Genre Studies

Dystopian films

Genre
A genre from French "kind" or "sort", from
Latin: genus is a loose set of criteria for a
category of film. Genres are vague
categories with no fixed boundaries, they are
formed by sets of conventions, and many
works cross into multiple genres by way of
borrowing and recombining these
conventions.
I Have Chosen to do my genre study on
dystopian films.

What is dystopian ?

what is a dystopia?. Well dystopia is the opposite of utopia.

So what is a utopia, a utopia is a were people live in a
prefect world that has no disease, no wars, no Economic
problems like money or food and they all live in prefect
clean, future like age mega city's in prefect law and order.
So if dystopia is the opposite of utopia this would mean there
are problems with the world which could mean a number of
things like some sort of disease affecting people or the food
supply, there could be a war going on against a different
nations, race, aliens, robots

What is dystopian ?
Dystopian worlds or city's are mostly either two types.
The first being a futuristic built up mega-city, slum/
ghetto like world, made famous by the film
Bladerunner. The second being a dying/ the human
race is trying to survive everyday type world, were the
world has been affected by some sort of naturel
disaster or nuclear disaster and the surviving race is
just trying to live. These types of dystopian worlds
were made famous by films like Mad Max and The
Road.

Staples Of The Genre

There Are five Main Types Of dystopian films:
1. Governmental/social
2. Alien controlled dystopias
3. Corporate based dystopias

4. Cyberpunk/techno
5. Post-apocalyptic

Governmental/Social
A government or society dystopia is a government or society
attempting to exert control over free thought, authority, energy,
freedom of information. Others focus on systematic
discrimination and limitations based on a variety of factors genetics, fertility, intelligence, and age being a few examples.
Films of this type of dystopia include: Demolition Man, Babylon
A.D., Daybreakers, Equilibrium, Judge Dredd, Metropolis, The
Running Man

Alien controlled dystopias

Alien controlled dystopias are separate from general

dystopias in that they are enacted on a people by an outside
invader rather than members of the oppressed own species.
Films that fall into this sub-genre are: Battlefield Earth, The
Chronicles of Riddick, Dark City, Fantastic Planet, They Live,
Titan A.E.

Corporate based dystopias

A corporate based dystopia is similar to a

government/societal dystopia with the exception that the
repressing power is a private company rather than a
government. These stories generally include the motive of
commercial profit instead of, or in addition to, the benefits of
increased power and authority. These type of films include:
Alien series, Daybreakers, The Fifth Element, The Final Cut,
Fortress, Gamer, Hardware, I Robot, The Island, Robocop.

Cyberpunk/techno

Cyberpunk is a science fiction sub-genre, characterized by a

focus on advanced technology where in itself is viewed as
dystopian. "Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized,
alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally
dystopian futures where daily life was impacted by rapid
technological change, an ubiquitous data sphere of
computerized information, and invasive modification of the
human body. Films of the type would be: Aachi & Ssipak,
Akira, Avalon, Blade Runner, eXistenZ , Ghost in the Shell,
Johnny Mnemonic, Metropolis, Natural City, Renaissance,
The Terminator, Videodrome , The Matrix

Post-apocalyptic

Post-apocalyptic storylines take place in the aftermath of a

disaster - typically nuclear holocaust, war, plague - that
justifies a civilization's turn towards dystopian like
behaviors. Although not a requisite, most post-apocalyptic
visions have a man-made cause. These films include: 12
Monkeys, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, The Book of Eli,
Cyborg, I Am Legend, Logan's Run, WALL-E, Water world,
Tank Girl, The Road, The Postman,

Metropolis

Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the

science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. it was one of the
first true dystopian films. The plot of Metropolis A vast
future city of sixty million people is divided between the
Workers who slave at the machines in the citys depths,
and the Thinkers who live in palatial comfort high in the
citys towers. Freder, son of the citys leader Joh Fredersen,
is struck by the beautiful Maria when she leads a delegation
of children up into the upper towers from down below. He
follows her down to the city depths. Horrified to see the
state the workers exist in there, Freder implores his father to
make changes. But instead his father goes to the scientist
Rotwang and gets him to build a robot double of Maria that
invokes the workers to rebel and bring the city smashing.
(www.philfilms.utm)

Metropolis

Visually, thematically and in terms of tone and technique,

this ranks among the most significant and visually
spectacular films in the history of cinema. A flawed but
fascinating masterpiece - the 2010 restoration is a must see.
(Film 4)
Fritz Langs Metropolis stands as a definitive achievement
of modernism as an art form, using the visual rather than
literary medium to put forth its message in a way not
previously possible due to previous technological limitations.
(simonsrantingsandravings.blogspot.com)
Lang's impossibly vast skyscraper-ziggurats (inspired, it's
said, by his first view of the Manhattan skyline) are the
blueprint for nearly every science-fiction movie city of the
past 30 years.
(www.rottentomatoes.com)

Bladerunner
The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019
in which genetically engineered organic robots called
replicantsvisually indistinguishable from adult humansare
manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation as well as
by other "megamanufacturers" around the world. Their use
on Earth is banned and replicants are exclusively used for
dangerous, menial or leisure work on Earth's off-world
colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are
hunted down and "retired" by police special operatives
known as "Blade Runners". The plot focuses on a brutal and
cunning group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los
Angeles and the burnt out expert Blade Runner, Rick
Deckard (Harrison Ford), who reluctantly agrees to take on
one more assignment to hunt them down.

Bladerunner

From the opening shot of a Los Angeles cityscape at night in

the year 2019, it is clear that Scott has conjured up
something special.
(www.rottentomatoes.com)
Through science fiction, we are able to grasp the values and
lessons of a time now alien to us. Though the specifics have
changed, these lessons are just as valuable as their ancient
counterparts. Through Blade Runner, we see an epic quest
filled with meaning and symbolism applicable to the human
condition.
(br-insight.com/1998/11/23/analysis-of-blade-runner/)
As a display terminal for the wizardry of Designers Lawrence
G. Paull, Douglas Trumbull and Syd Mead, the movie delivers
(www.rottentomatoes.com)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_saUN4j7Gw

The End