DystopiaPart2

Back to Dystopia part 1 Demonstrate understanding of a relationship between a media genre and society

Home genre generic http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/the-top-50-dystopian-movies-of-all-time/

HAND MAIDS TALE is called a speculative fistion. It may sit more in this camp read more below

[] Also. DOn't forget the stars.

Look at Rob Patterson

Rob Patterson in a new DYSTOPIAN film, THE ROVER 2014 http://www.filmsite.org/westernfilms.html Also. Look. NEW ===[|Novelists do comics: Freeforall, by Margaret Atwood and Christian Ward] === 28 Apr 2014: New graphic talent Christian Ward adapts The Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood’s typically dystopian tale into a graphic short story

] written by [|Canadian author][|Margaret Atwood][|[2] ] [|[3] ] and first published by [|McClelland and Stewart] in 1985. Set in the near future, in a [|totalitarian][|theocracy] which has overthrown the [|United States] government, //The Handmaid's Tale//explores themes of women in subjugation and the various means by which they gain [|agency].

//The Handmaid's Tale// won the 1985 [|Governor General's Award] and the first [|Arthur C. Clarke Award] in 1987, and it was nominated for the 1986 [|Nebula Award], the 1986 [|Booker Prize] , and the 1987 [|Prometheus Award]. It has been adapted for the cinema, radio, opera, and stage.

Ref > wikipedia

__core definition.__ A **dystopia** (from [|__Ancient Greek__] : δυσ-: bad-, ill- and [|__Ancient Greek__] : τόπος: place, landscape) (alternatively, **cacotopia**,[1] or **anti-utopia**) is, in [|__literature__], an often futuristic society that has degraded into a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being [|__utopian__] . Dystopian literature has underlying cautionary tones, warning society that if we continue to live how we do, this will be the consequence. A dystopia, thus, is regarded as a sort of negative utopia and is often characterized by an [|__authoritarian__]  or [|__totalitarian__]  form of government. Dystopias usually feature different kinds of repressive social control systems, a lack or total absence of individual freedoms and expressions and constant states of [|__warfare__]  or [|__violence__] . Dystopias often explore the concept of technology going "too far" and how humans individually and en masse use technology. A dystopian society is also often characterized by mass poverty for most of its inhabitants and a large military-like police force.

Dystopian fictions

(compressing Wikipedia)

Don’t forget to point out that, in discussing film, you are discussing a literary or philosophical form. Key motifs are: authoritarian or totalitarian government portrayals.

Dystopian fiction is from a sub-genre of speculative fiction- that of the highly imaginative or science-fiction. it is the visionary aspect in the sense of an [|__author__] 's vision beyond the limitations of accepted [|__fact__] which distinguishes "speculative" [|__art__] from more naturalistic [|__fiction__].

Following its [|__coining__], speculative fiction as a [|__category__] sweeps from [|__ancient__] works to both [|__cutting edge__] , [|__paradigm__] -changing and neotraditional new works of the 21st century which site their stories and images from ancient to future times. Speculative fiction had previously been called historical fiction...

the [|__genre__] term, its concept in its broadest sense captures both a [|__conscious__] and [|__unconscious__] aspect of human [|__psychology__] in making sense of the [|__world__], reacting to it, and creating [|__imaginary__] , [|__inventive__] , and [|__artistic__] expressions, some of which underlie practical progress through [|__interpersonal__] influences, [|__social__] and [|__cultural__] movements, [|__scientific__] research and advances, and [|__philosophy of science__] .[20][21][22]

the term may signal a wish not to be [|__pigeonholed__] as a [|__science fiction__] [|__writer__], and a desire to break out of science fiction's [|__genre conventions__] in a [|__literary__] and [|__modernist__] direction; or to escape the prejudice with which science fiction is often met by [|__mainstream__] critics.[33][34]

Thus whether [|__aficionados__] of Speculative Fiction and [|__Science Fiction__] consider cross-attribution of material they assign to these categories as "insulting" to the [|__sensibilities__] of [|__readers__] informed by their respective [|__concepts__], either because of implied limitations or extensions or because of [|__social__] or [|__scientific__] or [|__artistic__] [|__connotations__] , or consider any of the [|__acronyms__] and [|__abbreviations__] to be demeaning is a matter of background debate as of 2010.[35][36][37]

Who are the characters in these speculative fictions? Is is often useful to see them as "everyman" in terms of empathy and conscience

The story usually centers on a protagonist who questions the society, often feeling intuitively that something is terribly wrong, such as [|__Guy M] [|ontag__] in [|__Ray Bradbury__] 's novella [|__//Fahrenheit 451//__], [|__Winston Smith__] in [|__//Nineteen Eighty-Four//__] , [|_]]

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In dystopian literature the advanced technology is controlled exclusively by the group in power, while the oppressed population is limited to technology comparable to or more primitive than what we have today. In order to emphasize the degeneration of society, the standard of living among the lower and middle classes is generally poorer than in contemporary society (at least in United States, Canada or Europe). <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">--- Kim Greist. Actress. plays Jill in <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 170%;">Brazil(1985)

Terry Gilliam, director of Brazil, makes use of Orwell. 1984.

