Comments on: Dystopia in all it's glory

Dystopia in all it's glory

ashbury — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 19:24:43 -0800

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.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 19:52:02 -0800

Well, that's among the best of the web. Any objections to my characterization?

By: .kobayashi.

.kobayashi. — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 19:57:28 -0800

no disagreement here. this is quite good.

By: kablam

kablam — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 20:02:52 -0800

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?

By: Swifty

Swifty — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 20:03:50 -0800

This is a truly excellent site.

By: MrLint

MrLint — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 20:06:55 -0800

Funny the post right after this one about the canada mp3 tax sounds quite dystopian

By: yhbc

yhbc — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 20:47:17 -0800

Doubleplusgood scaryreal.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 20:48:12 -0800

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.

By: litlnemo

litlnemo — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 04:55:15 -0800

[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.

By: leapfrog

leapfrog — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 06:03:28 -0800

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.

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 08:12:47 -0800

Does Ecotopia count?

By: tirade

tirade — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 08:18:07 -0800

I thought Office Space was a documentary... it isn't?

By: leapfrog

leapfrog — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 08:52:41 -0800

tirade- It is indeed a documentary. The dim cubicles in which we slave away our pitiful little lives are dystopian in extremis.

By: artlung

artlung — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 09:58:38 -0800

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!

By: kliuless

kliuless — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 19:37:56 -0800

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 :)