Our Dystopia

 The term 'dystopia' has been an interest of mine since I witnessed films, from the likes of Ridley Scott's, Blade Runner and Steven Spielberg's, Minority Report. It highlights a particular genre in fiction which portrays a highly corrupt society in comparison to current times. Usually dystopian fiction develops a satirical stance highlighting everything that's wrong within the current period; for example in Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tale, the role of women has drastically changed and they are mere tools for sex. This however still attains relation to their role in society now, in the likes of media where they are objectified in advertising for example.

 This is the my main motive for the project: to discuss how dystopian fiction could be perhaps a real entity within in our contemporary setting. I believe Huxley's cynical outlook in the writings of Brave New World, and even in his essays, The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, develop to my objective the most.

 The themes and motifs which are: over consumption, dependence on technology, denial of truth, happiness, humanity, sex, loss of dignity, morals, values and emotions in BNW display impressive hindsight, since it was first published in 1931! Today it seems that these aspects seem more evident than ever, which is rather disturbing to think about.

Walter Molino, 1962

The Finale to End all Finales

 Yes it's that time again, but for the last time! My mind is racing with various levels of anticipation, both good and bad. The course has enlightened my life very much indeed and I will miss it dearly when it soon ends. Let the final major project commence!

 After some thought over the Christmas holidays, I decided to pick a novel to visually respond from; as it has previously played to my advantage in the way I work. As I fascinate over reading dystopian fiction, I thought it fit to choose within this category. It was a novel I had begun reading the previous year, but had become side-tracked for some reason, so I wanted to give it another chance as it seemed very relevant to my current state of mind in observation of society. I decided to work with and create visual responses from Aldous Huxley's classic, Brave New World.

 Using this novel as a guide towards my outcome, I want to demonstrate how Brave New World is happening right now. Written in 1931, it tells of a future, very much similar to the current state of our contemporary world, where people are cloned and passion towards life has diminished; instead being overshadowed by seamless, superficial activities. Truth ceases to exist in the majority, and the majority ignore it without consciousness.

 I want to make a series of visual responses in accordance to this novel, and perhaps others, to gain a better understanding of my own personal observations: my 'brave new world'.