If I had to define a dystopia I would define it to be an individual madness or shared nightmare.
After taking this class and getting a better understanding of a dystopian event I have noticed that we all have different views on what an actual dystopia looks like. We all have similar definitions when it comes to defining a dystopia. I say my definition of a dystopia can be defined as individuals madness as most of the readings and films we have studied these dystopia societies were ran by a very brutal leaders or no leader at all. For example, Hobbesian Jungle has displayed its society as a society with no government authority or laws. They were directed by something called law of the jungle. As Hobbes believed a society with no government or law is explained to be, each person’s life is, as Hobbes famously wrote, “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” As this had a reflection on individuals going to war which contained war of all against all. Which validates an individual madness.
I also used a shared nightmare as a way to define a dystopia because most of these dystopian events is things we fear. Which is why I used the word “nightmare” to indicate the degree of how terrifying and unpleasant a dystopia can be. Most of the dystopian events we discussed in class we can all agree that they have the capability of being your worse nightmare. For example, when we talked about oppression and Martin Luther Kings speech. I feel these two topics support a shared nightmare because our people have went through this already. So we already have a fear towards these traumatic events. As history rewrites itself this begins to become a shared nightmare that we don’t notice. As we fear to go back to how we were treated.
