DYSTOPIA:

list
 

 



I receive lots of recommendations from visitors, which is much appreciated. Indeed, many a new dystopia has come to my attention. Quite a few dystopias have a tendency to reappear, though. Thus, I thought it could be advantageous to add a list of all dystopian depictions I'm already aware of. 

I have received quite a few somewhat confused letters concerning this list, so a couple of clarifications might be in order. 

  • A majority of the works in the list are not true dystopias, by any definition. This list should not be regarded as the ultimate list of dystopias, but rather as a smorgasbord of works containing dystopian elements.

  • Although one can claim that every utopia is a relative dystopia, only utopias with clearly dystopian tendencies, e.g. the meritocracy and eugenics in Plato's The Republic, are included. Without this limitation, the list loses its raison d'être. 

  • Many, and I stress many, of the works in the list are recommendations from Exploring Dystopia's visitors. Needless to say, I can't examine all these recommendations thoroughly, and some of them are bound to be questionable.

  • The instrumental definition for this list, as well as the whole site, can be found on the Dystopia: definition page. Please read this definition before you make a recommendation or question a work on the list.

Finally, I don't lay claim to present a complete list, so recommendations and corrections are most welcome. Titles marked with an asterisk (*) are dystopias I have never actually read or seen, but which I have found in other lists or been recommended by visitors. In most cases, I have at least a vague idea of the intrigues and settings.


 

0-9

12 Monkeys (M)
1990 *  (TV)
28 Days Later  (M)
334 *  (N)
1985 *  (N)

A

Aeon Flux *  (N)
A.I.  (M)
Air Trust, The *  (N)
Akira  (AM) (CA)
Alien  (MS)
Alphaville *  (M)
Android  (M)
Angel Station *  (N)
Animatrix  (AM)
Anthem *  (N)
Ape And Essence *  (TV)
Apocalyptica - After The Chaos *  (AM)
Appleseed *  (AM)
Argentosoma *  (AM)
Artificial Kid, The *  (N)

B

Back To The Future II  (M)
Barb Wire  (C) (MA)
Battlefield Earth  (N) (MA)
Battle Royal  (N) (M)
Berserker *  (A)
Beyond This Horizon *  (N)
Big O *  (AM)
Black Magic *  (AM)
Blade Runner  (MA: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) (CA) (CG)
Blindness *  (N)
Blithedale Romance, The *  (N)
Blue Gender *  (AM)
Boy and His Dog, A *  (S)
Brave New World  (N) (TVM) (RP)
Brazil  (M)
Bulldozer Rising *  (N)
Burning Chrome  (A)

C

Caduceus Wild *  (N)
Camp Concentration *  (N)
Canticle for Leibowitz, A *  (N) (RP)
Catspaw *  (N)
Caves of Steel, The *  (N) (RP)
Celestial Railroad, The *  (S)
Changes, The *  (TV)
Cherry 2000  (M)
Children of Men, The  (M)
Christendom *  (N)
Christmas Banquet, The *  (S)
City Of Endless Night *  (N)
City of Lost Children, The  (M)
Clockwork Orange, A  (N) (MA)
Colossus: The Forbin Project *  (M) (RP)
Count Zero  (N)
Cowboy Bebop *  (AM)
Creed For The Third Millennium, A  (N)
Crucible Island *  (N)
Cyborg (MS)

D

Damnation Alley *  (M)
Dangaioh *  (AM)
Dark Angel  (TV)
Dark City  (M)
Dark Star  (M)
Day After, The *  (TV)
Daybreak *  (TV)
Day Of The Triffids, The  (N) (M) (TV) (RP)
Days To Come (TV)
Death Race 2000  (M)
Def-Con 4 *  (M)
Delicatessen  (M)
Demolition Man  (M)
Diamond Age *  (N)
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?  (N) (M: Blade Runner)
Domination, The * (NS) 1)
Dominion *  (AM)
Doomsday For Dyson *  (TV)
Doomwatch *  (TV)
Doppelgangers *  (N)
Dr. Strangelove  (M)

E

Earth Abides *  (N) (RP)
Earth's Holocaust, The *  (S)
Eclipse *  (N)
Eclipse Penumbra *  (N)
Egotism Or The Bosom Serpent *  (S)
Elvissey *  (N)
End Of The Dream, The *  (N)
End Of This Day's Business, The *  (N)
Equilibrium  (M)
Escape 2000 *  (M)
Escape From New York  (MS)
Exterminators Of The Year 3000 *  (M)

