Dystopia > Final > Flashcards

Final Flashcards

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1
Q

What is utopian studies?

A

the discussions about the progressive or regressive aspects of historical development

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2
Q

What is a utopia?

A

Lots of things
- but in ESSENCE: the imagined better world or society that points to shortcomings in our real, present world

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3
Q

What is utopian fiction?

A

often involves salvation, perfectibility, or the imagined, improved reordering of society in this world, and the more harmonious reconstitution of human relations and attitudes towards nature

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4
Q

What is a dystopia?

A
  • A “bad and deceased place”
  • “Too bad to be predictable”
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5
Q

What is a eutopia?

A

A place of ideal well-being, as a practical aspiration

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6
Q

What is a euchronia?

A

A time of perfect social, technological, and ecological harmony
- Rooted in the belief that the Golden Age lies before us and not behind us

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7
Q

What is an ecotopia?

A

An ecologically ideal place or situation

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8
Q

Explain Plato’s “Republic”

A

Socrates on the importance of self-rule, self-harmony and inner peace
- Threat: getting involved in politics and guiding an imperfect world
- Yet Plato also insisted that cutting oneself off from involvement led to alienation
- Very hard to say if Plato supports getting involved or not

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9
Q

Explain Saint Augustine’s “The City of God”

A

Religious Alotopia
- Focuses on many existential questions (why do the righteous suffer? Why does evil exist? Etc.)
- Part 2 focuses on the city of God vs the earthly city on their parallel development and our access to it

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10
Q

What is an alotopia?

A

Religious notion of heaven

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11
Q

Explain Tao Yuanming’s (T’ao Ch’ien) “Peach Blossom Spring”

A

Example of an archistic utopia (opposite of anarchy)
- The name is a Chinese equivalent for utopia

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12
Q

Explain Sir Thomas More’s “Utopia”

A
  • A work of fiction and philosophy – mixes real people and fictional characters
  • Book 1: dialogue of counsel
  • Book 2: discourse on utopia
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13
Q

What were the 16-17 century trends?

A
  • Anarchistic utopias looking backwards to a pastoral ideal
  • Archistic utopias like More’s but religiously inspired
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14
Q

Explain Francis Bacon’s “New Atlantis”

A

Fit into the ‘Age of Discovery’ premise: shipwrecked crew near Peru discover an Island
- Hence a model for colonies in the New World

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15
Q

What is a primitivist scheme?

A

Pointing to primitive societies that could teach Old Europe a thing or two in their simplicity and common sense

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16
Q

What are individualistic utopias?

A

celebration of the self-imposed exile or shipwreck and the building of a better society

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17
Q

What are Poly-Utopia & Anti-Utopia ?

A

stress plurality of possible social models without offering a single ideal

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18
Q

Explain Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”

A
  • Anti-Utopia and Polyutopia
  • Parody of popular ‘Traveller’s Tales’
  • Menippean Satire (general political satire disguised as a burlesque novel)
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19
Q

Explain the two-stage movement in 19th century utopias

A
  1. Late 18th & first half of 19th century: much NON-FICTION, pamphlets, manifestos; more concrete social planning than symbolic fictions
  2. Latter half of 19th century: sudden burst of UTOPIAN FICTION late in century, fantasies pointing to tomorrow’s solutions
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20
Q

What was the peak in the first movement of the 19th century?

A

Peak in 1848: Karl Marx & Friedrich Engel’s The Manifesto for the Communist Party
- The first step was a workers’ revolution and the abolition of private property to create a fair and centralized state

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21
Q

Explain Samuel Butler’s “Erewhon”

A
  • Uses many different forms of satire & hyperbole
  • Mocks self-righteous Victorian society & some progressive movements (as well as criminal punishment, religion and Man’s hubris)
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22
Q

What was the most important new subgenre in the late 19th century?

A

the euchronia

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23
Q

What were the most popular euchronias of the late 19th century?

A
  • Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward
  • Elizabeth Corbett’s New Amazonia (1889)
  • William Morris’s News from Nowhere (1890)
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24
Q

Name other other (supposedly) positive euchronian visions in the late 19th century

