History Main / Dystopia

'''Type I:''' Type I is where the Dystopian world is [[NinetineEightyFour obviously a Dystopia]] and there is no effort made to hide the fact that the world is in fact a CrapsackWorld. Frequently the heroes are constantly battling just to survive and the BigBad is an evil dictator.

'''Type I:''' Type I is where the Dystopian world is obviously a Dystopia and there is no effort made to hide the fact that it is in fact a CrapsackWorld. The world of {{Nineteen-Eighty Four}} is a classic example, as is the setting of {{The Handmaid's Tale}}. Frequently the heroes are constantly battling just to survive and the BigBad is an evil dictator.

'''Type I:''' Type I is where the Dystopian world is obviously a Dystopia and there is no effort made to hide the fact that it is in fact a CrapsackWorld. The world of {{1984}} is a classic example, as is the setting of {{The Handmaid's Tale}}. Frequently the heroes are constantly battling just to survive and the BigBad is an evil dictator.

* ''VideoGame/IronStorm'': UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne has been dragging on for a horrifying 50 years and has become a ForeverWar. Everything is saturated with industrial grimness and in general decay. The global economy has become dominated by greedy and ignorant {{MegaCorp}}s and completely dependent on [[WarForFunAndProfit keeping the war running]]. As if that wasn't bad enough, humans in general have become militaristic {{Crazy Survivalist}}s. There's an opressive new Eurasian empire, which is ruled by a completely insane quasi-religous zealot, who claims to be the new Genghis Khan. And if you think the supposed good guy countries of the setting are any better, think again : They're militaristic jingoists and crumbling democracies masquerading as brave saviours of civilization. Seriously, it's as if someone did a SpiritualLicensee shooter game adaptation of ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''...

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}''. One of the most famous cyberpunk [=RPGs=] set in a Dystopia, one that is played to the hilt just as described at the top of the page. Corporations are huge, often evil, and ''all'' of them employ multiple packs of criminals to do their dirty work. Racism has been given up, but only because [[HumansAreBastards people are such assholes]] that they'd rather focus on FantasticRacism. There's even this one bit from the fourth edition core book, talking about the availability of medical treatment, which cites privatized health care as one of the causes of dystopia (oddly enough, using the criticisms usually leveled at socialized/universal healthcare):

* ''DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep?'' by PhilipKDick, the novel which inspired ''Film/BladeRunner''. Nominally, the film is an adaptation.
** ''MinorityReport'', also by Dick, is set in a world where the police can predict your actions, and convict you of murder simply for thinking it, even if involuntarily. The film version goes a step further in that retinal scanners track every movement of every citizen, ads call people by name by reading their identity, and mechanical spiders are used to conduct unwarranted searches, eliminating any semblance of privacy.

* ''ChungKuo'', a series by David Wingrove where 36 billion people live in [[DomedHometown domed cities]] run by a Chinese [[TheEmpire oligarchy]]
* ''WatershipDown'': Efrafa. Both a classic ruled-by-dictator-with-a-fist-of-iron dystopia and also a rabbit warren!
** Earlier in the story is Cowslip's warren. On the surface it appears to be a rabbit Utopia, with no predators in sight and plentiful food, leaving the inhabitants time to become quite cultured, but there's a reason its FanNickname is [[spoiler:the Warren of Shining Wires]].
* RayBradbury's ''{{Fahrenheit 451}}'', with an America where all books are banned. In the end, there is a bit of twisted hope, as all the cities get blown apart, leaving the chance for those who have kept the literary tradition to rebuild. Also made into a movie.
* Lois Lowry's ''TheGiver'', a once-rare dystopian novel for kids, with a society that has gotten rid of pain and conflict through "The Sameness."
* The planet Camezotz from ''AWrinkleInTime'' is another children's lit example.
* [[KeyVisualArts Key/Visual Arts]] did a kinetic novel in this vein, called ''{{planetarian}}''.
* In ''{{Myst}}: The Book of D'Ni'', the survivors of the fallen {{Utopia}} D'Ni discover Terahnee, which appears to be everything D'Ni was and more, but it is not what it appears. While D'Ni's Utopia was built on [[FunctionalMagic semi-magical technology]], Terahnee is built on slavery. In fact, slavery of the same people the D'Ni survivors intermarried with. Time to run!

