Monday, May 16, 2011

Top 5 Dystopian Books/Stories and Movies

Continuing the discussion on dystopian fiction began by author Rosalie Lario, I was curious about what other people's favorite dystopian stories were.  I think the first time I heard the word dystopian was when I was around eight or nine, the first time I watched the movie 1984.  It was a favorite book of my mother's and we watched the movie together on TV late one night.  Of course, I didn't know what the term meant then and wasn't fond of asking my parents questions so I pondered over it until I began hearing it applied to other things.  Mind you, this was in the late 70s to mid-80s when you couldn't find a wiki on anything your heart desired.

For years I had a rather narrow view of what dystopian was.  I think I considered only the very bleakest of sci-fi to be dystopian. I also applied that to movies. 

It was hard for me to narrow my list of favorites down to just five, considering that some of my favorite and most enjoyable dystopian books and movies are not what I would consider the BEST in dystopian fiction.  That being said, I made a list of my ever-changing five favorite dystopian books/stories and five favorite dystopian movies.  Enjoy, comment, and post your favorites.

BOOKS/STORIES

1.  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
2. 1984
3. The Hunger Games
4. Brave New World
5. The Road (Which I didn't finish because I'm a wuss)
MOVIES

1.  Dark City
2.  The Matrix
3.  The Lathe of Heaven (original)
4.  Clockwork Orange
5.  Blue Gender (anime series)

What are your favorites?

4 comments:

  1. I'm going strictly with movies, as I've not read a lot of fiction that was in that kind of setting...

    Not in a particular order, but these are five of my favorites...

    The Road (top dog for this category, no question)
    Omega Man
    Equilibrium
    Battle Royale
    Blindness

    Honorable Mentions: Fido, Gattaca, Fifth Element, Minority Report, Land of the Dead.

    I have a feeling I have overlooked some GLARINGLY great films that just aren't clicking in my memory at the moment. ha ha

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  2. Without a doubt my favorite dystopian movie is The Matrix. I thought it was an interesting and thought-provoking warning about our reliance on technology. And it was pure fun! Fifth Element was pretty freaking awesome too, and Gattaca is the hubby's fave.

    As for books, I thought The Host by Stephanie Meyer was rather good, if a bit long.

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  3. Let's see, movies (in no particular order except for #1, which is and is likely to remain fixed):

    1. Children of Men
    2. Blade Runner
    3. A Clockwork Orange
    4. Star Trek (the latest one -- and yes, I maintain that the Star Trek universe is a hellish dystopia)
    5. Dark City


    Books (much more fluid)

    1. A Clockwork Orange
    2. Childhood's End
    3. 1984
    4. Fahrenheit 451
    5. A Colder War (A novelette, but chilling right to the core)

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