A dystopia can be described as a perfectly imagined world where people are forced to live in a setting that may be deemed oppressive or exploitative. It can also be described as a situation which is practically “survival of the fittest”.
According to Iris Young’s Five Faces of Oppression, people within a society are exploited and controlled often times for the “greater good” of the society. People are used and forced to follow specific traditions in order to meet another person or people’s idea of what a standard/perfect world would be. Questioning these ideals is typically deemed as going against the law or disrupting the “order”. To illustrate, in George Orwell’s 1984, it was critical that the people of the society did not cultivate their own thoughts, let alone act on them. They had to follow the specific rules set in place which did not allow them ant sort of freedom of expression. They were forced to work in order to keep the city thriving the way that the government wanted and they would do the same mundane things each day.
Thomas Hobbes’ Hobbesian Jungle can also contribute to what a dystopian society’s elements can consist of. Competition, distrust and glory are three major things that can be considered in a dystopia. People in society often feel as though they have to compete for something so that the next man cannot have it. According to Hobbes’, the society as a whole often betrays others before the next person can betray them and every person wants to feel praised for their accomplishments. This can be perfectly illustrated in major dystopian movie films such as The Hunger Games. In this movie, they literally had to fight to death and often betray others closest to them in order to win the tournament and survive. Certain people participated simply because they wanted their accolades while others were really in it to live.
