Futuristic World in Dystopia: the Illusion of a Happy Society

A utopia is an imaginary society where all citizens are treated equally and with dignity, and citizens live in safety without fear. Since utopias do not exist, attempting to create one can have detrimental consequences. The utopia can become a dystopia. A dystopia is a futuristic world in which oppressive control and the illusion of a perfect society are kept with totalitarian control. The novels, Orwell's 1984, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Peter Weir’s The Truman Show take place in a dystopian society. The government systems in these stories are great examples of a totalitarian culture.

In Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the government gains control of the society by telling people what to think, instead of letting people think for themselves. “If you don’t want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war'. The totalitarian, oppressive government sees that people left to their own views and ideas, would be out of control which would cause the government to no longer be able to direct the thoughts of the people. Government leaders, in their need for power and control, saw that the ideas and values in books by great authors would not assist them in keeping the community under control. Therefore, they deemed books and what books taught and burned them from society. The government hid “the nails and wood” from the people so that a house (rebellion) would not be built. The government enforced the perspective in people with many tactics, including the firemen and the technology. “[Firemen] were given a new job, as custodians of our peace of mind, the focus of our understandable and rightful dread of being inferior; official censors, judges, and executors'. Captain Beatty explains to Montag, when Beatty went to visit him, why the role of firefighters changed from saving houses from fires to burn houses down that had books inside. Beatty says that a person cannot be less or more clever than another person without books. While many people in the novel are not interested in books, it is obvious that the practice of avoiding books does not keep society peaceful. Instead the government replaced books with the advancements of technology like the parlor walls. In the novel, Mildred has three parlor walls that she uses every day. In the morning after Montag burns the woman along with her house and books, he asks “Will you turn the parlor off?' he asked. 'That’s my family”. The parlor walls are used as a replacement for human connection. Mildred has a better relationship with her “family” on the parlor walls than with Montag. And later in the novel, this causes Mildred to turn Montag in to the authorities for keeping and reading books. The techniques used to control the people were effective in the novel. These methods created ignorance and fear in the citizens. In conclusion, the government gained control over the people by demolishing individual thought and making people fearful of the government.

In Orwell’s novel 1984, the government gained control of the society with manipulation and fear in the government. The control is implemented through the thought police, the telescreen, the two minutes of hate, but mainly through propaganda. In one of the slogans, “war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength”, the government constantly reminds them of these false statements. By taking the independence and strength of the individuals’ minds and forcing them to live in a state of fear, the Party is able to force its citizens to accept anything the government says, even if it is completely wrong. For example, the Ministry of Peace is in charge of war, the Ministry of Love is in charge of political torture, and the Ministry of Truth is in charge of rewriting their history books to reflect the Party’s ideas. The three ministries names and the government’s ideas in general are very ironic. The controllers are very effective in the novel. In the novel, Winston states “And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested.” This quote shows how someone’s understanding of the past affects their attitude about the present. When Winston has a confusing discussion with an old man about life before the Revolution, he realizes that the Party has purposely set out to weaken people’s memories to make sure they are unable to challenge what the Party claims about the present. If no one remembers the past, then no one can say that the Party has failed in creating a utopia. Instead, the Party uses rewritten history books to prove its accomplishments.

In the Peter Weir’s dystopian movie, The Truman Show, Truman’s life is for the whole world for entertainment. To stay in control of Truman’s life, the producers would use Truman’s fears against him. For instance, Truman has spent his entire life on an island. In order for Truman to stay in the show or his life, the producers set up an event where Truman, as a child, witnesses his “father” drown. This caused Truman to develop a fear of drowning or water. Since Truman’s home is surrounded by water, the producers would not think Truman would want to leave the island. In the beginning of the film, the producers were successful in creating a utopia for Truman’s life. However, as the story progresses Truman discovers that his friends, family, house, job, and town are fake. Although the journey out of the dystopian was difficult, Truman was able to escape the TV show.

In conclusion, the societies of the Truman Show, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984 all are under the control of oppressive governments. And the governments all use one technique in controlling the communities, and that is through fear. These societies are all under totalitarian governments.