MOW: Dystopia

Talking about my opinion of dystopian lit.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• dystopia
• hunger
• games
• divergent
• 1984
• handmaiden's
• tale

[ShalomDove]

Your discussion of the Hunger Games seems to argue more for the idea that Snow was a bad dictator than that the story's framework itself is poor. He didn't do everything possible to take away his people's ties to other things, and that lead to its logical conclusion: a rebellion. He was stupid, but the progression of events was still fairly logical. Are you arguing that the rebellion should have happened sooner--that Snow's poor planning would have lead to uprising earlier than that?

[MelinaPendulum]

@ShalomDove Because Snow is such a bad ruler it makes it (at least to me) unrealistic that he and the Capital could have stayed in power for so long.

[mavsguru41]

Melinda... I respect your views but I strongly disagree....Why do you keep comparing every dystopia to 1984? It's just a novel not the holy grail... If every writer took your advice we would end up with a bunch of books resembling 1984 because that is a "true" dystopia. I like what you said at the end though about making a young dystopia the less plausible your system is. But in the end authors need to be free to push the boundaries and not have to follow 1984's lead.

[MelinaPendulum]

@mavsguru41 I compare it to 1984 because, imo, it shows how to write a believable dystopia and I think it is a good example of how to create a sci-fi/speculative world. It's not the holy grail, but I think that if you want to write a dystopian novel it is a great one to read because it covers so many issues. I don't think every book should be 1984, which is why I brought up A Handmaiden's Tale, but I think it's a good book to look at to get ideas :)

[DjHamHam411]

My teacher asked my freshman class if anyone has read a good dystopian novel (for The Lottery short story). My class was like "Oh like the Hunger Games :)" they all thought they were smart and then I raised my hand and said "I've read 1984 and Fahrenheit 451." my class is honors but seriously they need to read more literature. I like the hunger games but if that is the only Dystopian universe they know I hope they read more. Love dystopians :P

[DestinyHollow]

Ahhh I accidentally listened to the 1984 spoiler. I'm only halfway through the book.

[CarFox6]

@Theo2kitty The City of Ember isn't really a dystopian novel because it wasn't like the government was suppressing the people and making their lives miserable. They led (for the most part) healthy, productive lives. Dystopian novels are usually about how much the government sucks, but The City of Ember was more about them leading their people to safety.

[CarFox6]

My question is: why don't these authors who are trying to write dystopian novels research how real life dystopian societies functioned? You don't even need to read 1984, just look at the Soviet Union, China, Roman Israel, Nazi Germany, Cuba. Study the reasons why they worked (or work) and you'll already have a solid basis for your own dystopian society, with a few interesting twists, of course.

[Writteninmyheart]

Seed by Rob Ziegler is a good dystopian novel, I'd definitely reccomend it.

[domakliu]

i mean all districs would have been easaly difyted if not for distric 13 technology and they werent awere that distric 13 still exist so they didint feel that there is any hope for victory. why it took distric 13 so long to act its another guestion. also the fact that this distopian existed for so long can explain why snow acted so stupid, he probably let his guard down and became overconfindent. but this is just mine opinion

[domakliu]

i dont know for me the hunger game sosieti actualy made sence, i mean the capital has all the hight tech weponry like bombs, atomick bombs, guns, all sorts of mutants whyle the districs only had wepons like bows and arows and knifes when you put that against bombs guns and all other high tech capital wepons i can see why they didint think that they have a chance of victory.

[Pouroushair]

@ShalomDove aaand it was also poor. I mean, how can the cameras not see the girl in some areas, and catch her INSIDE A FREAKING cave? Too many plot holes.

[Theo2kitty]

The hunger games was ok..it wasn't a great example of a Dystopian novel. I did enjoy The City of Ember, Brave New World, and 1984. Personally I'd rather read Battle Royale a third time than read the Hunger games a second time. I agree with you on this subject.

[AmSpazz]

Do you mind if I post this on my Facebook. A lot of my friends are crazy fans who have been spitting out a lot of "Hunger Games is the best dystopia ever" type crap. I like the books but I would like to start a discussion with them about it. And I like how this video brings up a lot of great points that I would like to show to them. Thanks.

[paladindragoongirl18]

@MelinaPendulum The thing is George Orwell got his inspiration from Jack London's The Iron Heel.