Still below from BRAZIL by Terry Gilliam. And, read more about Jill and Sam on DystopiaPart2

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contemporary life? Why a shift to rationalism? Early fictions were preceded by Victorian dreads of chaos and human morasses. Elite figures in dystopias are symbolised as "masterminds" who construct fanatical ======

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authoritarian totalitarian or collectivist regimes. They give power to the few. They rule by terror. They meddle with memory. Then, in the fictions scepticism saves the day. Brave New World was written after the Wall St crash of 1929. Are you noticing a revival of these fictions? Find current day concerns e.g read journalist,Naomi Klein who wrote in 2008 an historical narrative on the rise ofneo-liberalism( The Shock Doctrine: the rise of Disaster capitalism ) It exposes the myth of free-market capitalism. What is life in the world like post 9/11? ======

__Some themes__ Because [|__speculative genres__] explore variants of reproduction, as well as possible futures, SF writers have often explored the social, political, technological, and biological consequences of pregnancy and reproduction. See. e.g The Handmaid’s Tale( Atwood. author )

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">THE HANDMAID'S TALE

In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, women are subjected to unthinkable oppression. Practically every aspect of their life is controlled, and they are taught to believe that their only purpose is to bear children for their commander. These “handmaids” are not allowed to read, write or speak freely. [] Portrayal of women See also: [|__//Women in speculative fiction//_]

HAND MAIDS TALE ( read plot summary below)

--- Portrayal of men

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">[|_Guy M] [|ontag__] in [|__Ray Bradbury__]'s novella [|__//Fahrenheit 451//__], [|__Winston Smith__] in [|__//Nineteen Eighty-Four//__], [|_] ]

Many male protagonists of science fiction are reflections of a single heroic archetype, often having scientific vocations or interests, and being "cool, rational, competent", "remarkably sexless", interchangeable, and bland.[12] Annette Kuhn posits that these asexual characters are attempts to gain independence from women and mother figures, and that this and their unfailing mechanical prowess is what gives them fans.[13] The "super-male" and [|__boy genius__] are also common stereotypes frequently embodied by male characters.[14][15] Critics argue that much of science fiction fetishizes masculinity, and that incorporation of technology into science fiction provides a metaphor for imagined futuristic masculinity. Examples are the use of "hypermasculine cyborgs and console-cowboys". Such technologies are desirable as they reaffirm the readers' masculinity and protect against feminisation.[16] This fetishisation of masculinity via technology in science fiction differs from typical fetishisation in other genres, in which the fetishised object is always feminine.[16] The book Spreading Misandry argues that science fiction is often used to make unfounded political claims about gender, and attempt to blame men for all of society's ills.[3]

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">CHILDREN OF MEN

read class handouts

Think more about embodied representations.

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; color: #0645ad; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">Note. Students writing scholarship in 2011 see you teacher about this topic.

futuristic sci-fi dystopia, the [|technocratic] [|dictatorship]

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; color: #0645ad; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">- THE HANDMAIDS TALE

