Dystopia.

I've been reading Lenore's blog on books.
Lennore has covered Dystopias during the month of Feb. 2011 and I've loved it!

Do you read dystopias?

I do.

I’ve always been fascinated with books and movies about dystopias.

I’m not sure why I enjoy reading dark and disturbing stories.

I’ve always enjoyed “end of world” movies like:

• Planet of the Apes (1968 and 2001)
• Escape from NYC (1981),
• Mad Max (1981),
• The Running Man (1987),
• Cyborg (1989),
• Time Cop (1994),
• Twelve Monkeys (1995),
• Water World (1995),
• Artificial Intelligence (2001),
• The Island (date?),
• Children of Men (2006),
• The Wikerman (2006), and
• Doomsday (2008).
• Ember City (book and movie)
• War of the Worlds
• 1984
• and many others

Movies about an awful future always get my attention. I plan to go see Battle of L.A. when it is released. Hope it is good.

I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that I recall.

There is one Twilight zone episode that I particularly enjoyed. I think it was called Obsolete. It was where citizens become obsolete and they’re killed.

I’ve been reading a dystopia called, The Unit. It is written by Ninni Holmqvist.
Here is the summary of the book:

Women at the age of 40 and men at the age of 50 who don’t have children must go to the unit. They’re seen as unneeded by society. Once at the unit, a person is considered “Biological material.” They do medical experiments on the residents of the unit and they take a kidney or other body item from a person at the unit and give it to a person in society.

They do provide a nice place for people at the unit. They got to eat nice, too.

I’ve only read half of the book at this time. I think this is good so I don’t accidently give away any spoilers in this review.

Here is the book trailer:



Here is an amazon link for the book in case you’d like to read more about it:



I’m excited to find out the rest of the story.

More on Dystopias:

I also follow a Presenting Lenore -- a blog on books.

She is doing a series of book reviews on dystopias for the month of February, which I enjoy.

She recently posted a link for the short-story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson.
Basically, people draw names and the person who wins is stoned to death.

You can read this short story by clicking here.

I found this short-story to be very disturbing. Several of her followers had commented that they had read “The Lottery” in school. I’m 31. I don’t recall reading “The Lottery” in school. This may have been the first time that I had read it. However, I was a slower learner and may not have comprehended the story or remembered it had I read it in middle school.

I think teenagers should read the Lottery. A post-discussion should focus on topics such as Social Conformity – doing what other people are doing. and Empathy – considering how other people feel. And Ethics – doing the right thing, and mindless obedience - following orders without thinking.

I immediately thought of the late 90s music video “Man that you fear” by Marilyn Manson while reading “The Lottery.”

I had seen the video on MTV during this time and it had always stuck in my mind. I did a google search on that video and found that it was based partially on Jackson’s short-story “The Lottery.” See this link for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_That_You_Fear

I re-watched the Manson video on YouTube and it made more sense now.

Here is a link for the Mason video: