Utopia and Dystopia PDF

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Summary

Zusammenfassung für das Abitur-Thema Utopia and Dystopia mit Fokus auf das Buch "Brave New World"...

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Important Terms Utopia and Dystopia - Literature that deals with the future - Imaginary / alternative societies Utopia Dystopia - Positive scenario - Negative scenario - 1. Idealism / Model for a better - 1. Offering a better society society - 2. Criticism of tendencies in - 2. Satire on contemporary contemporary societies issues - 3. Projecting a dangerous contemporary development into a future / Warning Science fiction - Focus on speculative scientific and technological advances and not on inner workings of society - Include strong utopian and dystopian elements - Mostly no hard scientific facts - Elements borrowed from myth and fantasy

Extrapolation - The technique of working out and describing how the future will be on the basis of already known facts and on personal observations - Extrapolation is often the foundation for utopian and dystopian literature: the writer predicts and depicts a futuristic society through the exaggeration of certain aspects of his or her own, and thereby can criticise his or her own society by demonstrating what may happen in the future if contemporary society continues on a certain path Satire - Criticism of an event, an individual or a group in a clever manner - With a definite target - Strong use of irony, sarcasm, parody, exaggeration (primary purpose is not humour) - Found in many artistic forms of expression

- Hope of shaming the target into reform - Approve values that are the opposite of what the satirist actually wishes to promote

Book: Brave New World Terms Eugenics: the belief that it is right to promote reproduction (only) by people with desired traits Genetic engineering: the direct manipulation of an organism’s genetic make-up Human enhancement: improvement, especially regarding performance or attractiveness etc. Transhumanism: a movement that aims to transform the human condition by developing and making sophisticated technology to enhance human intellectual, physical and psychological capabilities widely available Hypnopaedia: sleep teaching

Content Human Enhancement Pro - Potential to live longer - Can prevent illness and / or disabilities - Parents can decide what their child should look like

Con -

Ethical question: “Is it right?” May lead to genetic defects Limits genetic diversity Not everyone has the money → creation of disparities - Against the idea that life is God-given (religious concerns) - Research is not that far

Religion in Brave New World - Christian elements used in Brave New World - God = Henry Ford - Christians = Fordians - Sunday = Fords Day

- God in Heaven = Ford in his flivver - The Solidarity Service - Fixed date, rituals, prayers, hymns - Passing around of soma instead of wine / ice-cream instead of bread - Large building with a large clock = church - T = cross - Twelve participants = twelve apostles in Jesus’ last meal - → Solidarity service mimics Christian church service - Soma = Religion without tears

Functions of the Solidarity Service - Serves as a satire of Christian religion → Christian “form” but values are converted to fit the needs of the system - Satisfaction of sexual desires, consumption of Soma - No deeper meaning behind service → no criticism of religion today

Brave New World Today? -

Education is like conditioning Conditioning was used in the Third Reich Plastic surgery and Botox People are not so much interested in democracy anymore Governance is more centralised (e.g. EU) More votes for extreme left or right parties Government interferes in the market in order to boost consumerism Data is collected from people

Characters allude to a lot of historically famous personalities → telling names - Involved with mass production (e.g. Bokanovsky, Ford) - Criticised communism (e.g. Marx, Lenina)

Creation of world citizens

- Aim: create stability and a productive society by creating different groups of humans with different abilities (Alphas, Betas) → reproduction is controlled by the government - Industrial / mass production with the help of biological and chemical procedures - No natural process - Predestination → people classified before birth → free will? - People produced as a good that is needed for society...