F

Facial Justice *  (N)
Fatherland  (N) (TVM) (RP)
Fahrenheit 451  (N) (MA) (RP)
Fifth Element, The  (M)
Fifth Head of Cerberus, The *  (N)
Fifth Sacred Thing, The *  (N)
Fire In The Sun, A *  (N)
Fist of the North Star *  (AM)
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said  (N)
Forever War, The  (N)
Freejack  (M)
Full Metal Panic *  (AM)
Futurological Congress *  (N)

G

Gattaca  (M)
Geboren 1999 *  (M)
Generator Gowl *  (AM)
Genesis Survivor Gaeia *  (AM)
Ghost in the Shell *  (AM)
Girl From Tomorrow, The *  (TV)
Giver, The *  (N)
Gorgon Child *  (N)
Growing Up in Tier 3000 *  (N)
Gun, With Occasional Music *  (N)

H

Hack Sign (AKA .hack//SIGN) *  (AM)
Handmaid's Tale, The  (N) (MA) (O)
Hardware  (M)
Hardwired *  (N)
Harrison Bergeron *  (S) (MA)
Heatseaker *  (N)
Heavy Metal *  (C) (AM)
Hell's Pavement *  (N)
Herland *  (N)
He, She, It *  (N)
Hothouse *  (N)
House in the Dark, The *  (N)
Hunter's Moon *  (RP)
Hunting Season, The *  (S) (RP)

I

I-0 *  (A)
Idoru  (N)
Impostor  (S) (MA) (RP)
In The Country Of Last Things  (N)
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers  (M) (R)
Iron Heel, The *  (N)
Islands in the Net *  (N)
It Can't Happen Here *  (N)
It Happened Here *  (M)

J

Jagged Orbit, The *  (N)
Japan Sinks  (N) (M)
Jennifer Government *  (N)
Jetee, La *  (SF)
Jin-Roh *  (AM)
Johnny Mnemonic  (S) (MA)
Johnny Zed *  (N)
Joy Makers, The *  (N)
Judge Dredd  (C) (MA)

K

Kallocain  (N)
Kafka Effekt, The *  (N)
Knights *  (M)

L

Land Under England *  (N)
Last Battle, The *  (M)
Last Child, The *  (TV)
Last Rose of Summer, The *  (N) (RP)
Last Ship, The *  (N)
Last Will Of Dr. Mabuse, The  (M)
Little Heroes *  (N)
Liquid Sky *  (M)
Logan's Run *  (M) (TV)
Lord Of The World * (N)
Lost Traveller, The *  (N)

M

Machine Stops, The *  (S) (RP)
Mad Max  (MS)
Make Room! Make Room!  (N) (MA: Soylent Green)
Man In The High Castle, The  (N)
Marah and Dann *  (N)
Matrix  (MS) (CG)
Max Headroom *  (TV)
Meccania *  (N)
Metropolis  (N) (MA)
Millennium  (M) 2) 
Mindplayers *  (N)
Minority Report  (S) (MA)
Mirrorshades  (A)
Modern Utopia, A *  (N)
Mona Lisa Overdrive  (N)
Moon 44  (M)

N

Naked Lunch, The  (N) (MA)
Neon City *  (M)
Neuromancer  (N) (CA) (CG)
New Adam and Eve, The *  (S)
Nineteen Eighty-four  (N) (TVP) (MA) (R) (TP) (RP)
Noir  (N)
Nova Express *  (N)

O

Offshore Island, The *  (N)
Omega Man, The  (N) (MA)
One *  (TV)
On The Beach  (N) (M)
Oryx and Crake  (N)
Outland  (M) (NA)
Overdrawn At The Memory Bank *  (M)
O-Zone  (N)

P

Panic In Year Zero *  (M)
Paradise And Iron *  (S)
Philosophical Investigation, A  (N)
Planet Of The Apes  (N) (MA) (MS) (TV)
Player Piano *  (N)
Postman, The *  (N) (MA)
Preferred Risk *  (N)
Prisoner, The *  (TV)
Psion *  (N)

Q

Quatermass *  (M) (TV)
Quintet *  (M)

R

Rappicinni's Daughter *  (S)
Red Alert *  (N) (MA: Dr. Strangelove)
'Repent, Harlequin,' said the Ticktockman *  (S)
The Republic *  (PD)
Resident Evil *  (CG) (MA)
Resurrection Day *  (N)
Richard III  (MA)
Riddle Of The Tower, The *  (N)
Robocop  (MS) (TV) (CA)
Robotech *  (AM)
Robot Jox *  (TV)
Rollerball  (M) (R)
Running Man, The  (N) (MA)
R.U.R. *  (TP)