A

Darwinism and eugenics

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25
Who was the key pivotal author who bridged gap between speculative fiction and science fiction?
HG Wells - Science fiction born out of speculative fiction - Many hybrid works, but clear movement from dystopia to utopia over career
26
What was the rise of dystopia fuelled by?
Fueled by fear of socialism and communism - Early ones: mostly British euchronias (on loss of privacy, freedom, productivity, living conditions, etc.) - One of the most remarkable dystopias: Jerome’s “The New Utopia”
27
Who is Ayn Rand?
- heavily involved in anti-Communist groups & efforts during Red Scare - became recognized more as a conservative philosopher than a novelist
28
Who is George Orwell?
* Rebellious and intellectual socialist * Devoted most writing from 1939-1949 were exposing horrors of both totalitarian fascism and of misguided Soviet and socialist movements * Changed English language and coined political terms still used today - Big Brother, Orwellian, thought police, being ‘vaporized’, etc.
29
What is the main difference between 1984 and Zamyatin’s ‘We’?
- ‘We’ is more speculatively based on early trends, less realistic as less grounded in actual events and atrocities - 1984 is firmly grounded in real events and tendencies
30
Who is Alan Moore?
Inspired by Orwell * Frequently described as the best graphic novel writer in history * Written 4 very successful graphic novels/series (then turned into films like V for Vendetta)
31
What are the luddites?
Revolt of anti-machinery textile workers in England – anger that machines would replace their craft - Traces in We and earlier works
32
Explain the significance of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World
- Leading technotopia of the 20th century - Began as mockery of HG Wells --> mockery of Victorian religion - Orwell convinced until end he had read We, but Huxley insisted he had never heard of it in 1962 letter
33
What did Huxley's parents do for a living?
- Father a writer/professor/editor of Cornhill Magazine - Mother founder of Prior’s Field School (Aldous attended), family of renowned poets & authors
34
Describe Huxley's novels before BNW
Biting satires mocking the cultural elite - Crome Yellow - Antic Hay - These Barren Leaves
35
What were Huxley's fears?
Overpopulation, propaganda and mind-control by advertisers and politicians
36
What are the 5 Black Mirror themes?
1: Social Media Pressure / Blackmail 2: Reality TV & Tech 3: Tech & Military 4: Trapped in VR 5: Digitizing Consciousness / Memories
37
Who is Kurt Vonnegut?
* Depressing “cynic, skeptic, a pessimist, a fatalist, a malcontent” * Family of pacifist and atheists * Young journalist * Sent to military training college program and made to remove and cremate corpses, pretty traumatic * Return to US and quit job to become a writer * Kept releasing his “last novel” but kept popping em out * Mixes personal life with political positions
38
What is the narrative setup of Player Piano?
World seen from outside in 8 shah chapters, from inside with Paul chapters
39
Explain Player Piano
- Division of society – after third great war, machines (not women) replaced men in factories - 2 extremes: super-educated vs uneducated - Eugenics through computer-controlled IQ tests & college exams - Ideology outweighs common sense - All people are easily replaced parts in the big machine
40
What are films that call back to Vonnegut and Huxley?
- Gattaca - Divergent - 3% - Bladerunner - Her - Ex Machina
41
Who is Ray Bradbury?
* Refused to be labeled a ‘science fiction author’ but accepted label of ‘fantasy’ * Won Pulitzer Prize in 2007 * Insisted on how much he was self-taught - Too poor to go to college, so went to the library 3x a week, created a magazine, created short stories, and then became a full-time writer
42
What is 1984 based on?
based on real manipulation of photos/archves/history in Soviet Union
43
Who are the 3 women who influence Montag?
* Clarisse, a 17-year-old girl but an old soul - Talks of politics of non-conformity - Walks on alternate paths (literally) * Woman who refuses to give up her books - Montag tries to save her books, but then she decides to burn with them in the end * Mildred Montag – lives in virtual world - Never really sleeps, half-awake - Pops so many sleep lozenges that she sometimes overdoses on
44
How did the world of censorship come about in Fahrenheit 451?
According to Beatty, special-interest groups and other “minorities” objected to books that offended them - Soon, books all began to look the same, as writers tried to avoid offending anybody - This was not enough, however, and society as a whole decided to simply burn books rather than permit conflicting opinions
45
What films and novel are related to censorship and surveillance?
- The Book of Eli - The Giver
46
What were the early trends in feminist dystopias?
- conservative vision of 'equality' within the women's sphere - Early 19th century in China: Li Ruzhen’s "Flowers in the Mirror" (vision of women stronger than men) - Late 19th century in the West: women’s territories (no men allowed!)
47
What were the early 20th century trends in feminist dystopias?
women often sexually liberated co-conspirators or muses for male revolutionaries
48
What were the main works in the next wave: 1970s-80s of feminist dystopias?
- Joanna Russ’s The Female Man - Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time
49
What were the ecotopia trends in the Late 18th/Early 19th Century?
fear of the Industrial Revolution & of Malthusean theories on overpopulation - certain tech would find a way to save nature/man - Malthus’s "An Essay on the Principle of Population"
50
What were the Mid-19th century ecotopia trends?
darker French visions
51
What were the Late-19th century ecotopia trends?
UK, Nature will win out in the end
52
What were the early 20th-century ecotopia trends?
prescient tales of a future in shelters or underground
53
What were the mid 20th-century ecotopia trends?
- The effects of Dust Bowl migration (‘30s) & the atom bomb (‘40s) - Caused spike 1950s & 60s of Haldanean novels on overpopulation
54
What were the 1970s ecotopia films?
Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Logan’s Run, Death Race 2000, Omega Man (later I am Legend)
55
What are some more recent film ecotopias?
Wall-E, Elysium, Oblivion, Snowpiercer, After Earth, Interstellar
56
Name some Post-Dismal Painting / Dystopian Surrealism artists
- Zolzislaw Beksinski - John Wentz - Bansky’s Dismaland - Jeff Gilette
57
Name the works mentioned in the far-left/right dystopia presentation
- animal farm - waiting for godot - seksmija - role of disguise
58
Name the works mentioned in the dangers of technology presentation
- social dilemma - deep fake - the giver - the island - stalenhag's paintings
59
Name the works mentioned in feminist dystopias presentation
- don't worry darling - mad max - the power - red clocks - woodman painting - debate on reproductive rights
60
Name the works mentioned in ecological dystopias
- Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy - wall-e - rockman's art - another place
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