Blog 8

1. Cardin, Matt. "The Hunger Games (Book, 2008)." Pop Culture Universe: Icons, Idols, Ideas. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
• The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins is about a post apocalyptic North American society called Panem. It is run by the Capitol and they exercise their full control by creating the Hunger Games, an annual televised event in which one boy and one girl from the ages 12-18 are selected by a lottery in 12 districts to fight to the death. Cardin relates this dystopian society to real world fears of economic collapse and ecological disaster.


1. Westfahl, Gary. "Fahrenheit 451 (Book, 1953)." Pop Culture Universe: Icons, Idols, Ideas. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
• Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a not too distant future in the United States. In this future, books and reading have been outlawed to keep the population submissive yet satisfied. The protagonist, Guy Montag is firemen who serves as a form of law enforcement. Their job is to burn all sightings of books. This book drew parallels the Red Scare of the Cold War perpetuated by Senator Andrew McCarthy.
1. Mind the Gap
• This article brings up the notion that fictional entities are incomplete when there are unknown facts surrounding a character or setting. If these entities cannot grow and expand upon themselves to answer insignificant questions, then they are incomplete cause nothing is true or false. Their world, their universe contain a separate set of rules than our reality.
1. Man is the Measure
• In order for a dystopia to relate to the reader, the writer must use draw parallels to contain cultural influences, however, they must use their imagination to separate their dystopia from the real world. This is described as the normative human universe.
1. News from somewhere
• The abstract proposes the idea on the three components of utopianism are the literary utopia, utopian ideologies and communal movements. A utopia emphasizes community and collectiveness, as it is an enhanced version of society. The dystopia reaches the opposite end the spectrum. It is constructed out of fear, but a dystopian society is usually portrayed as more extreme yet realistic of the two.