The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch
Perhaps the most famous work of this 15th Century Dutch painter, one of the earliest surrealists. Details from all three panels continue to appear ubiquitously in print and beyond.
Okay, the title is a statement but it’s really a question. I’ve been pondering, why do I (as a functioning member of society who generally thinks of the glass as half full and prefers to stick to the sunny side of the street) love a good Dystopian story so?
Sir Thomas Moore coined the word utopia for the title of a book he wrote in 1516 about a fictional island in the Atlantic that exemplified perfect governance. From the start, this book and the term begged the question, though the antonym, dystopia, didn’t show up until the 1800s. Defined as an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it possibly can be, it sounds too depressing to have engendered such a vibrant genre in novels, movies and games (though in my decrepitude I’ve pretty much missed the boat on that).
Why the allure?
It’s genre. Necessarily slipping the bonds of daily realism -- the same way any good piece of genre fiction does -- the purview of more “serious” (quotes to be taken with full irony) fiction. To be read by more “serious readers.” Okay, I read plenty of the serious stuff but sometimes I just want to get away and frankly rooting for a character to bring down a world-dominating government/corporation/computer is more fun then reading about some mother who just had her child abducted or who had her child abducted 20 years ago.
It’s deeply felt. Generally the dystopian world is one of black and white where the character’s decisions take on greater meaning and his or her struggles played out on a grander scale.
It poses the question. The best dystopias, and all speculative fiction, do it without being preachy. The question is just there at the core, the engine that drives the story and the character’s actions.
The ending is not confined by the genre expectations. While the hero may be victorious in some Dystopian stories, most endings are more open ended even unresolved, if you can stand an unresolved ending the payoff is more suspense and engagement throughout the story.
There is tons of stuff out there for a couple comprehensive lists check
Movies
http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/
the-top-50-dystopian-movies-of-all-time/
Books
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dystopian_literature
