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I remember reading Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" in eighth grade.
As far as I remember, it was the first time I ever read a story where the ending turned out to be so incredibly dark and disturbing.
Can't help but think of The Lottery when reading about the United Airlines incident.
Dystopia seems to be the new normal these days.
8 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
But still found it very dark.
As for dystopian fiction, this weekend I watch the old 1983 mini-series "V" - partly because the ads on El Rey Channel said it was based on Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here." I knew it had a strong anti-fascism thread but did not realize when it was first shown that it was directly related to the older novel.
Origins
Inspired by Sinclair Lewis' anti-fascist novel It Can't Happen Here (1935), director–producer Kenneth Johnson wrote an adaptation titled Storm Warnings, in 1982. The script was presented to NBC for production as a television mini-series, but the NBC executives rejected the initial version, claiming it was too "cerebral" for the average American viewer. To make the script more marketable, the American fascists were re-cast as man-eating extraterrestrials, taking the story into the realm of science fiction to capitalize on the popularity of science-fiction franchises such as Star Wars. V, which cost $13 million ($31,000,000 today) to make,[1] premiered on May 1, 1983.
Influences
With the Visitor's Swastika-like emblem and their SS-like uniforms, the miniseries became an allegory on Nazi fascism.[4]:28[5]:254-255 There is a youth auxiliary movement called the "Friends of the Visitors" with similarities to the Hitler Youth, while the Visitor's attempts at cooptation of television news reporters suggests the Nazi-era propagandization of news through the film industry.[4]:35 The miniseries' portrayal of human interaction with the Visitors bears resemblance to Occupied Europe during World War II, with some citizens choosing collaboration while others join underground resistance movements.[4]
7 Where the Nazis persecuted primarily Jews, the Visitors were depicted persecuting scientists, their families, and anyone associating with them.[5]:254 As the Visitors start eliminating scientists who could reveal their true nature, a Jewish family is shown hesitating helping their scientist neighbor and his family, until their grandfather suggests that to do otherwise would mean they hadn't learned anything from the past.[6][7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_(1983_miniseries)#Origins
Inspired by Sinclair Lewis' anti-fascist novel It Can't Happen Here (1935), director–producer Kenneth Johnson wrote an adaptation titled Storm Warnings, in 1982. The script was presented to NBC for production as a television mini-series, but the NBC executives rejected the initial version, claiming it was too "cerebral" for the average American viewer. To make the script more marketable, the American fascists were re-cast as man-eating extraterrestrials, taking the story into the realm of science fiction to capitalize on the popularity of science-fiction franchises such as Star Wars. V, which cost $13 million ($31,000,000 today) to make,[1] premiered on May 1, 1983.
Influences
With the Visitor's Swastika-like emblem and their SS-like uniforms, the miniseries became an allegory on Nazi fascism.[4]:28[5]:254-255 There is a youth auxiliary movement called the "Friends of the Visitors" with similarities to the Hitler Youth, while the Visitor's attempts at cooptation of television news reporters suggests the Nazi-era propagandization of news through the film industry.[4]:35 The miniseries' portrayal of human interaction with the Visitors bears resemblance to Occupied Europe during World War II, with some citizens choosing collaboration while others join underground resistance movements.[4]
7 Where the Nazis persecuted primarily Jews, the Visitors were depicted persecuting scientists, their families, and anyone associating with them.[5]:254 As the Visitors start eliminating scientists who could reveal their true nature, a Jewish family is shown hesitating helping their scientist neighbor and his family, until their grandfather suggests that to do otherwise would mean they hadn't learned anything from the past.[6][7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_(1983_miniseries)#Origins
