UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA
CLASS PLAN – DYSTOPIA – MATRIX AND BRAVE NEW WORLD UNIT
DAY 1 - Monday
INTRODUCE
Utopia: A place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions.
• Show “The Real World” (Chapter 12, counter 0:38:39 to 0:44:22) from The Matrix, and ask students to think about their list of the perfect society and the definition of utopia as they view the clip.
• RETURN TO CLASS
• Ask students to compare the society depicted in the film clip to the utopias that they have described. Students should readily point out that the world of the film is quite opposite from their ideas of a perfect society.
• Introduce the definition of a dystopia from Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics:
DYSTOPIA: A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.
HAND OUT: Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics and Identifying Dystopian Characteristics.
Go over the information on the Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics sheet, answering any questions.
• Ask students to use the Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics sheet to fill out the Identifying Dystopian Characteristics chart. If desired, students can complete the sheet in small groups rather than working individually.
• Once students have completed the chart, gather the class and have students share their findings.
• Have students save their charts for use during later sessions.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A DYSTOPIAN SOCIETY – some or all
• Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society.
• Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted.
• A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society.
• Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance.
• Citizens have a fear of the outside world.
• Citizens live in a dehumanized state.
• The natural world is banished and distrusted.
• Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are bad.
• The society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world.
TYPES OF DYSTOPIAN CONTROLS
Most dystopian works present a world in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through one or more of the following types of controls:
• Corporate control: One or more large corporations control society through products, advertising, and/or the media. Examples include Minority Report and Running Man.
• Bureaucratic control: Society is controlled by a mindless bureaucracy through a tangle of red tape, relentless regulations, and incompetent government officials. Examples in film include Brazil.
• Technological control: Society is controlled by technology—through computers, robots, and/or scientific means. Examples include The Matrix, The Terminator, and I, Robot.
• Philosophical/religious control: Society is controlled by philosophical or religious ideology often enforced through a dictatorship or theocratic government. A Handmaid’s Tale – real life: Iran, Israel, The Vatican, religious communities.
THE DYSTOPIAN PROTAGONIST
• often feels trapped and is struggling to escape.
• questions the existing social and political systems.
• believes or feels that something is terribly wrong with the society in which he
or she lives.
• helps the audience recognizes the negative aspects of the dystopian world
through his or her perspective.
time left over? students can work on their final drafts of satire paper.
DAY 2 - Tuesday
• Show “Morpheus’ Proposal” and “Down the Rabbit Hole” (Chapters 8 and 9, counter #0:25:10-029:50) from The Matrix.
• Identify the protagonist in the clips.
• Discuss the difference between direct and implied information. To provide an example, compare what is directly stated to what is implied by the characters’ comments.
• Arrange students in small groups.
• HAND OUT copies of the Identifying Characteristics of a Dystopian Protagonist chart, and ask students to use the information on the Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics to fill out the sheet. Ask students to focus both on direct and indirect information that is communicated in the clip.
• Gather the class, and ask groups to share their finding with the class. Encourage discussion and exploration of the ways that the clips extend and confirm their understanding of the characteristics of a dystopia.
• Review the types of dystopian controls listed on Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics.
• For homework, ask students to complete a journal entry in response to the following question: “What does this film communicate about the world in the film? What controls the world in this film and the people who live in that world?”
DAY 3
• Have students share their journal observations with the class. Encourage students to connect their thoughts to the types of dystopian controls listed on the Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics sheet.
• Show students “Slimy Rebirth” (Chapter 10, 0:32:25 to 0:35:23) and “The Gatekeepers” (Chapter 17, 0:56:30 to 0:58:53) from The Matrix.
• RETURN TO CLASS: Allow DISCUSSION of the dystopian characteristics the clips exhibit between the clips.
• Ask students to identify the aspects of dystopian society that these clips focus on.
o Return to the definition of dystopia:
o A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.
• Ask students to focus on the second sentence of the definition (indicated in bold above).
