What is Dystopia

I'll now explain dystopia, one of my favorite types of sci-fi. But first, some definitions according to Merriam-Webster. Media examples will be shown as well.

UTOPIA:  

1. An imaginary and indefinitely remote place
2. A place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions
3. An impractical scheme for social improvement

Some synonyms listed: Camelot, Eden, heaven, and never-never land.

An antinomy: hell

DYSTOPIA: 

An imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives

I like to think of dystopia as a failed attempt at or a false appearance of a utopia. The society is usually oppressed by rules meant for good and safety such as isolation. Theses rules can be lies for control or actually intended to help mankind. Either way, a part of humanity is oppressed or sacrificed. There's usually social or political commentary as well.Technology is usually a method of control while nature is distanced from society.

Dystopia interests me for the philosophy and psychology of what is essential for a humane society to exist. Also, I'm intrigued by a single factor affecting society in various aspects.  Compare a social change in a dsytopia to a change in the past in time travel sci-fii. A single action can build up to a new lifestyle.

If you want more definitions or characteristics, I found this site on George Orwell, author of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm.

Now for some media examples.

 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

1984 screen adaptation

Very political, which is understandable if you read Orwell's bio. There hardly is privacy when even your own child can accuse you as a threat.  The story also has sociology and psychology with brainwashing and fitting in. Even language is covered with changed definitions such as War = Peace, words eliminated to prevent rebellious thoughts, and history is changed to support present announcements.

It's not a fast read though; I've been reading it little by little to appreciate the author's depicted system. "Big brother is watching you."

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Translated from Russian. 

In this one, society's schedule is measure from when you wake up to when you sleep. Calling in sick for work means you let you down society (irrational behavior).  The collective over individual is a main focus.  There's mathematical metaphors and descriptions of working with rhythm like in a mechanical ballet. Surgery on the brain is considered as a way of being rational.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Has been adapted to screen
and on theater stage. 

This dystopia deals more with literature being essential to humanity and society than politics or government. With fireproof houses, firemen are given a new duty.  They investigate homes suspected to hold literature and burn the books.  Fahrenheit 451 is actually one of my favorite novels. It has that one factor changing different aspects of society, including television, teens, and conversation.

At the SD Comic Con, Bradbury stated that he wrote the book in response to his books being pulled off the shelves of high school libraries. However, he also states on the pamphlet for the stage adaptation that the story is NOT all about censorship. So remember to look at literature as a part of society and soul.

Uglies series by Scott Westerfield

I have not read this series, but here is a dystopia geared towards female readers. Society is convinced that a modified face (surgery) is beauty while natural features are ugly and primitive.  Surgery is typically done during puberty, but unknown to everyone is that a part of the brain is modified as well.  The titles list class ranks, with uglies being the lowest rank when a person has not had surgery yet. The book Extras follows a different heroine.

Equilibrium

Emotions are seen as the cause for war so everyone has to sedate themselves. In addition, all forms of art (literature, fine art, music, etc) is shunned because they are stimulating and provoking. There is a squad trained in martial arts with guns, which leads to flashy fight scenes. Christian Bale's character accidentally misses a dose one day and experiences emotion.

No novels were adapted for this film but they must have been an influence or inspiration. I think in the Special Features, the director states he hadn't read Brave New World yet (neither have I).

I have not read The Hunger Games but it is on my list. Have you read this one?

Overall, there's a lot of brainwashing and brain surgery going on in these dystopias. I did not describe the main character in every example, but most of them have a rank with power or an occupation that contributes to controlling society. I suppose the struggle for control is another feature I like in a dystopia as well. The dilemma is safety and control or humanity and freedom in these societies.

Banana Sculptures!

I still have to blog about dystopia but here's something that I HAD to share:

It's a real banana, and there's a few more here. =)

Dystopia contest about love

Dystopia and time travel are my favorite types of sci-fi (I'll have to blog later about the first at least). I just heard about the Lauren Oliver's contest, and I want to write a short story entry.  Even if I do not make the deadline, the prompt will be a good exercise.

If you're interested in entering as well, then click Lauren's name above. The prompt says, "Write a short story or poem in less than 750 words in which two people meet and have a connection (romantic or not), in a society where human interaction is shunned." The deadline is April 24.

I have not read Lauren's work yet but I wish to read Delirium, which has the contest's theme.

Heads up for Sucker Punch

Before I saw the movie, a friend's Facebook status read, "Sailor Moon + Inception = Sucker Punch."  I laughed but I thought Inception was associated only for having a made-up reality.  I understood better though after seeing the movie.

Here's the second trailer: 

The fighting can be seen as the made-up reality, but there's actually 3 levels to Sucker Punch (thanks buddy for the discussion).  I think the viewer needs to realize this fact early so I'll briefly state them so that the story sequence can be understood better.

1ST LEVEL (reality):

As the trailer states, the girl, "Baby Doll," loses her family and she is committed to an institute.

2ND LEVEL (This level can be confused as reality):

In the trailer and movie, you realize that the girls that were once dressed as patients later have prepped hair, make-up, corsets, and nylon like show girls.  This is the world that Baby Doll has created to push away the pain and focus on her situation. 

3RD LEVEL:

Baby doll's will to survive is shown through various fight fantasies.

Levels 1 and 2 have to be recognized as different or else the changed setting and situation only makes sense if the institute was just a front until they change back.

