2. Brave New World
Aldous Huxleys dystopian alternative to Orwells Nineteen-Eighty-Four was made into a movie in both 1980 and 1998, yet both versions were a disservice to the incredible book. This dystopian future is significantly different to Bradburys and Orwells dismal predictions, seeing the possible totalitarian future as being enforced through drug induced subjugation. This drug, Soma, prevents dissent, while sleep conditioning ensures people do not aspire to surpass there prescribed roles in society. The first two chapters describe an institution where babies are deterred from wanting books or nature through electric shocks and loud noises; the savage retreat juxtaposes the sterile civilisation which we see as being detrimental to society and humanity. The rejection of artificial happiness in favour of natural misery is a message with is rather laudable; the book clearly has scenes and a narrative which could easily be adapted into a cinematic masterpiece. Huxley evaluated how society had developed in a sequel book, Brave New World Revisited, and his damning conclusion showed how threatening technology can be to society and freedom. This theme is one which is pertinent and interesting to the modern audiences as the technology seems to have penetrated every crevice of the modern world; job hunting; dating; socialising; gaming. Brave New World is the perfect book for this modern age; set in the distant future it is a prime candidate for a modern adaptation as technology can easily replicate Huxleys majestic description of this sterile future.