Disclosing the enigma of Science Fiction

To spare you more bedlam than you will come across or have already encountered while dealing with the dystopian world, I briefly explain what Science Fiction is. Of course, the differences between dystopia and science fiction may be tiny, if not to say barely discernible… but they exist!

The industrial revolution gave not only rise to dystopia (due to the anxiety people felt because of extremely rapid technological changes) but also aroused science fiction as this era was largely shaped by scientific discoveries and technological inventions. Science fiction is set in a distant world full of new and fantastic technologies, if sometimes implausible, with imaginative, action-laden plots. It focuses on speculative scientific advances and, most often, considers the adventures that have become possible through such progress (e.g. travelling in space and time or encountering aliens). Nowadays, Sci Fi is a popular genre which often includes strong utopian or dystopian elements. However, equating it with dystopia would be misleading.

What’s that again? – Some initial upgrade

I really have to admit that I was, and still am, quite startled by the fact that almost everyone I asked for an opinion concerning the choice of my individual blog topic had never heard of dystopia. Okay… some of them had a vague idea of the meaning hidden behind this futuristic concept which, for the first time, emerged in the early 20th century. But it was still vague, if not to say remote guesses, and due to this surprise I absolutely felt the necessity to briefly explain what dystopia is all about. So let’s get started…

The term “dystopia” originates from the Ancient Greek for bad place and is often referred to as anti-utopia.

Alright… don’t even dare to stop reading now!!!! Even if you think it’s way too odd, all these complicated words you haven’t heard of in your whole life. Just stay with me for it’ll be fabulous 😉

First of all, utopia means no place or good place and depicts imaginary, often ideal societies, set in a distant place or the future, which are better than our current society. Throughout the 19th century people felt optimistic about technological progress. However, the speed and transformation power of industrialisation and scientific progress created anxiety and resistance in the beginning of the following century. That was when dystopia – the evil brother of utopia – came to life. The latter one portrays pessimistic visions of the future with negative, undesirable societies highlighted by a state in which the living conditions are atrocious (human misery, poverty, oppression, violence, disease and/or pollution).

Hopefully, I managed to awaken some remote memories and was able to help those who are completely new to it to dive into the myths and mysteries of my topic so that you can catch up with and eagerly comment on my weekly posts all around dystopia. 🙂