In my own words, I’d say dystopia happens merely in books, movies, etc., for now at least. It’s a fictional place where no one is happy, just living the life because it’s a “norm” to them, can’t do anything about it because they’re more than likely controlled.
I’d use the Hunger Games as an example to refer to dystopia. Everyone was controlled by the strict government. They were frightened of the day that had to pick for the games, they were scared of their neighbors, it wasn’t a very peaceful place to be. Everyone still participates in the meetings because that’s what they are told to do but throughout the whole time there they’re in deep fear of getting called. It’s kids fighting for their lives until the last one is standing. How is this a happy place? It’s not at all, this is why i’d say this is a dystopia.
Although this is just a movie, the way they’re controlled by the totalitarian government is pretty scary. With all the books and movies that are being written, you never know what’ll ever happen in the world. In my definition I mentioned how it’s not happening in real life yet, but the way things are now I wouldn’t be surprised if it ever happened in the far future. How? I don’t really know because this wouldn’t be an imaginary place, it’d be real life. Maybe because it’s “real” to us, it’ll seem imaginary because it’ll all seem so fake. That goes back to how I said the people in the books and movies just live their lives like that because that’s what they’re used to, there is no escaping what they’ve already been put in to. I feel like all these fictional writings are just a little prediction for things that may just happen one of these days.