When you hear the word dystopia, do you think of Collin's The Hunger Games or Orwell's 1984? The list of books or works of fiction that may come to your mind upon hearing that word is endless and different from one person to another. But that's not what I'm talking about. What I want to know is, why, upon hearing the word dystopia do you think of a fictional world created by an author?
I tried looking up the word Dystopia on the Internet, and here's what came up:
"A dystopia is a community or society, usually fictional, that is in some important way undesirable or frightening."
While there is nothing wrong with that definition, I couldn't help but think, why does it have to be fictional? Why do authors go to great trouble to come up with a cruel world, a totalitarian government, and alot of death, while all these elements exist in our very own world. Just open any news channel streaming live from Syria or Ghaza, and you'll see a dystopian.
Dystopias don't have to be fictional. Matter of fact, A dystopian world is anything but fictional.
It's the mother throwing her body over her children to protect them from falling bombs. It's the mother dreading the next day, not because she can't afford to feed her children, but because she can't afford to promise them a future. It's the children who got used to war, they gather and play football amidst the rubbles of a bombed building. It's the government who has long given up on protecting it's citizens. It's the unfairness of the world.
It's real.
It's not fictional. No matter how bad a fictional dystopia might be, the real world is far, far worse.
You know why?
Because there are people like us, the fortunate ones, the ones who don't have to fight for their right to live every single day, while others have gotten so used to saying goodbye, it lost it's meaning.
Because people like us like to watch dystopias as they unfold, whether it be in a book, or in a news channel streaming live from Syria.
I completely agree with you.
Thank you! I wish more attention was given to stories like these.
You're so right! And the definition says "usually fictional" so I think it allows for the fact that real World in many people's realities is just as bad as in "fictional" dystopian books. I read a book by Maureen McHugh - short stories about apocalyptic events, and she took it fromt the point of view that there isn't always some big catastrophe. Lots of people have apocolyptic events in their own lives, when huge life changing moments occur. Anyway - that's what your post reminded me of :-)
Tanya Patrice
Girlxoxo.com
I was browsing on the internet about dystopic pictures, and started to think about dystopias, and about how our world *really* is, if you don't look the only brushed cover, the upsides, but past that you look at the bad sides of our world, of our societies: they outnumber anything positive it is, in my humble opinion, and I came to the same conclusion.
It's just that, we don't stop to think over the downsides, because they happen to "other people" so they're not real enough to us. Or because we prefer to look at our world and see it on a positive light for our own peace of mind.
Thanks for share your thoughts.
On a different note, you know where the picture come from? Who's the author?
I liked your blog, thanks for sharing this.