Almost every fictional government of a dystopia has the same characteristics, dont they? Rule of a single party led by an evil leader, running a police state with absurd laws and with no media freedom. The entire system exists to repress its people. This dystopian caricature begins with 1984 and is a recurring theme for all future dystopia. Its either this or a post-apocalyptic breakdown of all social structures as we know it leading to absolute chaos. The only exception that I can think of is the government (Ministry of Magic) in the Harry Potter series. Seems like an average parliamentary democracy (it is not clear whether or not they have elections) and very much akin to the British Westminster system, the Min of Magic has clearly been THE problem in the magical world. And in the end it is a dystopian nightmare not because its repressive but because its bland, petty, inefficient, corrupt, bureaucratic, quasi-oligarchic, and yet the ultimate authority. The systems aim is not repression but survival. The thing is that when we speak about the Orwellian nightmare, today, we imagine a totalitarian regime. It is as if we are unable to fathom the possibility that an electoral democracy can be or is as repressive and nightmarish. Not for once, do we stop to ponder upon the possibility that while vociferously trying to avoid the fictionalised dystopia we might already be in a more sophisticated one.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 12:31:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015