* ''ThisPerfectDay'' by Ira Levin depicts a communist technocratic dystopia controlled by a computer. In fact at the end it is revealed that the computer is controlled by a programmer elite.
* Margaret Atwood's ''TheHandmaidsTale''. Everything is rationed by the theocratic government - including women.

* The People's Republic of Haven from the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series practically defines this trope.
* The world of ''JenniferGovernment'' is an ultra-capitalist Dystopia, where everything is for sale if you have enough money. Also, at one point, the antagonist John Nike reads an old sci-fi novel ''The Merchants in Space'', and dismisses the classic notion of a big government dystopia, and is disappointed when the book turns out to be a satire of capitalism.
* Kurt Vonnegut's ''HarrisonBergeron'', a short story focusing on the problem of government forcing equality by any means possible. The beautiful must wear hideous masks, the strong and agile carry sacks of iron on their backs...so it goes.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' Panem sacrifices twenty-four teenagers (one girl and one boy from each of the twelve districts) each year in a [[KillEmAll violent death match]] broadcast live in order to show the citizens of the nation the cosequences if they try to rebel again.

* Oddly approached in ''The Cure'' by Sonia Levittin. The near-future society depicted does not allow [[NoSexAllowed sex]], art, inventiveness, and most forms of emotion, and like ''HarrisonBergeron'', differences between individuals are stamped out as best as possible. The main character is musically inclined, so the leaders of the society consider having him ReleasedToElsewhere--but as a last-ditch effort they put him through a simulation of the MiddleAges, attempting to show him why they fashioned their society as an opposite to that time period. ([[spoiler:It sort of works--the main character decides ''both'' societies are horrible and there must be a way to TakeAThirdOption.]])
* The late OctaviaButler's books ''Literature/ParableOfTheSower'' and ''Parable of the Talents'' are this. They are America in the 2020's and 2030's respectively(the books were written in the 90's). People are sold into slavery by the police, given dog collar-like things, and every city is a WretchedHive.

* ''Utopia For The Devil'' : James Parkes' 2010 novella focuses on a utopia where society is controlled and regulated by a system known as Eden, due to TheEvilsOfFreeWill. The protagonist, Leon, exists outside of Eden and challenges the society.

* Allie Condie's ''Literature/{{Matched}}'' series takes place in The Society, where you are "matched" with your optimum partner for marriage and having children, the only person you're allowed to persue a romantic relationship with. The Society decides everything from what you eat and where you work, to how many kids you can have and when you'll die. People declared Aberations are treated as 2nd class citizens.

* In Literature/{{Divergent}} the city of Cicago has split into five factions based on the virtue they believe needs to held up to stop society falling into ruin again. Everyone who turns sixteen must take a test to see which faction they best fit into, and those who fail the initiation or refuse to join become homeless. Anyone who is considered Divergent is hunted down for threatening the system.
* In the world ''{{Uglies}}'' is set in, anyone over sixteen is given an operation that leaves their faces and bodies flawless... and their minds empty.
* The ''Sisterhood'' series by FernMichaels: The world seems similar enough to the world in RealLife, with people going about their lives. However, there are indications that the world in this series is actually a [=Dystopia=]. The courts are unable to deliver justice, because the balance of power leans too heavily towards the defense attorneys, and the prosecutors are lucky if the defendant does not get OffOnATechnicality, let alone win a single case. Also, the prosecutors need proof before they charge someone, but strangely, there never seems to be proof to find. On the plus side, if a character gets in legal trouble, s/he can call up a defense attorney and be assured that s/he is perfectly safe. The President of the United States has three men with gold shields at his disposal. These three men have ''carte blanche'', can break laws with impunity, answer only to POTUS, and if they come for you, well, you better pray that they don't kill you! In Las Vegas, the casinos have more security than HomelandSecurity can ever hope to get! Also, the casinos are monitored by men who will have you beaten up or thrown in jail if you prove to be a threat to the casinos. When you put these details together, you get a picture of a country that is more fascist than democratic. Yikes!
* The online short story ILU-486 takes place in a world where conservative Christian views on birth control and abortion have become law, and follows the women that need medical assistance and the outlaw doctors that provide it. Chillingly, all the oppressive laws (apart from the return of gibbets) are based on actual submitted legislation from American politicians.
* In PoulAnderson's "A World Called Maanerek", the Hegemony is out to force all mankind in unity, to hold loyalty only to the Cadre. They choose their mates, who are allowed contact seldom, and all children are raised in creches. Your life position is choosen when you are bred for it, and entails burning out parts of your mind if you are lowly enough. When ships sent out to find more humans to bring them into the fold, they will freely, when problems mount too high, take over part of a planet and let the men run wild with ColdBloodedTorture and rape to release their aggressions.

