What is a dystopia? Well, that question is not as easily answered as one might think. To put it as simply as possible, a dystopian depiction can be described as a dark vision of the future. That is hardly a satisfactory definition, though.

Unfortunately, the different definitions that are available are not as congruent as one might wish. A few examples:

• "An imaginary, wretched place, the opposite of Utopia." (Cassel's Consice English Dictionary)
  
  

• "An imaginary place where people lead dehumanised and often fearful lives." (Merriam-Webster's On-line)
  
  

• "The word 'dystopia' is the commonly used antonym of 'eutopia' [i.e. utopia] and denotes that class of hypothetical societies containing images of worlds worse than our own. [...] Dystopian images are almost invariably images of future society, pointing fearfully at the way the world is supposedly going in order to provide urgent propaganda for a change in direction." (Grolier's Multimedia Encyclopedia of Science Fiction)
  
  

• "[...] dystopian fiction looks at totalitarian dictatorship as its prototype, a society that puts its whole population continuously on trial, a society that finds its essence in concentration camps, that is, in disenfranchising and enslaving entire classes of its own citizens, a society that, by glorifying and justifying violence by law, preys upon itself. [...] dystopian society is what we would today call dysfunctional; it reveals the lack of the very qualities that traditionally justify or set the raison d'être for a community." (Erika Gottlieb's Dystopian Fiction East and West: Universe of Terror and Trial)
  
  

• "A dystopia is any society considered to be undesirable, for any of a number of reasons. The term was coined as a converse to a Utopia, and is most usually used to refer to a fictional (often near-future) society where current social trends are taken to nightmarish extremes. […] Often, the difference between a Utopia and a Dystopia is in the author's point of view. […] Dystopias are frequently written as warnings, or as satires, showing current trends extrapolated to a nightmarish conclusion. […] A dystopia is all too closely connected to current-day society." (Wikipedia On-line Dictionary)

Wikipedia's definition is, albeit somewhat lengthy, the most suitable one for an instrumental approach to the dystopian concept. It pin-points essential features:

• Dystopian societies are undesirable or even horrifying.
  
  

• Dystopian societies are usually futuristic and fictional.
  
  

• Dystopian depictions can be regarded as warnings.
  
  

• Dystopian fiction is both about today and tomorrow.
  
  

• Dystopian fiction comments on our own society.
  
  

• Dystopian and utopian concepts are relative.

I have deviced my own definition for Exploring Dystopia, which is instrumental for the selection of dystopias on this site, including recommendations from you. It is formulated as follows:

A dystopia is 

A) an imaginary society that 

B) comments on our own society and 

C) a majority of us would fear to live in.

Four key words I find essential in my definition:

Imaginary, as dystopian stories reflect, not depict contemporary society. An example: Enemy of the State might resemble Nineteen Eighty-four in certain respects, but it still depicts our own society, albeit in a speculative manner. A dystopia that is not imaginary to one degree or another actually lacks the raison d'être for a dystopia, namely to explore possiblities and probabilities. 

Society, as dystopian stories discuss major tendencies in contemporary society. An example: In Lord of the Rings, Sauron's rule is truly dystopian, but it does not really comment on our own society. Another example: Lord of the Flies has many dystopian qualities, but this island community cannot really be considered as a representative society.

Fear, as dystopias reveal and illustrate potential and more or less plausible dangers. An example: There are obviously many dangers in the Star Wars galaxy, but few would spontaneously fear to live there. However subjective this issue may be, the aim with a dystopian depiction is to frighten and provoke. As a rule, the more realistic and alarming a dystopia is, the more frightening and provoking is it.

Majority, as dystopias are positioned in relation to conventional contemporary values. An example: Some deranged individuals would probably enjoy the savage world of the Mad Max triology, but most of us would not. This issue can become somewhat complex when dealing with explicitly ideological dystopias or pseudo-utopian dystopias.

It is important to have two other aspects in mind as well:

Relativity, as Dystopia is a question of point of view and differs over time and place. For instance, the visionary man's Utopia is often the common man's Dystopia. In Hitler's Third Reich, the ruling class and its boot-licking servants probably thought they were living in Utopia, but political dissidents and concentration camp inmates were sure they were living in Dystopia. Some people may claim we are already living in Dystopia today, others may claim it is Utopia. Your Utopia might be my Dystopia and vice versa. As a common example, the world in Starship Trooper might seem attractive at first glance, but most of us would probably not enjoy living in a militarised society.

Intuitiveness, as Dystopia is difficult to demarcate and define. It is a general label used simply because it is convenient and fancy. I like to compare it to the likewise arbitrary label film noir. We can intuitively tell if a movie is film noir, but not why it is film noir. Exact characteristics are often difficult to extract. Furthermore, even if we can extract exact characteristics, a depiction with strong dystopian qualites does not necessarily have to be a dystopia. For instance, Alien is not necessarily a dystopia: it hints at dystopian concepts and it definitely looks dystopian, but does it really fit any of the definitions presented above?

Also, note that a dystopian depiction by no means need to take place in the future. Uchronian stories, i.e. alternative history stories, are not seldom dystopian, but take place in the present or in the past: they tell us what could have happened. Furthermore, the year 1984 has passed, but George Orwell's harrowing vision might still come true in the future, albeit in a different shape.

On a similar note, dystopian fiction is not necessarily science fiction. For instance, compare Nineteen Eighty-four with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Do they really have anything in common? If you are writing an essay or a thesis, you should also have in mind that it is malapropos to call dystopian fiction science fiction in certain academic circles. Personally, I couldn't care less, but then again, I'm not a university professor...

Note: Thanks to Wilson for the correction of the linguistic derivation of the term Utopia.