• Ask students to identify the “worst-case scenarios” that the film clips explore. LIST THEIR OBSERVATIONS ON THE BOARD OR ON CHART PAPER.
• Review the list, and ask students to make some initial suggestions of the trends, norms, and/or systems that the film clip criticizes. RECORD THEIR RESPONSES ON THE BOARD OR ON CHART PAPER.
• Arrange students in small groups and ask each group to consider one or more of the following questions, referring to notes and charts from previous sessions:
•
o What illusion of a perfect society is depicted in the clips the class has viewed? What is the society like in reality?
o How are the members of this society being oppressed?
o What kind of control is used to keep the members of this society oppressed?
o What current trend, societal norm, or political system is exaggerated in this world?
o What criticism is made through this exaggeration in the clips? What current trend, societal norm, or political system is addressed?
• Gather the class, and have students share their observations and discussion.
• Have students compare their findings to the lists gathered at the beginning of the session.
• Ask students to discuss how to apply what they have learned about dystopias in this exploration to future readings. Begin by asking students to brainstorm suggestions that they would give to someone who was reading (or viewing) a dystopian work for the first time.
• Work students suggestions into a set of guidelines, and record the ideas for use as the class reads and views additional texts.
DAY 4 –MON 4/2
BACK FROM BREAK
review dystopias
Equality in the USA
read excerpt from The Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness
DISCUSS:
• what is “life”, “liberty”, and “the pursuit of happiness”?
• does a typical person in the US have these rights today?
• What sorts of things do we do in the U.S. today to try to guarantee “equality”?
• Do they work? Why or why not? What else could we try? Do you think that these other ideas might work better? Why or why not?
• How do we make people “alike” in the U.S.? How do you choose to be “alike” other people? Why do you think humans try so hard to be like others? Is this a good or a bad thing? Why or why not?
INTRODUCE:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
DAY 5 TUES 4/3
Jen absent with Sophomore field trip
DAY 6 THURS 4/5
BNW –
go over classification system
the year? who is worshipped? why?
discuss Blade Runner – what is human? what is life? what is death?
• does it depict change, or merely escalation?
• which negative tendencies of our time have been amplified?
• What aspects of dystopian characteristics are shown (look back at the original handout)
o environmental collapse
o terminal decay
o police state tendencies
o increased corporate power
o escalated urbanism
o dubious space colonization program
o dehumanizing technology
o distorted humanity concept
o deteriorating morals and ethics
DAY 7 MON 4/9
Henry and Lenina –
view of natural beauty vs. industrial beauty
distance about death (p 73)
DAY 8 TUES 4/10
“Malpais,” the Director and the Savage Reservation, blending Christian and pagan (whipping ceremony).
DISSECTING ADVERTISEMENTS
ASK STUDENTS:
• what is the definition of “brainwash”?
• how does brainwashing occur in Brave New World?
• have you ever been brainwashed?
TELL THEM: someone is trying to brainwash you everyday. Who is it?
handout “dissecting advertising”
read brainwash definition and intro
have students go around room and read glossary terms
break into groups
distribute ads and have them answer the questions
each group presents to rest of class
introduce Mustapha Mond’s Department of Propaganda Project, break into groups and assign subdepartments
handout proposal – due next class!!
DAY 9 THURS 4/12
Tempest quote: Miranda has been stranded on an island for 12 years with only exiled and bitter father, Prospero, and his deformed slave Caliban. Prospero uses magic to shipwreck his persecutors on the island and plans to punish them. When Miranda sees these new people, she says
O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!