* Sinclair Lewis' 1935 novel ''ItCantHappenHere'', in which the U.S. becomes a totalitarian state.

* The short story ''Sam Hall'' is about a dystopian society where everything about everyone is recorded in a massive national database. One clerk creates a fake file about a fictional dissident named Sam Hall (named after an angry drinking song) into the database as a joke, who escapes all police searches because he doesn't actually exist. The nation eventually tears itself apart trying to track down a nonexistent criminal.

* ''Film/ChildrenOfMen'', where only Britain "soldiers on".

* In the Literature/{{Divergent}} the city of Cicago has split into five factions based on the virtue they believe needs to held up to stop society falling into ruin again. Everyone who turns sixteen must take a test to see which faction they best fit into, and those who fail the initiation or refuse to join become homeless. Anyone who is considered Divergent is hunted down for threatening the system.

* Two episodes of ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' are [[spoiler: set in the year 2019 after the show's technology had been used to transfer the rich into younger bodies permanently. The situation snowballed until the city is a war zone, some people going insane and others getting kidnapped for their bodies. Morale of the story is advanced technology will be abused by the privileged]].

* ''IronStorm'' is ''made of this trope''. WorldWarOne has been dragging on for a horrifying 50 years and has become a ForeverWar. Everything is saturated with industrial grimness and in general decay. The global economy has become dominated by greedy and ignorant {{MegaCorp}}s and completely dependent on [[WarForFunAndProfit keeping the war running]]. As if that wasn't bad enough, humans in general have become militaristic {{Crazy Survivalist}}s. There's an opressive new Eurasian empire, which is ruled by a completely insane quasi-religous zealot, who claims to be the new Genghis Khan. And if you think the supposed good guy countries of the setting are any better, think again : They're militaristic jingoists and crumbling democracies masquerading as brave saviours of civilization. Seriously, it's as if someone did a SpiritualLicensee shooter game adaptation of ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''...

* A number of other artists have done songs and albums based on ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]''; most notably Rick Wakeman, Supertramp, Genesis founder Anthony Phillips, Muse, and Megadeth.

* ''Kilroy Was Here'' by progressive rock band Styx tells the story of a young rock musician in a future fascist dystopia, where music is outlawed on the order of a powerful right-wing religious group.

* Tubeway Army, the project of noted electronica pioneer Gary Numan, produced a semi-concept album ''Replicas''; the theme of which was humans living in a society dominated by androids and machines. It draws heavily from the writings of Phillip K. Dick, particularly ''Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep''.

* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta''

* [[NewGods Apokolips]] is a hellish Greco-Roman style, technologically advanced alien world ruled with an iron fist by the tyrannical GodEmperor {{Darkseid}}, who is a literal GodOfEvil and has placed himself at the centre of a global and compulsory ReligionOfEvil that revolves around the perpetual worship of him, mainly in the form of mass forced labour whose sole task is to endlessly build monuments to him the old fashioned way (ie. by hand, with a few basic tools, with whips to keep you in line). As mentioned the planet is technologically advanced, and this system is thus designed not simply for Darkseid to glorify himself but also to completely break the spirits of the populace. [[TheBadGuyWins It works]], and though he treats them horribly nearly everyone on the planet would give their life for him, even if they hate him. [[UpToEleven To make matters even worse]], Apokolips is locked in a millenia-old ColdWar with its sister planet New Genesis, because Darkseid is an imperialistic warmongeror with the ultimate ambition of taking over the entire universe and remaking it in his image...and he has the means to do it. His fondest desire is to [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill eradicate free will]] and make every living thing everywhere [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans a mindless, miserable automaton]] who will live and die at his command. [[SerialEscalation And this is only]] '''beginning''' to describe why Apokolips is perhaps the single most horrible place in the DCUniverse.

