1 We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1921)
As recommended by: imperium3, apatheia, cosicos
Zamyatin’s novel has often been called out as a significant catalyst for George Orwell’s better known 1984. In We’s future, as in 1984’s, privacy and individuality are non-existent. People are known by impersonal strings of numbers, live in a city made entirely out of glass – spying on someone is a lot easier if the walls are see-through – and are told that dreaming is a sign of mental illness. The concepts present in this dystopian world, cosicos believes, are important and very relevant to our society now: “The vision of all citizens living in glass-walled flats is very important given the current debates around the future of privacy online.”
2 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)
As recommended by: Cube3d, FresnoBob
As almost always in dystopian story-lines, our protagonist, Guy Montag, is made to question the society he has – up until the reader joined him – had full faith in. Firemen are employed to burn the frightful banned objects that are books, in fear that they will make people think differently, question or, even worse, develop an imagination. The stories of firemen putting out fires in the past is merely a myth, and their new occupation is all in the name of “public happiness”. Bradbury’s classic novel has attracted many different adaptations in its time, most notably François Truffaut’s 1966 film and a BBC radio dramatisation, broadcast in 1982.
3 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)
As recommended by: Callanish, JoannaDark
The World State in Brave New World is where human beings are not conceived and born, but conditioned, hatched and bred, and where, before “hatching”, embyros’ futures are decided for them: each one is made to only think and look as impressively as their assigned caste – a dystopian class system. Families and emotional relationships are discouraged, while recreational and social sexual activities are taught as a part of society from a young age. It is conceivable ideas like this that JoannaDark recognises as making a great dystopian novel: “you can see the appeal and how an ideal, which many of us might recognise in places, became corrupted. Almost certainly the greatest dystopian work of all time.”
4 Children of Men (2006)
As recommended by: gareth69, Alexander Monteith
Alfonso Cuarón’s critically acclaimed picture looks at a world not too far in the future from our own. World-wide infertility has led to a collapse of society, as Theo (Clive Owen) narrates in the opening sequences. Cheery. It is based on PD James’s 1992 novel, and draws a scary picture of a future without a future. The film won a Best Cinematography Bafta.
5 V for Vendetta (1982-1989)
As recommended by: Insolito
Much better regarded than its film counterpart, the graphic novels of V for Vendetta are far more intricate and gritty. The hero pulls a Guy Fawkes type persona- wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, aiming to destroy parliament and having explosives as his eventual weapon of choice. Although it is regarded a classic, readers point out that the supposingly big and tough facist rulers don’t last very long, or as Insolito so-correctly puts it, “the regime itself seems particularly brittle”.
6 Threads (1984)
As recommended by BettysBlues, salfordexile66, BenMacdui
The threat of nuclear war is the subject of Threads, a BBC television drama set in Sheffield. BenMacdui summarises it as a “terrifying portrayal of nuclear attack, totalitarian state, and subsequent total collapse of human values” that, after viewing, “haunts the mind for years afterwards”.
7 Brazil (1985)
As recommended by: Ernekid, Darwin23, goingdown
A world in which we depend on machines: sound familiar? Terry Gilliam’s Brazil is a strange look at consumer-driven society, and the effect it has on people. goingdown described Brazil as “1984 meets The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”.
8 The Matrix – The Wachowski Brothers, 1999
As recommended by: JoannaDark, Patrick Armstrong, Dave Thompson
“Does The Matrix not count?” asks Patrick Armstrong. Dave Thompson replies: “Only if you can explain the plot.” Challenge accepted: Neo (Keanu Reeves) is your average Joe computer programmer who has always thought something was not quite right; cue mysterious rebels in head-to-toe leather, that reveal yes, indeed, something is not quite right. Neo discovers that all humans are unconscious and their “reality”, is in fact happening inside their heads.
9 Judge Dredd (1977)
As recommended by: AquietMan, Pipotchi
Judge Dredd has featured in 2000AD since 1977. In 2099, in Mega-City One robots and clones such as Judge Dredd keep the city in line. Dredd practically runs the town in this comic-book dystopia. “Gaze into the fist of Dredd!” says Pipotchi.
10 THX 1138 (1971)
As recommended by: JeremyToulalan, TigerTim, Steven Lewington
George Lucas’s THX 1138 plays on a fear that should be near the top of anyone’s list: a future where all emotions are suppressed by the use of compulsory drugs. And by all, this means sexual desire, too. Although failing to make an impact upon its release, over time the film has gained a significant cult following.
