The polar opposite to the bleak post-apocalyptic sub-genre is the less bleak but more brutal dystopian sub-genre. Rather than the complete collapse of government, law and the infrastructure of society, those patterns of order have tightened into a net, and a noose. Usually the province of films set in the near future in order to bring home the possibility that this is the way our society could actually go, the classic dystopia is a cautionary tale as to the potential consequences of allowing draconian laws to be enacted and giving centralised government too much control over the individual. Where the typical post-apocalyptic tale is set in the wilderness, emphasising the lack of centrality and community, the dystopia is an urban construct. Very often, the near future of the story sees several neighbouring cities having merged together to form the megacities of epics like the Judge Dredd tales, Demolition Man and The Matrix. Prototypical megacities include the neon sprawl of Los Angeles in Blade Runner, and the polluted hellscapes of New York in Soylent Green and The Fifth Element. Of course, in the last few decades weve have genuine megacities being born all over the world, as huge cities like Tokyo, Seoul, Delhi, and Mexico City chew up and swallow their neighbouring towns. The dystopias of science fiction are only a few population control and policing laws away. Hemmed in like cattle, bureaucracy trampling over human rights, a police force more akin to prison guards, poor food and worse sanitation these are the basic hallmarks of the dystopian apocalypse in films like Brazil, Elysium and Dredd. The corporate rich and politically powerful wield the law like a nightstick, and theres no beating the system in the long run. Ever.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