* Two episodes of ''{{Dollhouse}}'' are [[spoiler: set in the year 2019 after the show's technology had been used to transfer the rich into younger bodies permanently. The situation snowballed until the city is a war zone, some people going insane and others getting kidnapped for their bodies. Morale of the story is advanced technology will be abused by the privileged]].
* ''KamenRiderDecade'' has Diend's World, which is essentially the [[KamenRiderBlade Missing Ace]] movie split off from Blade and combined with Decade to make an original story with [[TheRival Diend]] as the protagonist. On the outside, the world seems to have elements of {{Utopia}} with everyone helping eachother out and being nice, but that is subverted later when it turns out that they ''have'' to be nice or else a monster comes out, grabs them, then [[{{Brainwashed}} brainwashes]] them to be nice. It also sucks for Riders because the brainwashed people will attack any and all riders. Tsukasa even tells the ruler of the world, Jashin 14, that he made a hellhole, not a paradise. [[spoiler: When Jashin 14 is destroyed, Diend's older brother reveals that he was acting of his own free will and will become the new Jashin 14]].

** Infinite shows another one, quite possibly democratic, where the dystopia part comes from the fact that things have gotten so violent that destruction runs rampant.

The Computer is quite insane and utterly paranoid, and rules with an iron fist, society being organized in a hierarchy of security clearances based on the [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience colors of the rainbow]][[hottip:*:Infrared and Ultraviolet are represented by black and white, respectively. Rumors of a Gamma Clearance are treason.]] and supported by swarms of robots, omnipresent surveillance and an endless bureaucracy. Players are Red-level Troubleshooters, whose job is to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin find trouble and shoot it]], and whose main targets are traitors, Communists and other members of secret societies, as well as unregistered mutants and Commie Mutant Traitors.\\

->''Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic {{Utopia}}s that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself.''

!!Examples:

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder:Film]]
* GeorgeLucas' 1971 film ''Film/THX1138'' takes place in an antiseptic future that seems to have combined the most self-destructive tendencies of both socialism and capitalism. Religion is illegal except for worship of the Almighty State, and the residents ''all'' work for the government, in one capacity or another, and are expected to inform on their neighbors for crimes such as computer hacking or refusing to take their medication; at the same time, though, they are encouraged to work long hours, make money, and buy as much material property as they can. (We see THX himself buying a red ''thing'' at a store that sells nothing but different-colored ''things''; he takes it home and promptly throws it down the garbage disposal, which is what you're apparently supposed to do with them.)

* ''MeetTheRobinsons'': Parodied in the world as run by bowler hats.

* ''{{Equilibrium}}'' features a future where human emotion has been outlawed in an effort to stop another disastrous war from coming to pass. Emotion is kept in check by a drug called Prozium, anything inducive of emotion is destroyed ([[CulturePolice books, movies, music, art]] and [[KickTheDog cute little dogs]]), and "sense offenders" who refuse to take the drug are terminated with extreme prejudice by the [[FacelessGoons Sweepers]] and the [[BadassLongcoat Grammaton Clerics]].

* ''RoboCop'' is your classic cyberpunkish dystopia. It's essentially everything wrong with 1980's America taken UpToEleven.
* ''TheIsland'' starts as a pretty straightforward one, [[spoiler:it's later subverted in that the real world is not dystopic at all.]]
* The film adaptation of ''AeonFlux''.
* ''ChildrenOfMen'', where only Britain "soldiers on".
* ''KinDzaDza''.

