Margaret Atwood’s new fireproof copy of The Handmaid’s Tale protests book banning – and burning. The Venn diagram of those who burn books and those who read them is typically two separate circles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin uses words to mean the opposite of what they really mean.
Sergei Guneyev/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images
Putin often uses words to mean exactly the opposite of what they normally do – a practice diagnosed by political author George Orwell as ‘doublespeak,’ or the language of totalitarians.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address talking up his latest passion – creating a virtual reality “metaverse” for business, entertainment and meaningful social interactions.
(AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
To be meta about Meta would involve reflecting upon the fact that Facebook is a company that designs technology around people.
Hulu’s ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 4 envisions escapes to Canada that draw on 19th century abolitionist narratives, yet the show doesn’t acknowledge race.
(Hulu/YouTube)
Two TV show have hit our screens coincidentally during the pandemic: dystopian thriller Y: The Last Man and black comedy Creamerie — both theorising a world entirely without men.
The eerie San Francisco skyline evoked sci-fi movies for a reason. Filmmakers are increasingly using color grading to tinge their films with two hues, orange and teal, to unsettle viewers.
In the current health crisis, authorities use our need for security and private firms our desire for entertainment to encourage us to give up our civil rights.
‘Dystopia’ is a term that’s gained popularity during the coronavirus pandemic. But it’s not a synonym for ‘a bad time,’ and a government’s poor handling of a crisis does not constitute dystopia.
Wade Watts becomes a better global citizen when he reconnects to the real world in Ernest Cline’s novel ‘Ready Player One.’ Tye Sheridan stars as Watts in Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation.
(2018 edition of 'Ready Player One'/Penguin Random House)
The bestselling novel turned film exposes paradoxes of fixing a broken system with its own tools. As we collectively meditate on the world’s problems, why not imagine better worlds?
The role of women in futuristic drama TV series ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ makes references to Darwin’s writings on evolution.
(Shutterstock)
In the television show ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ Charles Darwin’s ‘Descent of Man’ makes a cameo — and its appearance makes a comment on how Gilead functions.
The Maria Fire billows above Santa Paula, California on Oct. 31.
AP/Noah Berger
‘California is America fast-forward,’ writes one scholar. Does that mean that the dystopian infernos that have consumed parts of the state are simply a picture of what awaits the rest of America?
A scene from Jonathan Glazer’s new short film, The Fall.
BBC Films