S

Sandland *  (C)
Scryed *  (C)
Seventh Victim, The *  (N) (MA: Tenth Victim, The) (RP)
Sheep Look Up, The *  (N)
Shockwave Rider, The *  (N)
Silent Running  (M)
Six-String Samurai *  (M)
Slipstream  (M)
Snow Crash  (N)
Softwear, Wetwear *  (N)
Songs From The Second Floor  (M)
Soylent Green  (MA: Make Room! Make Room!)
Space Merchants, The  (N) (RP)
SS-GB *  (N)
Stalker  (S) (MA)
Stand, the *  (N) (TV)
Stand On Zanzibar  (N)
Stepford Wives, The *  (N) (MA) (R)
Starship Troopers  (N) (MA)
Stars My Destination, The *  (N) (RP)
Steel Breakfast Area, The *  (N)
Strange Days  (M)
Streetlethal *  (N)
Survivors *  (TV)
Swan Song*  (N)
Swastika Night * (N)
Syndic, The  (N)
Synners *  (N)

T

Tank Girl  (C) (MA)
TekWar *  (TV) (N)
Tenth Victim, The *  (MA: Seventh Victim, The)
Terminator, The  (MS)
The World, The Flesh And The Devil *  (M)
Things To Come *  (N) (MA)
This Island Earth *  (M)
This Perfect Day *  (N)
Threads *  (TVM)
THX-1138  (M) (R)
Time Machine, The  (N) (MA) (R) (RP)
Tomorrow File, The *  (N)
Total Recall  (N) (MA) (RP)
Trial, The  (N) (TVM)
Tripods, The  (TV)
Two-Handed Engine *  (S)
Two Hours To Doom *  (N) (MA: Dr. Strangelove)

U

Unborn Tomorrow *  (N)
Under the Black Rainbow *  (N)
Until The End Of The World  (M)
USSA *  (N)
Utopia  (N)

V

V  (TV) (C)
Vampire Wars *  (AM)
Very Private Life, A *  (N)
V For Vendetta *  (C)
Vickers *  (N)
Videodrome  (N) (MA)
 Voice Of The Whirlwind *  (N)
Vulcan's Hammer *  (N)

W

Walk To The End Of The World *  (N)
Wanting Seed, The *  (N)
Warday  (N)
War Game, The *  (M) 3)
War Of the Worlds, The  (N) (MA) (R) (RP)
Waterworld  (M)
Wave, The  (S) (TVM)
We  (N)
Welcome To The Monkeyhouse *  (S)
Westworld  (M)
When Gravity Fails *  (N)
When The Sleeper Awakes *  (N)
Wild Card  (N)
Wild Goose Chase, The *  (N)
Wild Palms *  (TV)
Wolfbane  (N)
Woman At The Edge Of Time *  (N)
World Inside, The *  (N)
World of Glory  (SF)
World War III *  (TV)

X

X *  (AM)

Y

Young Goodman Brown *  (S)

Z

Zardos *  (M)


 


A = Anthology or Collection
AM = Animated/Anime Movie(s)/Series
C = Comic or Manga
CA = Comic Adaptation
CG = Computer Game
M = Movie(s)
MS = Movie Series
MA = Movie Adaptation
N = Novel(s) or Novella(s)
NS = Novel Series
NA = Novel Adaptation
O = Opera
PD = Philosophical Disertation
R = Remake(s)
RP = Radio Play
S = Short Story
SF = Short Film
TP = Theater Play
TV = TV series
TVM = TV Movie
TVP = TV Play

 1) Consists of Marching Through Georgia, Under The Yoke and The Stone Dogs.
2) Not to be mistaken with the TV series.
3) Not to be mistaken with the hacker movie.


Thanks to Lies, A20thCenturyBoy2, Paige, Trina, Yehat, DJ, Syber, S Kelly, Hannah, Matthew, Sascha, Brian, Eric, George, Kilroy, Robert, J. Oraknabo, T'Mar, Martin, Patrick, David, Christian, Daniel, Drew, Natalie, Enna and Coralskipper for giving me suggestions of dystopias and/or for making me aware of new dystopias. A special thanks to Jeff and Darieus for several dystopian titles. A very special thanks to Peter for a multitude of anime titles. 

If I have forgot a name, please forgive me and inform me.