What is the most overused dystopian cliche?

[Denele]

Just joined this group because of this thread -- nice discussion. Thanks! Question -- what would you call a novel that is dystopian (climate changed world in 2060 struggling for food, water) and utopian (world largely adapting and making the best of things)and borderline fantasy (psionic capabilities on the rise) ??

Sorry - thanks to Mike's subsequent post, I realize my question is completely off topic. Would appreciate any feedback or referral to a more appropriate thread.

[Mike]

I don't know if it's overused or just part of the expected mythology, but leather clad gangs of motorcycle riding marauders. A modern Mongol horde swooping in on Harleys.

That being said, I've used them myself. There is a mystique associated with motorcycles and gangs. Freedom and anarchy, as well as lawlessness that stretches back into post-war America.

Post-apocalyptic stories without bikers is like a Hallmark made for tv Christmas special without the curmedgony old codger who needs to learn the true meaning of Christmas. Just part of the genre.

[Philip]

Welcome to the new contributors, yes the subjects range which is why I like this particular forum

As for the motorcycles you have the Mad Max angle leaning off of Easy Rider as films haven't read the stories that go with them if there are the books. Even Waterworld has the jet skis in place of the Bikes. Can't think of anything in the UK genre like that - no freedom or revolution angle I suppose nor the open road element in US fiction and films. If someone has suggestions of good reads in this sub set then please post them.

As for politics well there is some here dystopia or utopia is after all a political state - interested in the religious angle as well.

[Will]

Mike - Mad Max always confused me. In a post apocalyptic world with a petrol shortage why would everyone drive around in gas guzzling V8s?

But then I suppose it's hard to shoot an exciting action scene where the combatants are riding bicycles.

[Patrick]

Zombies and cannibals are both very overused (though I can give the latter a fair bit more leeway for realism's sake).

[Jackie]

Supernatural creations, such as zombies or alien. Technically, these are not dystopian; they are predominantly sci-fi or fantasy, but YA authors like to label them dystopian even though dystopian novels are supposed to be feasible.

[Theo]

That whole end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it thing. Yawn.

Really depends on the era. 60's everyone thought we would colonize mars.Then there was a lot of weird gender twisting. Cyperpunks thought physical reality would cease to exist. Now it's a lot of fights-to-the-death. And zombies. Of course.

[Francesca]

what I often don't understand is, if your dystopian society doesn't have working fuel refineries, most of the already made gas is probably be saved by people/hoarded for only the really important use of vehicles, and if its been a while since the refineries shut down, why is everyone still driving cars? For that matter, why do homes still have electricity? In Divergent all the homes had electricity, there were buses and trains, and yet not one of the 5 factions factory/power plant workers. Maybe they aren't using petroleum/coal and they are using solar, you still need factories to produce solar panels and you still need solar panels. (And I am pretty sure Chicago isn't a city sitting over a hidden oil/coal reserve, but again, if it is, who is working in these places?)

That is one of the big things that bugs me. If you don't have access to the fuel, how are you getting electricity?

It makes a lot more sense to me when people are living with their wood stoves to cook and horses/feet for transportation.

Also, on the matter of zombies fiction, when did the zombies become dystopian? Yeah, they are a post-apocalyptic story, and the society (if that's even what you call the last couple of human stragglers still surviving in these books) is definitely not Utopian, but I kind of think of Dystopian as semi-realistic, things like, government collapse due to economic collapse of the world and states succeeding, or government being killed of in an attack, or in general a world after ours where the system of government has changed. Kind of like what the dark ages after the collapse of the current empires will look like. You think about how Rome was, and then how the dark ages were, and you realize just how much knowledge and culture were lost and how much humanity jumped backward during the dark ages. The dark ages was Rome's dystopian story.

I think what I am really asking here, is since when did Zombies become dystopian and how did I miss this?

[Stephen]

For me it's when a dystopian backdrop is used for a single-handed hero to save the world or for a standard run of the mill love story to take place. I get that it makes the contrast more vivid but often it's at the cost of truly exploring the dystopia. I much prefer normal people doing relatively normal things in an abnormal situation. For me 1984 is probably one of the best examples. And Never Let Me Go is up there too.

[Lincoln]

Zombies and Vampires. I hate them. If there's a sniff of either creature in the blurb I won't read the book and I find it incredibly annoying that popular culture finds them so appealing these days. But I digress, as I don't find them cliche.

Most dystopian tales that I have read have the same basic main theme. The story centres around the fact that the dystopian future came about as a means of saving humanity from itself.