Digital Media, Democracy, and Dystopia: Dystopian Filmography

(2006) After a war on Earth, in which the remaining generations are sent to an underground world to live until the earth surface can support life, an unfortunate set of circumstances keeps them underground for longer than planned. They eventually find their way out after two brave children discover the way.

(2009) A science fiction featurette which premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 29, 2009. It is directed and written by Chandler Tuttle, based on the 1961 short story "Harrison Bergeron" by author Kurt Vonnegut. The cast is led by James Cosmo, Julie Hagerty, and Armie Hammer. The story paints a picture through the use of hyperbole of a future in which a powerful, dictatorial government goes to extreme measures to ensure that absolute equality exists between all individuals.

(1965) A secret agent, is sent to the distant-space city of Alphaville, where he must find a missing person and free the city from its tyrannical ruler.

(2009) An unnamed archivist (Pete Postlethwaite) lives alone in the devastated world of 2055, looks back at “archive” footage from 2007, asking: ¨why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?¨

(2014) In a not-so-distant future, primitive humanoid robots, called Pilgrims, are built to operate in the harsh environment. Unable to stop the advance of desertification, they are relegated to manual labor. An insurance agent of a robotics corporation, who investigates cases of robots violating their primary protocols against altering themselves, makes a discovery which will have profound consequences for the future of humanity.

(2008) Adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by Portuguese author José Saramago, about a society suffering an epidemic of blindness.

(2010) A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America, in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.

(1975) A black comedy that focuses on the survival of a boy and an intelligent dog in a post-apocalyptic wasteland in 2024. Based on the 1969 cycle of narratives by fantasy author Harlan Ellison titled "A Boy and His Dog".

(1980) In a futuristic totalitarian society, people have no control of their roles in society or lives/destiny. An adaptation of the 1932 novel of the same name by Aldous Huxley. This is an American television film first shown in 1980, and it was also shown on the BBC that same year.

(2010) Mankind has lost a 300-year war against a genetically enhanced race that man created, abused and finally tortured. Now the descendants of that race - known as the 'Ghen' control planet Earth from advanced underground cities.

(2004) An English language French live-action and animated science fiction film loosely based upon Bilal's comic book La Foire aux immortels (The Carnival of Immortals). The film takes place in New York City in late 21 century, where genetically altered humans live side by side with unaltered men and women, and where Central Park has been mysteriously encased in an "intrusion zone" where people who attempt to enter are instantly killed.

(1990) As war rages across the Republic of Gilead —formerly the United States of America— and pollution has rendered 99% of the population sterile, Kate is captured and taken to a training facility where she receives training to become Handmaids —concubines for one of the privileged but barren couples who run the country's religious fundamentalist regime.

(1975) he film takes place in a dystopian American society in the year 2000, where the murderous Transcontinental Road Race has become a form of national entertainment.

(1983) A 1983 post-apocalyptic French film of a dark vision of post-apocalyptic survival, the film was shot in black and white and contains only two words of dialogue. It depicts a world where people have been rendered mute by some unknown incident.

(2014) Based on the adaption of Veronica Roth's novels of the same names. In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she's Divergent and won't fit in.

(2013) In this film wealth inequality, the alienation of the super-rich and class conflict are taken to the extreme: in the year 2154, the very wealthy live on a man-made luxurious space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth. A man takes on a mission that could bring equality to the polarized worlds. It explores political and sociological themes such as immigration, overpopulation, health care, exploitation, the justice system, and social class issues.[

(2014) Based on the 1983 dystopian novel of the same name by Lois Lowry, this film adaptation is a dark, quiet, but powerful futuristic political tale in which a 16-year-old boy (the boy is only 12 in the book), must search for the truth in a world free of war, crime, disease, poverty, unfairness, and injustice.