Dystopia: a ‘stop’ button for the utopian machine
A concept of utopia which
was created by Thomas More in his work of the same name brought to reality one
of the most desirable dreams of humankind through constructing the model of a
perfect society. But what seems to be perfect in theory, almost usually have to
deal with a number of problems when practicing it. Another concept which has
been transformed in an art genre and got the name of dystopia aims to show the
price of an ideal community life – very often it is personal freedom and
ability to make decisions by one’s own. Two different types of utopian society
that are represented in two well-known dystopian films, Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
which is an adaptation of the novel by Ray Bradbury and Equilibrium (2002)
that conglomerates influences of many classical books of dystopian genre
(including Fahrenheit 451), in different ways give a full picture of the
problem of lost of self-freedom in the world of utopia, and these two images
can be compared on their several features: things that are supposed to be the
most dangerous for the society, main methods of control, and consequences for
humanity which are caused by living in an utopian community.
Firstly,
one of the main features which make dystopian genre possible is that from the
standard model of society some things – concepts, customs, or models of
behavior – are excluded and declared illegal in order to reach an idea of
common benefit. In Fahrenheit 451 thing which is the most strongly prohibited
is reading. The motivation of this is that literature produces different models
of reality which may seem more acceptable than the real world for those who
read. But the exact purpose of the excluding books from the life of society is
an idea of equality which in the case of Fahrenheit 451 is achieved by not
giving for members of society a possibility to think by themselves. Like for
Fahrenheit 451, equality as the most desirable value for the utopian society
is important for Equilibrium (this importance is announced even by the name of
the movie). Literature as the factor of destroying the equality is against the
law in Equilibrium similarly to Fahrenheit 451. But the main source of
danger is not reading books or having an access to different art objects (not
only literature, but all kinds of art are prohibited in ‘Equilibrium’), but
feelings it can cause. As can be seen, although in the world of Fahrenheit
451 the main factor of danger for an ideal of equality and for controlling
system is human ability to think, for Equilibrium it is emotional sphere of
person’s life – and in both cases these sources of destruction the equality are
excluded from a normal life.
Another
important point is complex of methods which system uses in order to avoid danger for the
society (but in fact, to keep under total control all the spheres of the
community life). Controlling system based on the model of totalitarianism which
aims to establish the order and enforce it is also important feature of the
dystopia, because through attempting to reach an idea of common welfare it actually
becomes a mechanism of restricting one’s personal freedom. One more interesting
common feature for analyzed movies is that both Fahrenheit 451 and
Equilibrium describe their main characters as members of controlling
departments, but these departments differ in structure and responsibilities. In
Fahrenheit 451 the main method of control for the totalitarian system is the
establishment named Firemen whose main aim is to react on all the information
about where the books might be hided, to find and burn it, and to arrest those
who held it. Likewise, Equilibrium also represents a type of a special
controlling department – Tetragrammaton Council, but its structure, hierarchy, and
tasks are much more complicated than the ones of Firemen. Tetragrammaton with
its several ranges of Clerics and the leader who is known as Father (obviously,
this is an allusion to 1984 by George Orwell) controls each sphere of a life
of the society, from administration of justice to personal life and
relationships of everyone – not only physically, by destroying and arresting,
but also psychologically, by making pressure on members of society. It also has
a special obligation – to distribute a drug named Prozium (analogical to Soma from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley) which is used to repress
emotions and to force everyone to take it regularly. So, both analyzed movies
represent classical feature of the dystopian genre and describe society which
is controlled by totalitarian government and its special departments, but with
some differences in their functioning.
What is
more, controversial or negative consequences of functioning of the utopian
model of society are very important for making dystopian conflict possible. The
aims and values of the utopian society, such as equality and common benefit (as
in Fahrenheit 451) or prevention of wars and violence (as in Equilibrium), are
at the first sight undoubtedly worth making efforts for reaching and protecting
them – but the price for it can be not equivalent. As can be seen in
Fahrenheit 451, restriction of ability to think originally and make free
choices makes the utopian society actually the society of consumerism.
Television and daily conveniences can satisfy all the needs of an average
person - actually, the actions of the system aim to make everyone average by
simplifying their needs. Those who are non-average have to be out of society –
that is why ‘book people’ are declared dead, but they also have no possibility
to destroy the system; in Fahrenheit 451 the form of ‘passive rebellion’ is
represented. Unlike in Fahrenheit 451, rebellion appears in active form in
Equilibrium – finally, system is ruined. The needs of people in Equilibrium are also simplified, but this simplification is done openly, by force, whereas
in Fahrenheit 451 the influence of the system is hidden and, as can be seen,
much more destructive. Moreover, the choice made by Montague is more
complicated – it has an existential meaning; on the other hand, the choice of
John Preston from Equilibrium is simplified to not taking his daily injection
of Prozium. So, the consequences of making utopian concepts and ideas the
main principles of a life of the community are noticeable and important for
appearing the dystopian conflict in both movies.
To summarize,
both Fahrenheit 451 and Equilibrium are classical examples of the genre of
dystopia in cinematography. All the common features of dystopian type of plot,
chronotope, and conflict are represented in these movies. But what is even more
important, both of them are touching the whole complex of actual problems – the
role of art in a social life, the controversy which is caused by idealized social
standards of communication and models of behavior, and the importance of
personal freedom, ability to think originally and to make free choices. These
ideas which are implemented in a dystopian genre as the one of its elements
actually make its esthetically and even ontologically valuable in any time and
for any generation of people.
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