Most dystopic world in fiction?

[Kyriakos]

It can be not only from books, but any other art (including computer games)

*

Personally i think that most dark worlds (including 1984) are not nearly as messed-up as it could have been. I am more interested in the alluded (but secret for most people) cruelty in the Lovecraftian mythos, given there our planet is pretty much an abandoned alien colony.

 

[Lillefix]

I don't remember any specific stories. But some of the worst dystopian things I can think of are places where all conventions of love, sex, childhood and equality has broken down. A place where parents are your enemies and there are no real friends and everyone more or less secretely hate each other.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

If take we account of potential dystopias then if forces of evil would prevail in Lord of the Rings then middle earth would become a very bad place indeed.

 

[Kyriakos]

If take we account of potential dystopias then if forces of evil would prevail in Lord of the Rings then middle earth would become a very bad place indeed.

^Through the darkness of future past
the magician longs to see
one chance out of two forums
Fire walk with me



(btw, Denkt, you currently have 799 posts both here and at Paradox. Well done ).

 

[EgonSpengler]

John Carpenter's They Live and Robert Harris' Fatherland are a couple of my favorites.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

Scar's rule over the lion pride is pretty dystopic.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale. Some Republican politicians seem to think it's an instruction manual for creating the perfect society for certain kinds of Christian fundamentalists and they're going to force everyone else to go along by any means necessary.

The scary thing is that there's very little about that book that couldn't be implemented in our present day.

 

[Paul in Saudi]

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

 

[GoodSarmatian]

If we limit ourselves to fiction that is acknowledged by all people as pure fiction the Warhammer 40k universe is a prety terrible place. Demons are constantly trying to eat everyone and the only thing that can protect us is fascism.

Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale. Some Republican politicians seem to think it's an instruction manual for creating the perfect society for certain kinds of Christian fundamentalists and they're going to force everyone else to go along by any means necessary.

The scary thing is that there's very little about that book that couldn't be implemented in our present day.

That's not really about a dystopic world. It's just the USA that's messed up.

 

[Borachio]

Eraserhead.

I can't see a world much more dystopic than portraying people as pencils with an eraser at the blunt end.


Link to video.

Oooh. Spooky too.

 

[warpus]

Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale. Some Republican politicians seem to think it's an instruction manual for creating the perfect society for certain kinds of Christian fundamentalists and they're going to force everyone else to go along by any means necessary.

The scary thing is that there's very little about that book that couldn't be implemented in our present day.

Her book Oryx & Crake is probably one of the best sci-fi I've ever read - and I can't compare it to The Handmaid's tale, but I'm going to throw it out there too.. it presents an eerie and not so unrealistic dystopia.. while at the same time being in many ways fantastical.

I wouldn't say Oryx & Crake is the most dystopic, I'm sure there are worse (Mad Max?), but it definitely deserves a mention.

 

[Tahuti]

I'd still go with the dystopian world that inspired all other dystopian worlds: Oceania. Thing is, most dystopian worlds imply that there is still some degree of freedom to oppose them in mind. Oceania doesn't even allow for that.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

I'd still go with the dystopian world that inspired all other dystopian worlds: Oceania. Thing is, most dystopian worlds imply that there is still some degree of freedom to oppose them in mind. Oceania doesn't even allow for that.

But then Oceania is not exactly the worst place to live in.

 

[Borachio]

It's pretty bad.

a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation, dictated by a political system euphemistically named English Socialism (or Ingsoc in the government's invented language, Newspeak) under the control of a privileged Inner Party elite, that persecutes individualism and independent thinking as "thoughtcrimes".[3] The tyranny is epitomised by Big Brother, the quasi-divine Party leader who enjoys an intense cult of personality but who may not even exist. The Party "seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power."

Industrial gin, the daily hate, and everything.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Hellstrom's Hive, though it doesn't encompass the entire world.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

That's not really about a dystopic world. It's just the USA that's messed up.

Did you actually read it? Something serious must have happened in Canada as well, given the narrative in the appendix of the book. And keep in mind that unlike the movie, the novel tells us nothing of Offred's ultimate fate. In fact, in the novel we never even get to know her real name.

Her book Oryx & Crake is probably one of the best sci-fi I've ever read - and I can't compare it to The Handmaid's tale, but I'm going to throw it out there too.. it presents an eerie and not so unrealistic dystopia.. while at the same time being in many ways fantastical.

I haven't read that one.

Margaret Atwood is giving a talk here in Red Deer in the fall. I'm seriously considering going. I'm also thinking of what I might say to her if I have a chance - possibly mentioning how many times I've read her dystopian science fiction novel The Handmaid's Tale.

(She's clueless about the subgenres of SF, and thinks that if a story doesn't have spaceships or monsters, it's not science fiction.)

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Did you actually read it? Something serious must have happened in Canada as well, given the narrative in the appendix of the book. And keep in mind that unlike the movie, the novel tells us nothing of Offred's ultimate fate. In fact, in the novel we never even get to know her real name.

Yes, I've read it in English class. I have to admit that it has been 15 years, but as far as I can remember Gilead is mostly the USA and the rest of the world isn't mentioned. Still a dystopia, but I'm getting hung up on the 'dystopic world' bit.

 

[illram]

The Warhammer 40K universe is basically a galaxy-spanning hellscape of psychological torment, war, death and chaos.

I really wish someone made a good movie out of it.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Hadn't really thought about games.

I might have to go with Fallout world, where MAD was an event instead of a deterrent.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Hadn't really thought about games.

I might have to go with Fallout world, where MAD was an event instead of a deterrent.

I would call Fallout post-post-apocalyptic. There was a nuclear war, but humanity is rebuilding. Life in the NCR might be better than in many third world countries today.