* ''{{Pleasantville}}''. The main character, David, watched the show on TV and always saw it as a utopia. When he and his sister end up getting sucked into the TV, though, things aren't as great as they appeared. The place starts out as a nostalgic and pretty view of the 1950's, but later on the uglier side of the decade (like sexual repression and racial discrimination) start to rear their ugly heads.
* ''{{Film/Elysium}}''. Neill Blomkamp's previous film ''{{Film/District 9}}'' may count as well.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

* ''WebAnimation/LuckyDayForever'' takes place in a dystopia that is a combination of 1984, Brave New World and AmericanIdol.

* ''MidnightWorld'' trilogy by Alexander Yang.

For more types of {{Dystopia}}s, see YouWouldNotWantToLiveInDex. For the game, click [[VideoGame/{{Dystopia}} here]].

* The ''Sisterhood'' series by FernMichaels: The world seems similar enough to the world in RealLife, with people going about their lives. However, there are indications that the world in this series is actually a {{Dystopia}}. The courts are unable to deliver justice, because the balance of power leans too heavily towards the defense attorneys, and the prosecutors are lucky if the defendant does not get OffOnATechnicality, let alone win a single case. Also, the prosecutors need proof before they charge someone, but strangely, there never seems to be proof to find. On the plus side, if a character gets in legal trouble, s/he can call up a defense attorney and be assured that s/he is perfectly safe. The President of the United States has three men with gold shields at his disposal. These three men have ''carte blanche'', can break laws with impunity, answer only to POTUS, and if they come for you, well, you better pray that they don't kill you! In Las Vegas, the casinos have more security than HomelandSecurity can ever hope to get! Also, the casinos are monitored by men who will have you beaten up or thrown in jail if you prove to be a threat to the casinos. When you put these details together, you get a picture of a country that is more fascist than democratic. Yikes!

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe is one gigantic {{Dystopia}}, born from the sheer, horrific build-up of intolerance, hatred, repression, religious fanaticism, cruelty, hedonism, decadence, greed, and every other vice you could possibly imagine, over the span of millennia. Quite possibly the worst component, however, is simply neglect. The fact that many of said vices have '''''physical form''''', are sentient, and actively working towards the eventual destruction of everything probably doesn't help. Nothing is ''ever'' going to get better there.

*** [[{{Troperiffic}} Like so many other tropes]], 40k plays with the {{Dystopia}} trope: Some worlds are utter shitholes where trillions of people live in perpetual misery and poverty and/or is under perpetual attack from said manifestations of vices and every other alien force in the galaxy, while others are fairly pleasant and safe places to live. The big problem is that there's a lot more of the former type of world in 40k than the latter.

* Creator/AynRand's novella ''{{Anthem}}'' follows the awakening and rebellion of the main character in a collectivist dystopia where individual identity is suppressed, and all citizens are taught to consider themselves interchangeable and replaceable parts in a great machine. On top of that, the government has mandated cultural and [[MedievalStasis technological stasis]] at a pre-Industrial Revolution level.
** The villains of ''AtlasShrugged'' are aiming to create an effectively dystopian America, but the country collapses on them because they lack both charisma and competence. Towards the end, one of the villains insinuates that the decimation of children and the elderly might be in order to prevent starvation for the rest of the people.

** That's not to say Fire Nation itself is not a particularly pleasant place to live, though, and unlike Ba Sing Se it actively suppresses its people rather than letting them live normal lives so long as they don't piss the leaders off. Even their colonies seem to be better and more open places, as simple things like ''dancing'' are effectively outlawed on the Fire Nation mainland, and there don't seem to be any of the celebrations or festivals seen in the first series either. History has been rewritten to paint the Fire Nation as victims rather than imperialistic aggressors (such as their massacre of the peaceful Air Nomad monks becoming their heroic defeat of the Air Nomad army), school students make a daily pledge of allegiance to Fire Lord Ozai, and Fire Nation villages are starved and poisoned by their own armed forces, who don't see a problem with setting up a polluting weapons factory next door.

* ''AdAstraPerAspera'' posits how a successful impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868 lead to a galaxy ruled by three [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]-style dictatorships in the 28th century.

* ''VForVendetta''