Science Fiction Dystopia

Paper Summary:

This essay considers two science fiction films that have referred back to Aldous Huxley's chilling novel, "Brave New World", written in 1932. The two films discussed are "Punishment Park", directed by Peter Watkins and released in 1971, and "Demolition Man", directed by Marco Brambilla and released in 1993. This essay compares and contrasts the themes, narratives, characterization, setting and plot of these three works and, in the process, reaches some conclusions about what elements are necessary to create a believable and useful dystopia.

From the Paper:

"Thus, we see that Huxley's Brave New World most definitely belongs in the genre of science fiction, and indeed is the subtlest form of science fiction, in that Huxley plainly used it as a medium for social comment. The novel deals with a range of key social and political themes, including the possibility that we will be dehumanized by scientific progress (by for example automating natural human processes like reproduction); the implicit dangers of mass production (for example that it will generate a overwhelming need for a consumerist society); and the possibility that we could end up in a totalitarian dictatorship (which would be propped up by extreme methods of socialization, such as Pavlovian conditioning). As will be dealt with further below, Huxley was on the money with several of these key themes (Huxley)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Achbar, Mark and Peter Wintonick. (Directors). Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. Video. 1992.
• Beckson, Karl and Ganz, Arthur. A Reader's Guide to Literary Terms: A Dictionary. New York: Farrow, Straus and Giroux, 1972,
• Brambilla, Marco. (Director). Demolition Man. Warner Brothers, 1993.
• Spice, Byron. "Cars That Think: Driving into the Future." From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 2004. Retrieved from web site: Sun Link: http://www.thesunlink.com/redesign/2003-01-05/business/43367.shtml
• Derbyshire, John. "What Happened to Aldous Huxley?" New Criterion Feb. 2003: 13+.

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