What is a dystopian society?

A dystopia is a hierarchical society where the majority of the population is oppressed and is forced to submit to their government to live. This is represented in many films and books, but one, in particular, is the Hunger Games where the population is mainly controlled by the government and is stripped of their free will. As a society, most of the citizens in the higher districts are poor and rely on the government heavily for their jobs and their money. As a result of this reliance, people are forced to give their children up to compete in the annual hunger games where 24 children fight until only one child is left, who is declared the winner. During the games, the families of these children watch and have to be monitored by security in that district in an attempt to keep order and have as little reaction as possible. This is another way of controlling the population as they are not even allowed to react to watching their child die otherwise they run the risk of being arrested or killed. 

People being oppressed contributes to living in a dystopia because citizens aren’t able to defend themselves against their government, which is usually caused by having an authoritarian government. Although dystopian societies aren’t entirely real, the real world can have elements of them. For example, African Americans being killed and their killer not facing the consequences is a result of their oppression and white supremacy. This ultimately attempts to force African Americans to just deal with the injustice. However, America isn’t a country where people are controlled entirely by the government and can’t act freely. In addition, it is also not the perfect place where everything is fair to all.

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