Dystopia in all it's glory

December 15, 2003 7:24 PM

Exploring Dystopia
Do you want to explore that place of terror and wonder called Dystopia? Do you want to probe the dark depths of Metropolis, Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-four, Blade Runner, Neuromancer and their likes?

A large site that verges on being one man's Magnificent Obsession with Dystopia. Don't let the awkward site navigation deter you from exploration.
posted by ashbury (14 comments total)

Well, that's among the best of the web. Any objections to my characterization?
posted by troutfishing at 7:52 PM on December 15, 2003

no disagreement here. this is quite good.
posted by .kobayashi. at 7:57 PM on December 15, 2003

Isn't it a truism that in any society, there are those that prosper, and reasonably enjoy themselves, and there are also those that fail and are miserable?
So, in all fairness to a Dystopia, you have to place yourself away from the characters and their drama. Picture yourself instead having a routine job, with ordinary pay and perks, living out of controversy and satisfied enough not to want to revolt.
Just like the way you live today.
The justifications you create, or rationalizations, to just get by in your daily life take you in and out of Utopia and Dystopia. Doing a miserable job, you might instead be happy because you have just heard a cheery tune on the radio. Conversely, you might have a great boss who has just given you a raise, but you are miserable because you haven't won the lottery.

So is Utopia and Dystopia a state of mind?
posted by kablam at 8:02 PM on December 15, 2003

This is a truly excellent site.
posted by Swifty at 8:03 PM on December 15, 2003

Funny the post right after this one about the canada mp3 tax sounds quite dystopian
posted by MrLint at 8:06 PM on December 15, 2003

Doubleplusgood scaryreal.
posted by yhbc at 8:47 PM on December 15, 2003

Dystopia artwork such as Laibach and The NSK State in Serbia in the 80s and 90s. This is the greatest piece of Dystopia ever made IMO.
posted by stbalbach at 8:48 PM on December 15, 2003

[this is good]

Wow. Thanks for the link. I've read lots of these, but now I have more dystopias to add to the reading list.
posted by litlnemo at 4:55 AM on December 16, 2003

No discussion about dystopia is complete without some mention of Office Space. Lately, though, this has seemed a bit too much like my office. Especially the part about having eight bosses.
posted by leapfrog at 6:03 AM on December 16, 2003

Does Ecotopia count?
posted by grabbingsand at 8:12 AM on December 16, 2003

I thought Office Space was a documentary... it isn't?
posted by tirade at 8:18 AM on December 16, 2003

tirade- It is indeed a documentary. The dim cubicles in which we slave away our pitiful little lives are dystopian in extremis.
posted by leapfrog at 8:52 AM on December 16, 2003

That is the kind of site that makes the web great. Excellent post.

I've been a fan of dystopias for a while, I can see I have lots of reading to do!
posted by artlung at 9:58 AM on December 16, 2003

the timeline is brilliant!

and yeah the list is v.helpful :D

here're a coupla more!
dystopia
utopias :D

oh and one of the best books i've read this year is the dystopian super flat times by matthew derby! (kinda like george saunders' pastoralia :)
posted by kliuless at 7:37 PM on December 16, 2003