• ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I think I must be missing your point then, because enhanced and/or widespread poverty is absolutely characterized by fear and distress, and thus very much fits within the definition of a dystopia.

    Just because a particular social ill has existed forever in one form or another, or to a greater or lesser degree, does not exclude it from being dystopian.

    From Wikipedia:

    A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ (dus) ‘bad’, and τόπος (tópos) ‘place’), also called a cacotopia or anti-utopia, is a community or society that is extremely bad or frightening. . . The relationship between utopia and dystopia is in actuality, not one simple opposition, as many utopian elements and components are found in dystopias as well, and vice versa.

    Dystopias are often characterized by fear or distress, tyrannical governments, environmental disaster, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society.

    That’s just one definition, but there are plenty of others just like it: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dystopian+definition

    • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      my point is that poor does not automatically imply dystopian and therefor your a suggestion to the contrary (choose between “poor” and “not dystopian”) is not true, as can be seen in this handy matrix

      poverty is attribute that can be present in dystopia, but it is not a necessity.

      in most major dystopias in popular culture (1984, Fahrenheit 451, blade runner, logan’s run) the poverty is not the defining factor.

      and on the opposite side, people can be poor, struggling through hardships, but still be looking for a bright future instead of feeling oppressed or dystopian.

      as can be seen in scifi colonization stories or in real life communities in poor countries. despite lacking the wealth of the top 10% of western population, without our mortgages or antidepressants (or maybe just because of that), they can be much happier.

      • ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        It wasn’t my suggestion to choose. I was just saying I didn’t understand your reasoning. Look up a bit.

        But I do like the illustrations. Thank you for taking the time.