Fields, Garcia, Nguyen 1

Brittanie Fields, David Garcia, Andrew Nguyen

Professor Willingham

ENGL 2323

March 27, 2017

Annotated Bibliography

Ames, Melissa. "Engaging "Apolitical" Adolescents: Analyzing the Popularity and Educational

Potential of Dystopian Literature Post-9/11." N.p., n.d. Web.

The first article that I was reading involved how teens and people in their early 20s

lacked knowledge about politics that affect them. This article talks about how the disaster

of 9/11 caused teens and people in their early 20s to learn more about politics and get

involved in the political fields. There was in depth explanations on why most teens would

not want to be involved with the political fields just because of pure lack of interest in

that field. Most on teen interest goes to what most teens find interesting; movies,

actors/actresses, and nothing too serious. The article pointed out that it took a national

disaster for people in their teens and early 20s to finally get involved in political

problems and views

This article would be very useful to me if I had done certain other parts of the

project, but this article helped me with The Road analysis. I was able to accurately give

descriptions on how since the mans son was so out of the loop when it came to them

having to survive and not trust people. The reasons he acted like that was because of how

old he was. He knew that he had to survive but it was not in his child-like interest.
 Fields, Garcia, Nguyen 2

Babaee, Ruzbeh, Hardev Singh, Zhang Zhieng, and Zhang Haiqing. "Critical Review on the Idea

of Dystopia." Review of European Studies 2015th ser. 7.11 (2015): 64-76. Canadian Center of

Science and Education. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.

The first article of the packet of scholarly articles discusses more about dystopias

rather than utopias with the various authors defining a utopia as an artificially created

island, which functions as an isolated, coherently organized, and largely closed space

economy (64). The author of the first paragraph in the first article says that the utopia

began with the myth of Eden (64). The authors also believed that dystopian literature

emerg[ed] in the 20th century [was] rooted in a utopian vision that invests in our

imagination that seeks to create an ideal and perfect world (64). Throughout the article,

the authors define an anti-utopia as support[ing[ the real world and condemn[ing] [the

search] for a better world (65). The various authors that are mentioned throughout the

scholarly article employ the dystopian genre to make us aware of human dignity and

criticize modern technologies that can lead to our degradation within their multiple

published books such as A Brave New World and 1984.

This article was particularly not as useful as the other articles due to how this

article contained mostly information on the authors and the dystopian novels that they

published. This information is not really needed as they were going more in depth into

what was going on throughout the different novels rather than explaining and elaborating

on the ideas of the concept of dystopia.

Baccolini, Raffaella. "Dystopia Matters." On the Use of Dystopia and Utopia (2006): 1-

4. Spaces of Utopia: An Electronic Journal. Web. 27 Mar. 2017.e Guin, Ursula K. "Science

Fiction Studies." American SF and the Other 2.3 (11/1975): 1/4-4/4.

 Fields, Garcia, Nguyen 3

Web. 27 Mar. 2017.

In the first line of the article, Baccolini admitted that her first significant

encounter with utopia was really one with dystopia as they are both dependent on one

another due to how one needs the other so that people are able to either envision a place

to be or not to be (1). Baccolini also admits that what attracted her to the dystopian genre

were the novels and political concerns of the twentieth century texts due to how they

drew her in more than what utopias could ever do while she was on the United States (1).

Nearing the end of the article, Baccolini, a feminist, talks of womens dystopian visions

. That lie at the basis of gender inequality, demonstrating to what extent gendered

identities are not natural but are instead the products of an androcentric, totalitarian

discourse (3). In other words, Baccolini talks about how in the majority of dystopias, the

female gender is usually subjected the most to gender inequality due to how they are the

basis of the majority of totalitarian discourse in the world (3).

This brief article was not that helpful due to how the article was not really

informing me and my group of anything new due to how the information was already

known before. Something else was that the majority of the article was that it was due to

how the author was mostly talking about feministic dystopias which did not really

concern the research project due to how there are no feministic elements within either

The Time Machine or The Road.

Cziganyik, Zsolt. "Satire and Dystopia: Two Genres?" Two Genre? (2006): 305-09. Web. 27

Mar.2017.

The term dystopia is often replaced by another on, negative utopia due to how it

relates directly to its opposite, a utopia as one cannot exist alone due to their dependence
 Fields, Garcia, Nguyen 4

on each other (305). Zsolt describes a dystopia as a negative utopia that offers a

gloomy, often bitter visions of the future, fashion, painted in dark colors (305). In the

majority of dystopias are negative utopias usually reach their target in causing horror

and disgust due to how they are supposed to be the opposite of a likable environment

that a utopia would consist of. In the eyes of Zsolt, [d]ystopias are such satires that are

displaced, cast in future, or confined in space, and do not limit themselves to the scathing

criticisms of certain people (306). In other words, dystopias are mostly produced to

scrutinize the workings of the society thoroughly, usually putting one element of the

problems in the centre, and that element, being magnified, distorts the whole system, or

more precisely, shows its distorted nature (307).