Plot summary
//The Handmaid's Tale// is set in the near future in the Republic of Gilead, a country formed within the borders of what was formerly the United States of America. It was founded by a racist, homophobic, male chauvinist, [|nativist], theocratic-organized military coup as an ideologically driven response to the pervasive ecological, physical and social degradation of the country. Beginning with a staged [|terrorist] attack (blamed on Islamic extremist terrorists) that kills the President and most of [|Congress], a movement calling itself the "Sons of Jacob" launch a revolution and suspend the [|United States Constitution] under the pretext of restoring order. Taking advantage of [|electronic banking], they were quickly able to freeze the assets of all women and other "undesirables" in the country, stripping them of their rights. The new theocratic [|military dictatorship], styled "The Republic of Gilead", moved quickly to consolidate its power and reorganize society along a new militarized, hierarchical, compulsorily Christian regime of Old Testament-inspired social and religious orthodoxy among its newly created social classes. In this society, almost all women are forbidden to read. The story is presented from the point of view of a woman called Offred (a [|patronymic] name that means "Of Fred", referring to the man she serves). The character is one of a class of individuals kept as concubines ("handmaids") for reproductive purposes by the ruling class in an era of declining births. The book is told in the first person by Offred, who describes her life during her third assignment as a handmaid, in this case to Fred (referred to as "The Commander"). If Offred fails to become pregnant on this, her third attempt, she will be declared an "unwoman" and discarded. Interspersed in flashbacks are portions of her life from before and during the beginning of the revolution, when she finds she has lost all autonomy to her husband, through her failed attempt to escape with her husband and daughter to Canada, to her indoctrination into life as a handmaid. Through her eyes, the structure of Gilead's society is described, including the several different categories of women and their circumscribed lives in the new theocracy. The Commander is a high-ranking official in Gilead. Although he is only supposed to have sexual intercourse with Offred during the period called "the Ceremony," a ritual at which his wife is present, he begins an illegal and ambiguous relationship with her, exposing Offred to many hidden or contraband aspects of the new society, such as fashion magazines and [|cosmetics]. He takes her to a secret [|brothel] run by the government, and he furtively meets with her in his study, where he allows her the contraband activity of reading. The Commander's wife also had secret interactions with Offred—she arranges for Offred to secretly have sex with her driver Nick in an effort to get her pregnant. The Commander's wife believes the Commander to be sterile, a subversive belief as official Gilead policy is that only women can be sterile. In exchange for Offred's cooperation, the Commander's wife gives her news of her daughter, whom Offred has not seen since she and her family were captured trying to escape Gilead. After Offred's initial meeting with Nick, they begin to rendezvous more frequently. Offred finds herself enjoying sex with Nick despite her indoctrination and her memories of her husband, and even goes as far as to divulge potentially dangerous information about her past. Through another handmaid, Ofglen, Offred learns of the Mayday resistance, an underground network with the intent of overthrowing Gilead. Shortly after Ofglen's disappearance (later discovered to be a suicide), the Commander's wife finds evidence of the relationship between Offred and the Commander, and Offred contemplates suicide. As the novel concludes, she is being taken away by men from the [|secret police], known as the Eyes, in a large black van under orders from Nick. Before she is taken away, Nick tells her that the men are part of the Mayday resistance and that Offred must trust him. Offred does not know if Nick is truly a member of the Mayday resistance or if he is a government agent posing as one, and she does not know if going with the men will result in her escape or her capture. She enters the van with a final thought on her uncertain future. The novel concludes with a metafictional [|epilogue] that explains that the events of the novel occurred shortly after the beginning of what is called "the Gilead Period." The epilogue itself is a "transcription of a Symposium on Gileadean Studies written some time in the distant future (2195)", and according to the symposium's "keynote speaker" Professor Pieixoto, he and "a colleague", Professor Knotly Wade, discovered Offred's narrative recorded onto thirty cassette tapes. They created a "probable order" for these tapes and transcribed them, calling them collectively "the handmaid's tale". [|[5]][|[6]][|[7]][|[8]] The epilogue implies that, following the collapse of the theocratic Republic of Gilead, a more equal society re-emerged with a return of the legal rights of women and also Native Americans. It is further suggested that freedom of religion was also re-established. //The Handmaid's Tale// comprises a number of social critiques. Atwood sought to demonstrate that extremist views might result in fundamentalist [|totalitarianism]. The novel presents a dystopian vision of life in the United States in the period projecting forward from the time of the writing (1985), covering the [|backlash] against [|feminism]. This critique is most clearly seen in both Offred's memories of the slow social transformation towards theocratic [|fascism] and in the [|ideology] of the Aunts. Atwood's motivations for writing the novel, reflecting the above statements, can be found in the interview appended to the 1998 version of the novel. She says, "This is a book about what happens when certain casually held attitudes about women are taken to their logical conclusions" (394). Atwood mocks those who talk of " [|traditional values] " and those who suggest that women should return to being housewives. For Serena Joy, a formerly successful TV personality and public speaker, the religious and social ideology she has spent her entire long career publicly promoting has, in the end, destroyed her own life and happiness. Atwood also offers a critique of [|contemporary feminism]. By working [|against pornography], feminists in the early 1980s opened themselves up to criticism that they favoured [|censorship]. Anti-pornography feminist activists such as [|Andrea Dworkin] and [|Catharine MacKinnon] made alliances with the [|religious right]. Atwood warns that the consequences of such an alliance may end up empowering feminists' worst enemies. She also suggests, through descriptions of the narrator's feminist mother [|burning books], that contemporary feminism was becoming overly rigid and adopting the same tactics of the [|religious right]. Most notably, Atwood critiques modern [|religious movements], specifically fundamentalist Christianity in the United States, with a reference to [|Islamic fundamentalism] such as [|the theocracy founded in Iran in 1979]. An American [|religious revival] in the mid-1970s had led to the growth of the [|religious right] through [|televangelism]. [|Jimmy Carter], [|then president] , had avowed his renewed and reaffirmed Christianity; [|Ronald Reagan] was elected as his successor using a specifically Christian discourse.[// [|citation needed] //] Atwood pictures [|revivalism] as [|counter-revolutionary], opposed to the revolutionary doctrine espoused by Offred's mother and Moira, which sought to break down gender categories. A [|Marxist] reading of [|fascism] explains it as the backlash of the right after a failed revolution. Atwood explores this Marxist reading and translates its analysis into the structure of a religious and gender revolution. "From each according to her ability… to each according to his needs" (117) is a deliberate distortion of [|Marx] 's phrase, " [|From each according to his ability, to each according to his need] " — the latter, an ideological statement on class and society; the former, a stance taken by Gileadian society towards gender roles. Atwood's social critique in the novel has been challenged, such as by conservative pundit Elizabeth Kantor, who objected to Atwood's portrayal of Christianity as a potential source of totalitarianism. [|[4]]

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class daily schedule

Dystopia Part 1

Go to the second exam. Industry.