Dystopias: On the Rise

Today, dystopias are on the rise.

The Walking Dead is the most-watched basic cable drama with 16.1 million viewers for its fourth (current) season premier.  Nearly two million of these fans follow the show on Twitter.  

Another dystopia, The Hunger Games, is one of Kindle’s top five all-time bestselling books, and the movie adaptation set records for the highest-grossing, non-sequel opening day, earning $67.3 million.  

The Road won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was subsequently adapted for film.  

Summit Entertainment bought media rights to Divergent and was given a budget of $80 million for a planned release in 2014.  

As the numbers show, dystopias are wildly successful with today’s audience — and these audiences want more, or else they would have lost interest in these series.  The Walking Dead’s audience grows with every season, with 5,400 viewers of the season one, 2010 pilot; 7300 viewers of the season two, 2011 premier; 11,000 viewers of the season three, 2012 premier; and 16,000 viewers of the season four, 2013 premier.  Similarly, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire film adaptation was Fandango’s 2013 advance-ticket top seller, and the opening day grossed around $70.5 million, earning even more than The Hunger Games.  


Dystopian audiences have grown massive, no longer just a small group interested in George Orwell’s 1984 (although they too are included).  And as huge as dystopias are today, they are only growing in popularity.

A Sneak Preview

With so many dystopian works - from A Clockwork Orange to The Road to Walking Dead - where can we even begin a discussion?

Wikipedia has lists of dystopian films and literature (linked here).  While these lists are definitely a magnificent place to start in our search for dystopia, the choice of works included and not included are fascinating.  For example, Wikipedia considers the Batman series to be dystopian, but it does not include A Clockwork Orange in its list of dystopian films.  

What should we consider as truly dystopian?  Or are there varying degrees?

To prime the pump for further discussion, I thought I would include a link to the film 1984, produced, ironically, in 1984, and based on George Orwell's book:  

Enjoy!