How do dystopias reflect changing concerns over time?
After World War II, we start to see the dystopia where the dominant theme is the collapse of society as a result of the nuclear bomb. The destruction is both environmental and social — all social organization is gone. If you’re looking for how the dystopian novel reflects a society’s concerns about its sustainability, you can’t get more obvious than this. There is also a dystopian mode that focuses on a perpetual war between two great powers. Both sides are forced to create terrible human societies in order to keep the war going. You’ve got the chaos of war and also complete government control. It’s pretty easy to see where in the fears of the time that came from. One thing I find really interesting about 1950s dystopian science fiction is how there is still a great belief in technology and its possibilities — in the wrong hands it leads to universal surveillance and totalitarianism, but the technology works perfectly. Q: Things changed dramatically in this country in the 1960s. How di
