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Titel
8
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Dystopian Worlds (exam)
This unit explored dystopian literature, films and themes focusing on societies where oppressive governments, environmental disasters, or technological control led to bleak and unsettling futures.
The focus was on oppression, control and loss of individual freedom in different dystopian societies. The focus was on how the worlds are shaped by authority, technology, propaganda and fear and how these extreme social systems affected the people. The main theme was the role of surveillance and control.
We started the unit out by defining ‘utopia’ and ‘dystopia’. Then we worked with relevant theory about dystopian literature and films. We looked at characteristics of a dystopian society, different dystopian categories and traits in the dystopian protagonist. Then we began working with our material.
The first text we read was an excerpt from Orwell’s classic 1984. We compared it to The Eurythmics’ lyrics ‘Sexcrime’. Then we read the first chapter of The Hunger Games and an excerpt from Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. We applied the theory to all of these texts. We also wrote an essay where we compared the three texts.
We moved on to Vonnegut’s ‘Harrison Bergeron’ and an excerpt from the novel The Road. We again applied the theory to the material. We then read chapter 1 of the novel Divergent and worked with a comparison between The Walking Dead as a graphic novel and a scene from the tv series. We watched an episode from Black Mirror: ‘Nosedive’ and concluded with Le Guin’s short story ‘The Ones who Walk away from Omelas’. At the very end of our unit we made a film project in groups where we chose our own dystopian film and presented it to our classmates. This also involved analysis of cinematic devices.
Focus: utopia vs dystopia, dystopian setting, dystopian categories, the dystopian protagonist, surveillance, technology, government and control, propaganda, the dangers of totalitarian regimes, brainwashing, factions, censorship, liberation, suppression of individuality and personal freedom, dissent vs authority, morality, exclusion, dehumanization, conformity, social and political systems.
Kernestof:
Theory about utopia, dystopia, characteristics of dystopian society, dystopian categories and the dystopian protagonist (online material)
George Orwell, '1984' (two excerpts from novel, 1949 – læst fra Fields of Vision)
The Eurythmics, ‘Sexcrime’ (lyrics, 1984 – læst fra Fields of Vision)
Suzanne Collins, 'The Hunger Games' (excerpt: chapter 1, novel, 2008)
Ray Bradbury, 'Fahrenheit 451' (excerpt from part 1, novel, 1953)
Kurt Vonnegut, ’Harrison Bergeron’ (short story, 1961)
Cormac McCarthy, 'The Road' (book summary, excerpts from novel, 2006)
Veronica Roth, 'Divergent' (excerpt: chapter 1, novel, 2011)
Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore, 'The Walking Dead' (first 14 pages of graphic novel, 2004)
The opening scene from 'The Walking Dead' (tv series, 2010)
Black Mirror, 'Nosedive' (tv series, 2011)
Ursula Le Guin, ‘The Ones who walk away from Omelas’ (short story, 1973)
Chosen dystopian films in the group work: 'The Maze Runner', 'Don't worry, Darling', 'Wall-E', 'Terminator 2', 'Annihilation', 'Minority Report'.
Omfang: ca. 80 sider
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