► Women / Sex ► Education and upbringing

Works Huxley – Brave New World, 1932 ► James Hilton – Lost Horizons, 1933 ► B. F. Skinner – Walden Two, 1948 ► George Orwell, 1984, 1949 ► Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451, 1950 ► Aldous Huxley – Island, 1962 ► Philip K. Dick – Do Androids--, 1965 ► Aldous

Dystopia ► Society unworthy of humans ► Totalitarian state (1984, Kallocain) ► Developmental derailment (Fahrenheit 451) ► No choice ► No freedom ► No alternatives ► Equilibrium

Dystopias ► Social restrictions ► Egalitarian – no excelling ► Only the State ► Religion as control ► Family non-existent ► City / Nature ► Politics / Control

Dystopias ► Economy: state / individual ► Back-story ► Technology – future ► No Visitor – but a Hero ► Confrontation with powers ► No success ► Subversion / Escape

New Wave ► Mid-60 s ► Concern for humanistic values and experimental techniques ► Brian Aldiss (Hothouse, 1962) ► James Ballard (Crash, 1973) ► Harlan Ellison (A Boy and his Dog, 1969)

Cyberpunk ► 1980 s ► Decentralized societies ► Dominated by technology and science ► Style mirroring the confusing and dazzling world (post-modernity) ► William Gibson – Neuromancer, 1984

Questions ► Compare and contrast the Utopias / Dystopias in Gulliver’s Travels and Niels Klim. ► Focus on the descriptions of: ► Education, Ethics, and Morals ► War and Enemies ► Politics ► The Prince and his Court ► Everyday Life