In this episode, Todd Pedlar hosts a discussion of dystopian literature and film, asking why the dystopian is so attractive to us and probing the interface between dystopian worlds and science and technology, A few of the highlights of Episode 5 are:
- Defining dystopia and utopia, and introducing some of the earliest dystopian fiction
- Exploration of the connection between dystopian fiction and science – why is science so scary?
- How the subject matter of dystopian fiction has changed over the centuries, from the earliest dystopian ideas to today. Have we come about full circle, from societal/cultural fears to fears about science, and back again?
- The attraction of dystopias: are we simply people who like to beat our own psyches up, or is there more to it?
- The co-hosts share their favorite dystopian films
Bradley Birzer over at The Imaginative Conservative has been blogging about dystopias, and just posted one about one of the dystopias that we covered:
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2015/05/first-dystopians-aldous-huxley.html