Why have so many dystopian movies/novels/shows come out of the UK?
Posted by Puzzleheaded_Home150@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 41 comments
George Orwell's 1984 is hands down the face of dystopian art — so much so that the term "Orwellian" has become synonymous with "authoritarian" and "totalitarian".
V for Vendetta (2005) is a riveting film that has predicted the rise of mass surveillance, censorship and democratic backsliding with prophetic accuracy.
Most recently, Black Mirror (2011-present) is an incredible commentary on tech dystopia.
Other notable works on the topic include Ernest Bramah's The Secret of the League (1907) and First World Problems (2018).
It feels like in every time period, the dystopian art of that era came out of the UK. Why do you think that is?
Thrasy3@reddit
Because we’re realistic and feel a bit silly believing all the things we say about truth and democracy.
It’s kinda like believing in Santa Claus.
The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one.
Puzzleheaded_Home150@reddit (OP)
This checks out. British and European visitors to the States often find it creepy and archaic seeing people take the pledge of allegiance. It definitely takes naïvety and a suspension of critical thinking to drink the kool-aid.
ThePeake@reddit
There are plenty of dystopian works from America too.
EUskeptik@reddit
US producers lead the world in zombie movies.
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Thrasy3@reddit
I feel the US has more to say about capitalism and corporate culture in its work, rather than governments and society and people in general.
Severance is another example, or even The Boys to some extent (but that’s kinda literally a reflection of modern day dystopia).
EUskeptik@reddit
Agreed.
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TaffWaffler@reddit
What is this weird signature you’re putting on your comments. And why
Confudled_Contractor@reddit
Nah, saving cheerleaders in the mall from a bunch of Rotters (any generic Z movie) is not quite and wandering down the empty Mall (28 days later) for example.
foofly@reddit
Dawn of the Dead disagrees.
Confudled_Contractor@reddit
Tend to be a bit more obvious and on the nose though, though that may be the result of Hollywood sanitizing though as there are plenty of exceptions.
AcanthaceaeNew9639@reddit
we are being supressed.
RKGEORGE84@reddit
Never thought about it as a UK thing . But then again I myself wrote a dystopian novel so maybe there is something in it . I would say there has been limited quality in recent . Lots of boring safe stuff.
LadyMirkwood@reddit
I think its part of our national character to expect the worst. And often not in a dramatic way, but a slow, creeping descent into misery that we will just have to trudge through. Its the dark side of our notion that we 'Keep Calm and Carry On'. We will endure whatever comes.
Thats why a lot of our dystopian output has strong mundane elements, from the endless bureaucracy of 1984 to the cornershop of Shaun of the Dead.
Our dystopias are just our grim suspicions about contemporary life dialled to ten.
lxxmng@reddit
It is likely just our national habit of expecting the absolute worst case scenario at all times. When you combine our history of rigid bureaucracy with the grey weather and a healthy dose of cynicism: dystopia is basically just a Tuesday in London )
PartyPoison98@reddit
Pessimistic national identity, thousands of years of rigid, hierarchical society, a long memory of major societal upheavals like the industrial revolution, world wars and Thatcher bringing change and prosperity for some while plunging others into misery.
Also I think a lot of countries in the west have had some sort of political revolution or upheaval that brought in ideas of liberty and hope and did away with the old order. We never did that, so the hope isn't part of our national myth, and we're stuck in the idea of things remaining how they are or getting worse without having much agency ourselves.
TheBrianBoru@reddit
Shapers of the world
binkstagram@reddit
Additionally, we have freedom of speech. It's not absolute freedom of speech but there are plenty of countries where you would have problems getting these published. 1984 was banned in both USA and USSR for example.
james_pic@reddit
1984 was never banned in any legally binding sense in the US. It had a US publisher, and any governmental attempt to ban it would no doubt have been struck down as a first amendment violation. All bans have been institutions (libraries, school districts, etc) refusing to hold copies of it.
binkstagram@reddit
Yes that's a fair comment, have amended my post
nomadic_weeb@reddit
Because a lot of novels in general come out of the UK. We've always punched well above our weight class in terms of cultural output
Japhet_Corncrake@reddit
V for Vendetta (1982-1988). It's a comic/graphic novel, vastly superior to the movie.
DaveBeBad@reddit
See also Watchmen and Halo Jones.
Alan Moore is a genius. Also a fruitcake, but a genius mainly.
Japhet_Corncrake@reddit
Yeah, I've met him, I used to live in Northampton.
ATSOAS87@reddit
Wait, V for Vendetta took 6 years to come out?
That's very surprising.
heroics-delta8s@reddit
Because it’s the cradle of modernity, starting with Mary Shelley, H G Wells, moving through Orwell, Huxley and John Wyndham. The Day of The Triffids was the blue print for almost all catastrophe novels that lead to the end of civilisation as we know it.
BuncleCar@reddit
And before that the Gothic novel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castle_of_Otranto
DingoBingoWimbo@reddit
Yeah I'm not sure why. Orwell experienced the shitness of totalitarianism a lot in Spain, he was in an Anarchist(?) Militia which ultimately got betrayed and destroyed by communists that were backed by Stalin. I believe he also met Arthur Koestler in Spain, an Austro-Hungarian author who wrote Darkness at Noon, which you can tell really inspired 1984. Brilliant book.
I do wonder why all these anti authoritarian dystopian books in the Anglosphere came out the UK
811545b2-4ff7-4041@reddit
Are you sure you have no eliminated your own bias of 'mostly consuming English language literature' from this assumption ?
ps. you missed 'Brave New World'
CJBill@reddit
Don't overlook the post war novelists. There's John Wyndham (Triffids, Chrsyalids) the master of "cosy catastrophe", Nevil Shute's On the Beach where people are waiting to die after a nuclear war, or John Christopher (whose tripods YA books got me into reading) with The Death of Grass (cereal crops fail, society collapses and pretty much everyone dies miserably)
Kind-County9767@reddit
Have you seen Coventry?
theartofnocode@reddit
We love with the spectre of the Royal Family and the Establishment's boot on our throats like no other country?
eques_99@reddit
we have that individualistic, flexible, Anglo-Saxon mindset which produces good literature in general, enables us to stand back from our society and observe it.
BigGreenMeeples@reddit
A clockwork orange by Anthony Burgess can join this list
TheLogicalAnarchist@reddit
It’s a reflection of the weather innit?
johnnyjonnyjonjon@reddit
Because we know what 'grim' looks like.
zoppaTheDim@reddit
The slow collapse of empire imparted a certain amount of nihilism during the lean years following world war 2.
You didn’t even mention JG Ballard or the other fifties sci-fi writers.
NoceboHadal@reddit
We have a long history of distopian literature. Going back, somewhat ironically to Thomas Mores Utopia.
But to answer your question. We have a pretty large library of speculative fiction that covers a lot of genres, dystopia is just one of them.
fartingbeagle@reddit
Eeeee, life's grim up North, lass.
FractionofaFraction@reddit
Self deprecation goes hand-in-hand with a keen awareness of the flaws inherent in both the individual and the society with which they interact.
British writers are often considered masters of this type of objective introspection and, when expanded / extrapolated in fiction shines a light on the darker 'what ifs' that can occur should such flaws be normalised due to either malicious intent or passive neglect.
Alcoholism and depression 'help' too.
ActionBirbie@reddit
Because lots of novels in general have.
You can apply this to any genre.
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