WHY WE LOVE DYSTOPIA

Fighting violence with violence.

Words by Madeleine Oliveros

Art by Lindsey Smiles

In recent years, dystopian media has had a chokehold on our generation. You may be asking, or the collapse of the government, it never fails to provide a violent depiction of everyday people fighting to survive some terrible unforeseen circumstance.

“The Hunger Games” follows the journey of an unlikely hero fighting against a corrupt government and its corrupt leaders. The film “Contagion” follows the international spread of a deadly disease.

“The Last of Us” depicts a catastrophic apocalypse with infection, isolation, and loss. All of these films have something in common: fear and death.

The common tropes of the dystopian genre show parallels to the reality we face every day. With the effects of the pandemic still lingering and issues like climate change, war, and social injustice constantly on our minds, it is not unreasonable to view dystopia as a slightly altered version of our own lives.

Why, then, are we so drawn to such violent forms of media when we already experience similar forms of violence every day?

Christina Scott, an Associate Professor of Psychology at Whittier College, says that much of the appeal comes from the reality we live in.

“I think, especially with COVID-19, we didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “There was a lot of fear and anxiety and there weren’t any answers. We were looking to our leaders and looking to the CDC, like, ‘What do we do?’ And there’s nothing. So we’re gonna naturally turn to any source of information that looks even remotely related to what we’re experiencing, which is going to be films about dystopia.”

Scott discussed the sense of hope that may come from similar or shared experiences. She talked about how immersing oneself in dystopian media can act as a coping mechanism for those who struggle to process the events happening around them.

Scott also explained the role of terror management theory, which emphasizes the fear of death and the ways in which people cope with the danger presented in their lives.

“There’s this kind of invincibility that exists in your twenties,” she said. “So all of a sudden when you’re forced at this young age to be thinking about death and it’s every day in the media and everywhere and you’re now quarantining, there has to be a way to push those thoughts away.”

Scott said that efforts to push negative thoughts away create a desire for escapism. Since events such as the pandemic were impossible to fully escape, many turned to a withdrawal from reality and increased use of streaming services and video games. Finding characters to identify with and seeing happy endings provide viewers with a sense of hope.

However, Scott cautioned against such frequent use of dystopia as a form of escape, mentioning the danger of increased viewership of violent media. She discussed that despite the comparisons that can be found between the real world and dystopian media, it is still largely unrealistic. She mentioned that turning to such high levels of violence can desensitize the public.

“I hope that with this generation of Gen Z, they don’t become numb to violence,” she said. “I hope they’re not saying ‘I don’t know how to process violence in the real world, so I’m turning to media and sources of entertainment which will help me desensitize a little bit’ and then become numb to everything.”

Providing education and resources to help navigate the issues going on around us will help us to rely less on dystopian media. Finding new ways to cope and understand our fears or emotions can make it easier to handle issues that may feel out of our control.

Scott emphasized that while dystopia can function as a form of escape, it could alter our perceptions of everyday violence. She said that like most things, dystopian media can be used in moderation as a coping mechanism. She spoke of the importance of acknowledging reality and having conversations about our experiences.

“So I can’t just say dystopian media is bad,” she said. “There are many things that are bad and I think all these things in moderation combined with discussion and analysis and then action of some kind. That’s not bad. That’s wonderful. There needs to be that combination.”