Editing Utopian and dystopian fiction (section)

===Dystopian fiction===
{{Further|Dystopia|}}
{{See also|List of dystopian literature|List of dystopian comics|List of dystopian films}}

A [[dystopia]] is a society characterized by a focus on that which is contrary to the author's [[ethos]], such as mass poverty, public mistrust and suspicion, a [[police state]] or oppression.<ref name=":3" /> Most authors of dystopian fiction explore at least one reason why things are that way, often as an analogy for similar issues in the real world. Dystopian literature serves to "provide fresh perspectives on problematic social and political practices that might otherwise be taken for granted or considered natural and inevitable".<ref>{{cite book |last=Booker |first=Keith M. |title=The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1994 |isbn=9780313290923 |location=Westport, CT |page=19}}</ref>
Some dystopias claim to be [[utopias]]. [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]]'s ''[[Erewhon]]'' can be seen as a dystopia because of the way sick people are punished as criminals while thieves are "cured" in hospitals, which the inhabitants of Erewhon see as natural and right, i.e., utopian (as mocked in [[Voltaire]]'s ''[[Candide]]'').<ref name=":0" />

Dystopias usually extrapolate elements of contemporary society, and thus can be read as political warnings.<ref name=":3" />

[[Eschatological]] literature is a form of literature that can go hand-in-hand with dystopian literature.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1                = Sinclair
 | first1               = George R.
 | chapter              = World Without End?
 | title                = Look Around: A Christian Faith for the Twenty-First Century
 | date = 8 July 2020
 | url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=Bin4DwAAQBAJ
 | location             = Eugene, Oregon
 | publisher            = Wipf and Stock Publishers
 | publication-date     = 2020
 | page                 = 153
 | isbn                 = 9781725266681
 | access-date          = 15 August 2021
 | quote                = Dystopian escapism sells. [...] Appealing to dark instincts, gnawing insecurities, and socio-political disturbance, dystopian eschatology appeals to fear.
}}
</ref> This is a form of literature that specifically focuses on some form of apocalypse, such as the collapse of a society, the end of an era of human history, or the end of the world itself.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carroll |first=John T. |date=2000 |editor-last=Freedman |editor-first=David Noel |editor2-last=Myers |editor2-first=Allen C. |title=Eschatology |journal=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |pages=420}}</ref>  

==== Examples ====
The 1921 novel [[We (novel)|''We'']] by [[Yevgeny Zamyatin]] portrays a post-apocalyptic future in which society is entirely based on logic and modeled after mechanical systems.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date= 2017-08-03|title= 100 Great Works of Dystopian Fiction|url= https://www.vulture.com/article/best-dystopian-books.html|access-date=2020-06-03|website= Vulture |language=en-us}}</ref> [[George Orwell]] was influenced by ''We'' when he wrote ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' (published in 1949), a novel about [[Political geography of Nineteen Eighty-Four|Oceania]], a state at perpetual war, its population controlled through [[Propaganda#Wartime|propaganda]].<ref>{{Cite news|last= Taylor|first= D. J.|date= 2019-05-22|title= The Ministry of Truth by Dorian Lynskey review – what inspired Orwell's masterpiece?|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/22/the-ministry-of-truth-by-dorian-lynskey-review-a-biography-of-george-orwells-1984|access-date=2020-06-03|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> [[Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Big Brother]] and the daily [[Two Minutes Hate]] set the tone for an all-pervasive self-censorship. [[Aldous Huxley]]'s 1932 novel ''[[Brave New World]]'' started as a parody of utopian fiction, and projected into the year 2540 industrial and social changes he perceived in 1931, leading to industrial success by a coercively persuaded population divided into five castes.<ref name=":1" /> [[Karin Boye]]'s 1940 novel ''[[Kallocain]]'' is set in a totalitarian world state where a drug is used to control the individual's thoughts.<ref>Davidson, Bengt [https://www.karinboye.se/om/artiklar/kallocain-bengt.shtml Framtidsromanen Kallocain] Karin Boye-sällskapet (in Swedish)</ref>

[[Anthony Burgess]]' 1962 novel [[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|''A Clockwork Orange'']] is set in a future England that has a subculture of extreme youth violence, and details the protagonist's experiences with the state intent on changing his character at its whim.<ref name=":1" /> [[Margaret Atwood]]'s ''[[The Handmaid's Tale]]'' (1985) describes a future United States governed by a totalitarian [[theocracy]], where women have no rights,<ref name=":1" />{{qn|date=August 2021}} and [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Long Walk (novel)|The Long Walk]]'' (1979) describes a similar totalitarian scenario, but depicting the participation of teenage boys in a deadly contest. Examples of [[young adult fiction|young-adult]] dystopian fiction include (notably all published after 2000) ''[[The Hunger Games]]'' series by [[Suzanne Collins]], the [[Divergent (novel)|''Divergent'']] series by [[Veronica Roth]], ''[[The Power of Five]]'' series by [[Anthony Horowitz]], ''[[The Maze Runner]]'' series by [[James Dashner]], and the ''[[Uglies]]'' series by [[Scott Westerfeld]].<ref>
{{Cite book|last= Garcia, Antero
|title= Critical foundations in young adult literature : challenging genres
|date= 2013|isbn=978-94-6209-398-0
|location=Rotterdam, The Netherlands |page=71|oclc=863698575
|publisher=Sense Publishers
}}
</ref> [[Video games]] often include dystopias as well; notable examples include the [[Fallout (franchise)|''Fallout'']] series, ''[[BioShock]]'', and the later games of the [[Half-Life (series)|''Half-Life'']] series.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}