Research
In dystopian fiction, there are a few typical features:
- A background story of a climactic event that shook the world to point of drastic change. These are typically backgrounds of overpopulation, war, or a revolution of sorts.
- The governing body or regime of the society uses one of four types of control: corporate, bureaucratic, technological, or philosophical/religious control. I explain examples of each of these types briefly in my previous post.
- Lower and middle classes suffer a lower standard of living than in our contemporary society. If it not in material items, it is a loss of individuality, free thought, or emotion.
- As mentioned before, the quietly rebellious turned hero protagonist who deeply believes there is a fundamental ill in their society. Sometimes, the protagonist is a part of a group who is not under complete control of the governing body, with people who share similar ideas.
- And, if destruction of the status quo is not an option, escape is the next best thing for the protagonist in the end.
When it comes to the characters, there is the anti-hero protagonist who is often joined and supported by a trusted individual or group. The side characters often fall into one of these categories:
- A specialist in their field who is asked out of retirement or vacation to help support the protagonist's cause.
- Someone who is painted as a criminal in their society because of the working regime; this person is usually framed for the "crime" they have committed.
- And, someone who makes an unbelievable discovery, and goes through extreme lengths to prove it.
Reflection
One of the main issues I have been facing with creating a concrete story and concept is the idea that dystopian fiction revolves around the exaggeration of a current event. For George Orwell's 1984 book written in 1949, which later inspired the film, the story is an exaggeration of a future society that resulted in poor government, war, and authoritarian/totalitarian regimes; since the book talks about a future Great Britain, and was written shortly after World War II, Orwell probably wrote about his own fears that surrounded his contemporary society. For my story, I want to exaggerate a rising unknown but can not decide on how my "future" will pan out, and what specific conflicts my story revolves around. Therefore, the "background" aspect of my story is yet to be determined.
However, researching conventions of dystopian fiction have helped me narrow down some aspects of my story:
- When it comes to the society the protagonist lives in, I don't want any images of extreme poverty or loss. I would like to focus more on the loss of freedom of individuality, expression, speech, and thought.
- I want a lone protagonist who often feels like an outcast from their society. I want this character to not have any support system, like a group of friends or secret organization, at least not for the beginning, to further the idea of their chosen and involuntary isolationism.
- I have also decided to eliminate bureaucratic and technological types of control used in the story, and want to focus on corporate or ideological control. This allows me to focus more on the loss of free thought and individuality and leaves my protagonist for no way out other than destruction.
I would like to develop my concept as soon as possible to be able to focus on production and post-production to perfect my technical skills, so for my own personal homework, I will be keeping a page blank in my notebook to write every single idea I come up with, even the ones I may think to be stupid, until I land on my final concept.
Dystopian Fiction Musts
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| Lord of the Flies - William Golding |
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| Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury |
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| The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood |
Sources:
“Dystopian Fiction.” Dystopian Fiction - DDAT, www.jochenenglish.de/misc/dystopian_fiction_ddat.htm.
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