What is a dystopia?

A dystopia is a fictional situation where people are facing inhumane life circumstances. A dystopia can sometimes be post-apocalyptic but, the two words are not used interchangeably. Something that comes to mind when I think of dystopia is the movie ‘in time’. In this movie, time is currency. The amount of time you have is also the amount of time you have left on earth. There is a large gap between the rich and the poor and the government is constantly trying to strengthen that gap. Those in poverty (people who have little time left) face inhumane situations like being denied certain rights, dropping dead as soon as their clock runs out, and more. This is to show that a dystopia is a bad place, the literal definition of the word. Many of the definitions of dystopia are adamant about the fictional aspect of the meaning but, it is intersting how realistic a dystopia seems. Actual governments or situations can be described as dystopian which can indicate going in the wrong direction or shwoing similar aspects of fiction.

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