This article was able to connect more to this research project due to how it was

able to correlate the ideas of dystopias and their relation to the satire of real world topics,

blown to another level due to its humor. In the end, I believed that this article offered

more information than the first two articles due to how it offered the insight of the

perspective on satire in dystopian literature.

Kaplan, Carter. "The Advent of Literary Dystopia." N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2017.

The second article had a main focus on social stand points and political views and

how that affected hierarchy of an individual and their social status. This article also

brought up totalitarian and dictator ways of leader and ruler ship. The article also brings

up old learning vs. new learning. They described old vs. new learning by giving the

examples of how old learning is more muscular and strong, for as the new learning is

weak and timid. The old vs. new learning is brought up through old text which describes
 Fields, Garcia, Nguyen 5

two individuals arguing and stating their case on which is more effective and who is

better.

I will be able to use this article in our project only for the social status. I will be

able to explain how since the father and son in The Road are not in a gang, their

dystopian world that they live in they are not seen as a high social class. They could

easily get killed or gotten rid of because they are not involved in any group. I could also

point out how the father is more related to the old learning because of the way he

handles situations. The father has to be strong for not only himself but for his son as well.

On the other hand, the son can be compared to the new learning because he is very

scared, weak, and timid.

Le Guin, Ursula K. "American SF and the Other." Science Fiction Studies 2.7 (1975): n. pag.

Print.

In the article it is talking about subjects that are not usually talked about in a point

of view of science fiction. They question The other -the being who is different from

yourself. In the world everyone is looked at for their color of their skin and their gender.

In science fiction they try to portray Aliens as the way humans are viewed. The way the

portray the people who work hard and go to bed hungry as faceless armies or anyone

that is not noticed because in the real world people that do that are never noticed. Science

Fiction takes real world situations and portrays the people the way they are seen in the

world into monsters or however they are seen in the world. Also in science fiction does

not really show racism because they dont use color to show hatred they use monster and

aliens.
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Lundwall, Sam J., comp. "A True Dystopia Does Not Exsist. The Futures Portrayed in Dystopian

Literature Are Essentially Utopias." How Far Do You Agree with This Analysis 1st ser. 3.1

(1984): 1+. Web.

In this article they are talking about two beliefs on if there is a real dystopian or

no. The etymology of both utopia and dystopia does set up the two concepts as mutually

exclusive. They are very far from black and white terms, meaning it is a lot more

complex than it might see. In both they use the imagery of the cross is mutilated to

demonstrate a spiritually connection towards God. Dystopians always depict horrible

societies because they are so controlling over language and with them having their own

language that forces the people that do not know what is being said is excluded. The ways

the Nazis were so controlling with their languages are just like the Dystopian are which

is what is giving them the bad name.

McAlear, Rob. "The Value of Fear: Toward a Rhetorical Model of Dystopia." (n.d.): 1+. Web.

In this article they are showing how Dystopian literature creates hope to promote

people to make changes to become better. They also talking about Anti-Utopian and their

outlooks on things. They overlook the emphasis on the necessity of political change,

unlike a Utopian. Utopians overlook creates analyses in which moments of hope are

privileged while the considerable effort put into describing a fearful world. Anti-

Utopians base their changes off of political changes in order for the world to get better.

For example, they would want a new president in order to change policies to fix the

world and make everything better. Utopians believe in hope in order to change the world

for the better which is a very rare chance of the world getting better off of hope. For
 Fields, Garcia, Nguyen 7

example, the crime rates it very high and with hoping that better people will step up and

help decrease the crime is something Utopians believe in.

Wheeler, Pat. "Editorial." Representations of Dystopia in Literature and Film 17.1 (n.d.):

1-5. Critical Survey. Web. 27 Mar. 2017.

This article will consist of scholars from both Britain and North America analyze

representation of dystopia in literature and film (Wheeler 1). One of the scholars offers

an engaging and astute discussion of the unremitting surveillance that in many dystopian

societies forces the citizens to internalize the states regulatory power so that it becomes

the principle of their own subjection (Wheeler 1). Throughout the Cold War, dystopian

literature was an increasingly common form of cultural dissent against the status quo in

both Russian and American literature showing that the outside factors of a war influence

dystopians to further their satirization of real world conflicts and events (Wheeler 3). An

author that Wheeler mentions concluded that both the Soviet Union and the United

States [increased] the role of science and technology to the point where it was

accompanied by an increase in the utopian prognostications for the future (3). This

shows how the outside factors of events going on in the real world affect the genre of

dystopian literature as the satirizing of it depends on what is going on around the writer at

the time,

This article was probably the second most helpful article out of the entire packet

due to how it was something that the third article was already able to provide but with

also more clarity and information. I thought that the new concepts that the article offered

allowed for us to look deeper into how the satirization of the real world works when it is

converted into a dystopian novel.