Dystopia or Cacotopia is defined as “a society characterised by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease and overcrowding” (Dictionary.com), this is in contrast to the more well-known Utopia meaning “any real or imaginary society, place, state, etc, considered to be perfect or ideal” (World English Dictionary, Dictionary.com).
There are several variations on the dystopian idea, looking at different social elements; society, social groups, politics, economics, nature, caste systems, technology etc. In most cases of the use of Nature in a dystopian society, Nature is considered dangerous, hostile or something to be feared; like in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
A good example of a Distipian World would be that found in film The Matrix (1999), Directed by the Wachowski brothers. The real world, as opposed to the virtual world of the Matrix, has undergone total destruction by machines, leaving it void of animals and plants. Humans are now grown in huge metal farms for producing energy for the machines, the sky is tainted and the atmosphere pushed out of balanced. A total sense of chaos and destruction has taken over the planet.
Dystopia is a good idea to base the world of Charn on for my project. Jadis, The White Witch, has destroyed all living things in her world using the Deplorable World, leaving behind a dying sun hanging over a deserted palace. Dystopia would fit well in Charn.
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