How close are we to actually living in, what is called from an entertainment/literature POV…`

[WCGreen]

A dystopian world.

Most of us have seen at least one or two of the fifty or so good to great dystopian movies to realize that lately, reality is starting to resemble art.

Now I know there has to be a sliver of reality in a true dystopian nightmare on order to draw the audience in, to make the audience believe that such a thing is possible if…

Well, the more I think about it the more I am coming to realize that the possible is slowly but surely becoming the reality.

Think about it for a moment, most good Dystopian works of dramatic art have a few things in common, an increasingly centralized and controlling ruling class, a deterioration of the environment, a breakdown in the distribution of social benefits such as medical care, schooling and transportation.

To me, well the whole crumbling of the American infrastructure and the seemingly passive response by the ruling class is a big sign to me that we are taking giant steps toward a dystopian world. Once the structure of our society falls down, the alternative is chaos and disconnect. The only thing that keeps us together is the entertainment industry and that could very well fall apart if the public delivery systems fail.

We have the indifferent ruling class that is more interested in keeping us in warring camps than working together toward a solution to the problems we are facing as a society. I see one, huge reason for this, there is no profit to be made in that approach. It also stems from a belief that if you have enough money and clout, well, you can buy your way out of any jam.

As a liberal and a person who believes, well almost believes, in the strong notion that we can all come together if we know the truth, I find the devolution of the press into entertainment instead of the collection and distribution of information as the first glaring sign that we are about to be fucked.

Information is a commodity, always has been but to use information as a tool to set people against people is a disaster waiting to happen.
I’ve been going on a little long here. I know. But I was going through some old writing of mine that looked back at the world I grew up in. We were enthusiastic even though so much was happening. There was a sense, propelled mainly by the dominance of the space program, that nothing was out of reach.

Even deep into the 70’s when the republicans started on the path toward hoarding power instead of actually governing, the country still had a can do attitude that still clung on long after we started to realize that can do was not always the wisest approach to things.

It’s interesting that The Blade Runner, the first really successful dystopian movie that was realistic, possible, came out under the glory of the Reagan Administration.

I think we are further along than we think and yet not yet on the brink. If we don’t find a solution to the runaway greed and privilege that dominates the ruling class we are truly going to be fucked.

I don’t think the OWS protesters realize that they might truly be the last hope for all of us, the canary in a coal mine…

If the people at the top are not reigned in, we will all go slither into a reality that will make the Blade Runner appear as the feel good movie of the decade…

Here is a link one list of the top 50 Dystopian movies...

[Fumesucker]

1. There are far worse dystopias in written SF than in film.

The 1973 movie Soylent Green was based on a 1966 Harry Harrison novel that was a good bit more graphic than the screen version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_Room!_Make_Room!

Or we could be facing SM Stirling's Domination of the Draka, an alternate history which has a point of divergence during the American Revolutionary War where essentially white South Africa as an outright slaveholding nation comes to be one of two superpowers vying for world conquest. This one is my personal favorite for "chilling dystopia that might actually have happened if things had gone differently". The Draka are Nazis on steroids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Domination

John Barnes' "Mother of Storms" starts out with a moderate dystopia and throws extreme climate change into it, the methane clathrates at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean are released due to an accident and the resulting rapid temperature rise drives superhurricanes that scour the land.

http://www.epiphyte.net/SF/mother-of-storms.html

Harry Turtledove's books about the Civil War ending in a draw with a very uneasy detente interspersed with wars between the US and the Confederacy sure looks like a dystopia to me..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Victory_Series

[WCGreen]

5. I absolutely agree with you....

But it is the Film versions that really put the visual into the mix and that is what most people remember.

[Fumesucker]

6. Most people don't notice this but..

Soylent Green assumes global warming as fact, there are lines about "what used to be called winter" and similar sorts of clues.

Movies are made to a "lowest common denominator" level and under financial pressures that preclude really getting things right when it comes to details, a novelist is not as limited in those regards.

There's an alternate/extended version of Avatar that gives just a glimpse of the Earth the main character comes from, it's Hong Kong crowded and it's kind of implied it's like that everywhere.

[exboyfil]

7. The interesting thing about that belief

was the prevailing belief was in global cooling at the time. The Soylent Green temperature increase was due to the heat sink effect of large cities if I remember correctly.

[Syrinx]

2. What happens when the oligarchs capture all the money?

Will they even be happy with the results?

I'm seeing it and am depressed by it on many fronts.

Banks fucking us at every angle.

Products getting downsized, more expensive, and at much lower quality.

Mega-violent and Mega-crude entertainment.

Outsourcing, leaving no jobs at home.

Basically, a council of a few dozen, maybe a few hundred, people run our country and our world, brainwashing the people to accept and glorify violence and deviance.

And there will never be justice in America until those people aren't running things anymore.

[Odin2005]

8. Greed is an addiction. They will never be satisfied, they are like crack addicts.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. we are there

The ascendency of the thatcherites - the neoliberal regimes here and in England from 1981 on - and the inevitable economic trainwreck that became undeniable in 2007,coupled with the equally undeniable advent of a new geologic age - the Anthropocene, one which is not going to be pleasant for most of the planet's now 7 billion and soon to be nine billion people - an unpleasantness that is heralded in part by the slow burn world resource conflict the American empire is willfully engaged in - all of this is the dystopia we have been worrying about.

[WCGreen]

4. Milton Freidman....

Ad him to that mix.

[exboyfil]

9. My 8th grade daughter is currently

reading Anthem (yes she is doing the essay contest) and Fahrenheit 451. She may also read Brave New World and 1984 if she gets the time for Homeschool English. My 10th grader is required to read 1984 for school, and I have recommended two other free reading classical novels (Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World).

The world we live in is most like the original Rollerball movie in my opinion. I just wish that awful remake had never been made. In my opinion Rollerball was one of the finest science fiction movies ever made, and it did not get the recognition it deserved. In our current world of NFL and MMF it is hard to argue that Rollerball was far off the mark. The impact of sports and corporate greed seen in that movie is seen in every aspect of our lives. Even the wanton unconcerned behavior of the ruling class is seen today along with the lack of laws and accountability for that ruling class.

While I love Blade Runner it showed technology and timeframes that seem still far off and distant. Rollerball is today. Soylent Green may be tomorrow.

[WCGreen]

11. I don't look at the technology, I was more moved by the street life

that showed a lot of blended technology and aimless people...

[Javaman]

10. We are already there, it's just the degree in which it exists is up for debate.

you forgot the link.

[WCGreen]

12. Here is the link to the top fifty Dystopian Movies....

http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/the-top-50-dystopian-movies-of-all-time/

Sorry I missed it, I was doing a whole sort of morning things that got in the way...