The New World in John’s mind – brave = handsome and noble (not courageous). Miranda has no experience with other people and their deceitfulness. John believes the new world will be the perfect world Linda has described, where he will finally escape the hurt and prejudice of the reservation – world without dirt, old age, disease.
foreshadowing – Bernard – “Hadn’t you better wait till you actually see the new world?”
go over proposals
hand out pieces of paper, give each group a space to work - story board work – a sketch series for your clip (complete by end of class)
HANDOUT “SCRIPT GUIDELINES” TO EACH GROUP FOR COMPLETION IN CLASS
begin writing scripts for each member of group
DAY 10 MON 4/16
the hive – read aloud, the Director and Linda, soma holiday, what will happen to her now, how Bernard feels
review scripts
DAY 11 TUES 4/17
final work on propaganda clip
DAY 12 THURS 4/19
PROPAGANDA PRESENTATIONS
"And that is the secret of happiness and virtue— liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny."_Director of Central Hatcheries
John and Lenina as Romeo and Juliet (is Lenina the woman he wants her to be?)
explain Greek myth of Pygmalion – creates statue of perfect woman, falls in love with her. Prays to Venus to send him love. Returns from the temple to fine statue is a beautiful and loving wife. Compare/contrast myth and outcome to the woman John wants Lenina to be – and probable outcome.
Bernard the double outcast
DAY 13 MON 4/23
discuss: ethics of dying –
Keeping Linda in her soma dreams even though it will bring about her death more quickly –
write on board: is it ethical to do what makes a dying patient comfortable, even if it hastens that person’s death?
ask – what would they want for themselves? for a loved one?
what is the challenge for John?
DAY 14 TUES 4/24
“Nothing costs enough here.” What does John mean? What is the cost of living? How is this measured? What is the cost of dying?
Small group discussions? How have we, as a society, tried to control the cost of living? distanced ourselves from death?
examples
• advances in medicine
• use of drugs to end undesirable effects
• buying meat in grocery store
• show video clip of death – one that students (some) will laugh at.
What is the ultimate tragedy of Brave New World?
introduce essay topics: TO DO IN CLASS ON THURSDAY
1. Write a paper that compares life as Huxley described it in the World State with life in the United States today. Include at least three of these aspects of life in your paper: Human life/death, love and marriage, art (literature, film, architecture, etc.), consumption of goods and services, use of drugs (including alcohol and tobacco), pleasure/self-indulgence, and religion. Come to a conclusion as to the accuracy of Huxley’s predictions.
2. Write a report by Mustapha Mond detailing his experiment with John the Savage. Conclude the report with Mustapha’s assessment of John’s final act.
DAY 15 THURS 4/26
IN CLASS ESSAY
choose 1 topic
1. Write a paper that compares life as Huxley described it in the World State with life in the United States today. Include at least three of these aspects of life in your paper: Human life/death, love and marriage, art (literature, film, architecture, etc.), consumption of goods and services, use of drugs (including alcohol and tobacco), pleasure/self-indulgence, and religion. Come to a conclusion as to the accuracy of Huxley’s predictions.
2. Write a report by Mustapha Mond detailing his experiment with John the Savage. Conclude the report with Mustapha’s assessment of John’s final act.
3. As dehumanizing and oppressive as the brave new world Utopia is, the alternative in the "savage reserve" is in many ways worse - dirty, violent, unhealthy, cruel, uncomfortable. What point is Huxley making about human nature and the nature of human communities? Is his vision totally negative - or does the book hold out some shred of hope, some alternative mode that fosters both freedom and community?
introduce final project – BLOGTOPIA
handout timeline for completion AND brainstorming handout
HOMEWORK
• Begin brainstorming ideas for your society.
• Name the society.
DAY 16 MONDAY 4/30
go over blogtopia ideas
intro to blogging (Ian?)
hand out Feed
DAY 17 TUESADY 5/1
intro to Feed, answer any questions
more blogging
DAY 18 THURSDAY 5/3
Feed discussion – is it so far-fetched?
Independent Film activity – goups of 2 will each view a different film then present the basic plot and dystopian characteristics/elements to the rest of the class on Thursday, May 10th.
handout: Independent Film analyzing and guidelines for presentation
Soylent Green, Brazil, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Island, Children of Men
remind students that they need to list at least 10 rules for their society for next class, too.
