Dystopian Comparisons

In the Book A Clockwork Orange, the short stories Harrison Burgeron, The Lottery and the movies Gattaca and the Truman Show by Anthony Burgess, Kurt Vonnegut, Shirly Jackson, Andrew Niccol and Peter Wier respectively. These pieces of literature(and cinematography) all have a society that controls and manipulates the individual or Protaganist. The society does this because it wants total control over both the individual and the society as a whole.

A Clockwork Orange is futuristic look at England. Where teenagers rule the streets and neglect the somewhat standing laws of society. The novel's main character, fifteen-year-old Alex, and his three droogs (friends) Pete, Georgie and Dim, take place in all-night acts of random violence and total destruction. Alex is eventually betrayed by his so-called brethren and is caught by the police for killing an innocent lady. He is taken to prison, where he eventually partakes in the "Ludovico Technique," where Alex is "reconditioned" into a model citizen, by being forced to watch movies of things that at one time he had loved including; beating people, raping young women, and partaking in random acts of violence. “After this treatment you can be released back into society as a respectable member of it”. (pg. 132) This demonstrates the society manipulating and controlling the main character because Alex is forced to take part in a program that he does not want to be apart. Also the society completely changes Alex’s personality into one that is more “acceptable” for the society. Another example of society trying to manipulate Alex is when F. Alexander tries to make Alex commit suicide to cover up the experiment’s backfire. This is an example of the society manipulating Alex to not only benefit the society but to also cover up the flaw and mistakes of the society. The society realizes that what has happened to Alex is the undesired out come of the experimental treatment. They used what they learned about him in the treatment center to drive him to suicide. The community manipulated Alex only to regain complete control over the society. The state is also willing to take away freedom of choice and willing to replace it with force-fed good behavior. This is an example of control in a state/society because the state choose to sacrifice liberty (and sanity) for the well being of the society as a whole.

In the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, the futuristic United states society which has created a totally вЂ?equal’ society. Where handicaps are given out to all patrons of the society. The society manipulates and controls the main character(s) by giving them handicaps & instilling fear in taking them to go against their ways an example of this is when George says “Two years in prison plus a two thousand dollar fine for every ball I took out, I don’t think that’s a fair bargain”(HB). This demonstrates how the society not only controls their life but also instills fear into the individuals living in the society. They do this by giving out harsh punishment for the crimes they do. They also do this by making the handicaps far more extreme then needed. Another expression of manipulation and control on the society’s part is “Diana Moon Glampers reloaded the shot gun and aimed at the musicians, and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on”. This demonstrates the society’s control because in a matter of seconds Diana had re-gained complete control of the situation by using her government position to its full power (killing two innocent human beings). It also shows how quickly a society conditioned by a government like this will snap back to it’s regular routine, it certainly expresses how much control the society has over it’s in habitants.

In the movie Gattaca it is a futuristic look at world dictated by DNA. People are no longer born into the world naturally but instead they are manufactured into the world by genetic engineering. There is also massive differences between the two parts of the society the valids (genetic engineering) and invailds(born naturally). The class you are in (valid or invalid) can dictate your life, it can make your life amazing or terrible. Vincent is born naturally and has a high risk of hear disease because of this it limits his possibilities in life. Vincent is also always compared to his manufactured brother Antwaun who gets all the attention of his parents. Vincent and the other invalids are always held down by the controlling society an example of this how they make invalids more appealing to the world and in doing so hope to wipe out the valids. Also an example of how the society manipulates the valids and Vincent is by making such a large gap between upper (valids) and the lower(invalids) class. The valids use their superior social status to keep the invalids below to prevent them from rising up and rebelling against their society of �perfect’

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