Why Dystopian? It’s a question I’m inevitably asked when discussing my books and essays. My short answer is: Do I get a choice? Followed by my long answer: It’s what makes us human.

The dystopian genre is a messy reflection of the good, bad and in-betweens of humanity in difficult situations. The dystopian society is an avoidable but often dubiously stable society (albeit not one we fancy ourselves in) in which a fundamental freedom or sacrifice has occurred.  It isn’t post-apocalyptic. Post-apocalyptic usually comes after the dystopian society, when the masses or the military have had enough and have destroyed everything; or the planet simply fizzles out as H.G. Wells’ Time Machine portrays.

Dystopian, on the other hand, is the human under the magnifying glass when there’s still a choice to be made—will we kill, will we save, will we love, will we hate? Is there room for the family unit or is it every man, woman and child for themselves? It’s the pertinent questions we’re left with.

The dystopian society is an avoidable but often dubiously stable society (albeit not one we fancy ourselves in) in which a fundamental freedom or sacrifice has occurred.

These key questions ignite curiosity within me and many others. The question of survival, and how we as a people go about obtaining and sustaining that very survival while keeping our humanity intact, holds relevance in a world full of war, deceit and destruction. Is it any wonder we cling to every episode of The Walking Dead, or every Divergent and The Hunger Games movie? We’re seeking to make sense of the chaos.

Once the dystopian society strips bare the threads of humanity, only then can we truly understand what it means to be alive.

Images licensed by iStock and Nuktia Publication House. Online Copyright © 2015 applies.

© 2019 copyright reserved, Aral Bereux, D. News.