Dystopias are films that explore the idea of Man vs. Authority, and are often set in totalitarian societies. They serve as analogies for real-world issues, creating universes that are frightening and then asserting that it’s a mere continuation of our current society.

One thing that I have noticed about Dystopian films, though, is that they’re almost always labelled with one of the overlapping genres. ‘V for Vendetta’ is quite clearly a Dystopian film. It follows the protagonist, V, as he confronts the fascist government he lives under. Though V lives in a parallel world, the film clearly scrutinizes government surveillance and media manipulation, asserting that we should be frightened of the control. And, while Wikipedia defines it as a Dystopia (keeping in mind that Wikipedia is written by anyone on the internet), IMDB defines it as “Action, Drama, Sci-fi, and Thriller”.

And while none of those genres can be denied, as these films certainly contain elements of them all, it’s strange that they do not have dystopia as an additional label.

But this is quite a pattern. ‘The Lobster’ is defined as “Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sci-fi, Thriller” despite clearly having elements of Dystopia.

But the genre clearly exists. Not only does anyone recognise the word as soon as you say it, but it has been recognised and used in literature for hundreds of years. In fact, when you compare the genre labeling of film adaptations to the source texts, a pretty clear pattern becomes apparent.

While the Brave New World novel was labelled Dystopia, the film was labelled Science Fiction Drama . Likewise, the Hunger Games novel was labelled Dystopia, while the film is labelled Science Fiction Thriller.

And though Dystopias tend to come hand in hand with most of the other genres mentioned – they are similar to Science Fiction films in that Dystopias will focus on some element of our developing society and push it to an extreme, much of which (like the gene sequencing in ‘Gattaca’) is related to science, which is the base inspiration for Science Fiction films – and aim to be frightening and build a sense of unease and distrust over a particular development, causing the same atmosphere as a Thriller – it is still it’s own separate genre.

There are also times that it is almost generous to label the film as a science fiction – in The Hunger Games, the Capitol has advanced technology, yes, and it controls the arena, and the Peacekeepers have advanced-ish weapons, but in the arena it’s a game of survival and the kids fight with bow and arrows – the thing that actually drives the narrative uses little technology and is not advanced – so it is definitely better described as Dystopia than a Science fiction.

Likewise, the original plot of Fahrenheit 451 focuses on a fireman whose job it is to burn books – and in the 1996 film as well as the novel, few science fiction elements exist, and those that do are more to set the scene and assert that it takes place in the future than actually drive the plot. (This disregards the 2018 version. That’s wild.)

So, if these films fit the Dystopian genre better than they do Science Fiction, and the novels were labelled as Dystopia, why does the film industry do it?

I think that it goes back to the history of the film industry (and in particular, the Western film industry). When film came to the United States in 1907, Chicago almost immediately demanded censorship, fearing the power of film. Other states started to follow, including New York who was shutting down cinemas, and by 1909, the National Board of Censorship was formed. This oversaw all films being produced in the United States, and would modify them until they got the stamp of approval. Films could choose not to get the stamp of approval, but that then greatly jeprodised their chance of getting a cinema release and significantly limited their audience.

In 1914, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union demanded that there be more regulation within the US, and the government listened. In 1915, the American government decided that film was not protected under the constitution, therefore did not have a right to free speech (literature did). In 1918, it became illegal to criticize the American government – even if it was a clear parody… which pretty much covers dystopias. The 1920s saw even more regulations being introduced, as the States realised that the youth was influenced by film, and they feared it.

This censorship only really began easing in the 1930s, also a time that the general population were bitter towards the United States government because they’d been lied to. However, at this point, PTSD was greatly impacting the content of films, as gunshots etc. could not be included.

That resulted in next to no dystopian films being produced until the 1940s (keeping in mind that literature was given a green light) and by that stage, there was no pre-existing market for dystopian film. This meant that when it came to marketing, it was safer for the studios to market it as something else… like a science fiction or a thriller.

And though there might be a market for it now – and certainly, people would freely identify something like The Hunger Games as Dystopia anyway – studios keep to what is safe in order to reach audiences. But even if they aren’t officially labelled, films can certainly fall into that genre.

That does go to show how important branding is in a film, how accurate it needs to be in order to be properly marketed to an audience. However, I think that some of this is changing as the film industry develops. The statements put out by the studio are no longer as important as they used to be, as the online environment now exists and films can be promoted through this medium. Film goers themselves have their own circles, and can promote up and coming films within them – which is more accurate and specified than general promotion.’

References 

Censored: Wielding the Red Pen. 2000. Albert and Shirley Small Special Collection Library. 8-25-06. http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/censored/film.html

Couvares, Francis G. Movie Censorship and American Culture. Washington D.C.: Simithsonian Institution Press, 1996.

Foestel, Herbert N. Banned in the U.S.S.: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994