Definition of Dystopian Fiction

Dystopian Fiction is sci fi that deals with an undesireable futuristic world for human beings. A Dystopian society is characterized by extreme human misery, squalor, oppression, disease, etc. Post apocalyptic wastelands, viral and bacterial pandemic, zombies, and totalitarian regimes are recurring themes in dystopian science fiction. Dark Future Fiction is a comprehensive directory that offers reviews of all media of a dystopian sci fi nature; it includes novels, films, and television media.

April 02, 2009

"Children of Men" - Novel by P.D. James

Picture it, England, 2021 (in my most Spophia Petrillo-ish voice). You will see a world on the edge of complete chaos where no one can conceive. The human race is faced with the extinction of the species when lo and behold....a pregnant woman emerges from the nightmarish ghetto that has become much of our precious Earth. Such is the setting for P.D. James' novel, "Children of Men". The novel was published in 1992 and I read it upon its initial release -- I was hooked on the book until the very end. I simply could not put it down.

The 2006 film adaptation invoked a different kind of reaction from me. It starred Julianne Moore, so against my better judgment I watched it anyway. I will watch anything starring Julianne Moore (including "The Forgotten" (2004) -- what a trainwreck!) but the film adaptation of "Children of Men" was almost too bad to watch. It was nothing like the world I had imagined in the book, but to its credit, most films are never as good as what the human mind can imagine when reading a book. Alas, it was a bearable film, watch it in that vein and you won't be too terribly disappointed; if you've never read the book, you might actually love the film.

*Check out my Youtube Favorites Channel for a view of the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/DystopianFictionFan
*The film version also stars Clive Owen, Michael Caine, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

1 comment:

That Hank said...

See, I enjoyed both the movie and the novel. In fact, they were so different that I was able to completely separate how I felt about them, something I usually can't do with book-to-screen translations.