A dystopia is a society that is an opposite of a utopia, i.e. a society where everything is bad, usually with an over-controlling corrupt government. In literature, dystopias are reflective of the time they were written in. From Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” to the Maze Runner series by James Dashner, dystopias show us our fears of what our society might evolve into.
Older styles of writing dystopias usually feature a character that is part of the society and remains static within the story. Modern dystopian stories more often have a hero character that rises up and tries to resist/escape/defeat the dystopian society they are in.
Below is a YouTube video by Overly Sarcastic Productions and Hello Future Me as they talk about how dystopian stories work, how they have evolved, and examples of literature. Enjoy this introduction to dystopian story telling and world building.
(note: mild language and mature ideas, age rate PG 13 ish, this is my personal guess of an age rating)
Enjoy!
(YouTube video by Overly Sarcastic Productions and Hello Future Me)