I want to see it again to see if certain characters exist on the first level. Any thoughts to the psychology aspect of Sucker Punch?

On a separate note, I like the movie posters and Alex Pardee's character art like the one below. =)  His other art is more dark though.

Hemingway's iceberg - minimalistic

I mentioned Ernest Hemingway's style in a comment on my post "Personify," but the subject should be blogged. Towards the end of the post I will explain the narration of my comic strip "The Affair."


Hemingway called his minimalistic style the iceberg theory, where only 10% of the information is given.  In a story, he eliminated all that the reader can assume, leaving what the reader could not assume.  Just the essentials, or the minimum, needed to understand the story.  


David Malki, creator of Wondermark.com, has a visual example of this style improving content. The Garfield strip below is redundant through the visual and text. 

Malki states, "the punchline is set up twice and delivered twice." 
Here is Hemingway's theory of just the essentials applied to the strip:

Malki on the strip above: "It allows the reader to connect the dots, and engages them in the narrative.  It leaves room for interpretation, and for Garfield’s true thoughts to only sound in the theater of the reader’s mind."

Without the speech bubble in the first panel, the reader can interpret that Garfield's throwing the ball for fun. As soon as the Odie, the dog, is spotted, the game of catch is determined.  So redundancy killed the humor because all the interpreting work, in a reader's role, is done already, leaving  the reader no reason to linger on the story.  

For more on Garfield, look up Eric Burns who Malki referred to as the one who noted Garfield's redundancy.  Malki has more posts on newspaper comic strips in Comic Strip Doctor. 

In my comic strip project, "The Affair," I intended to state what the reader is less likely to determine on his/her own.  Click the image for a full view.

I never describe the affair mentioned in the title because the reader can interpret the Jack's  interest in the Queen from his shortened distance. If I state that the Jack moved closer to the Queen, then text would be redundant.  Instead I narrate the actions and feelings of the other characters which cannot be easily determined from the visual. The minor characters get their story in the captions because the main story is visible enough.


The next time a story seems to be about nothing check if you, the reader, have interpreting work to do.  


For writing, this minimalistic style is more difficult because the information is all text.  The easier cases are dialogue and description.  Do the character's repeat too much of what the narrator states?  Inner dialogue, thoughts, typically do not need to be repeated in conversation.  Having someone read your story can help to determine what can be assumed and what cannot.

Can you think of an example of this minimalistic style or a story that could use it?

Personify

I once tested out the filters on my camera phone in my backyard and came up with this movie trailer spoof:

I was just messing around until I saw how the first photo shown looked like a drama to me. So I messed around more to create a story.  It was fun and received laughs from family and friends.  I had also personified the animals by making them human-like in a relationship drama context.

I still like how a story can be created with anything.

In my Visual Cultures class, I found examples of personification through Edward Gorey's."The Animated Tragedy" (a page is shown below) and "Bug Book."

For my final in that class, I decided to make a comic on personified objects. Because I like the look of poker cards, I chose them as my objects. So I made a drama about cards moving closer and away from each other as a hand of cards.

I aimed to keep the captions casual and like a children's book as I saw Edward Gorey did for even his dark stories. I never mentioned the affair after the title.

For the final, I had printed out black and white.  Since then I photoshopped the images to make them more flat and give more dramatic lighting.  The piece will go in my school magazine. =)  Once again, I had fun. and I hope I do more personified works. What do you think?

If you're interested in Edward Gorey, then I recommend Amphigorey.

MegaMind - appearances

Just saw MegaMind at a $3 theater.  I did not expect much from the movie, but I found myself laughing and  surprised.  Also, it has a lot of character exploration for MegaMind.  Along with learning his life story, I think the audience cares for him because his character design is not all threatening.

From memory, I thought MegaMind had a sharp, pointy chin but he doesn't. Although the lower portion of his head is angular, his head is mostly round.  Sharp angles look threating while round is safer.  Yes, he does have the sharp studs, but they're tiny.  His collar too has points, but it rounded with the curves like his elbows. His body too creates a long curve.  The long, skinny body makes him odd-looking, which could be perceived as strange enough to be feared.  However, he says odd, funny things so the odd look is considered funny as well.

Aku from Samurai Jack has pointed ends, edges, and angles that make him look like a real threat. Look at just his teeth.  The way they curve out is strange, which this time does evoke fear. Aku can be funny sometimes but he is still recognized as a threat.

Look at these two:

MegaMind looks threatening only by the larger studs.   The collar is taller now but has lost its points. Titan/Tighten on the left looks more menacing just by his expression.  His face is round too but more angular than Mega Mind's face. Perhaps the Tighten's fiery colors add to the threat. He looks like dangerous fire.  MegaMind could look threatening with the blue and black by evoking a cold and dead personality but he shows emotions that gain sympathy. The red/pink/purple on his ears, nose, and cheeks too make him look less dead. The color reminds us that he's a living being with blood running through him.

Overall, MegaMind looks like a villain but he doesn't sell it like Aku and Tighten.

Although I'm talking about a movie, these visual factors can apply to a prose description of a character too.  A villain with a sharp chin rather than a round or large chin sounds more threatening. Colors can also portray the character's personality and nature but because the reader has to visualize the image, just a few colors should be used at a time.  An author points out the features to look at by stating them.

It's up to you writers and artists if you follow or break down the first impression of characters, but a first impression should be given for the audience to react to the character's arrival.