Dystopian Societies: An Analysis of Politics and Control

The nature of politics to manipulate and delude the masses allows the political motivations to be ambiguous, however, with control as the ultimate goal it renders people and politics to be antithetical to each other. Political motivations are based on the inherent qualities of the politicians which can be adverse for the populace but a personal gain for themselves. In Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World and Andrew Niccol’s 1997 film Gattaca the notions of science and technological advancements, discrimination, and the lack of freedom are explored to demonstrate the ramifications of politics on people and to establish a dichotomy between a utopian and dystopian society. These are explored through the idea of genetic engineering as the underlining

In Huxley’s Brave New World, the lack of freedom is apparent in all aspects of society. “There was something called liberalism…Freedom to be a round peg in a square hole” connotes, through the analogy of ‘a round peg’, that freedom is a disruption to the social equilibrium; it is “inefficient and miserable”. This is ironic as the preconditioned happiness provided to the individuals is ‘miserable’ as evident in “the infinitely friendly world of soma-holiday”. In addition, “what would it be like if I could, if I were free—not enslaved by my conditioning?” subverts, through the rhetorical question combined with the personal pronoun of ‘I’, the ideals of the government and their intent to control the masses. This is a contrasting perception of freedom to Mustapha Mond who advocates freedom as ‘miserable’ whereas Bernard has the freedom to be unhappy; juxtaposing to the purpose of conditioning the population from birth. Comparably, in Niccol’s film Gattaca, the lack of freedom is also conspicuous. “Even you are gonna tell me what I can and can’t do now!” the authoritative tone of Vincent, challenges the governments undermining of ‘invalids’ as outcastes. The camera zooming into the crashing blue waves is symbolic of the oppressed citizens of the society. Due to the lack of freedom, the desires of the ’invalids’ is suppressed eventually highlighting the flaw of the system. This is evident in the line “Jerome Morrow was never meant to be one step down on the podium.” The silver medal is a strong symbol of the inherent flaws in the society of ‘Gattaca’, as even the genetically superior elite, who are promised success, can fail. Lack of freedom is an aspect predominant in all dystopian societies. This is due to the ultimate goal of control eventually displaying the political motivations as