Establishing the setting in an important step in any text as it defines to us the reader what the world is like around the characters. This step is even more critical for the genre of dystopia where the world and society that are created provide to us so many ideas and details that express many different aspects of a world that are made up and that is flawed. Seldomly however is there ever a dedicated section of the book that purely describes the setting which is why authors often convey there setting using many different techniques. One of these being the language they use. What they choose us to see, what language, the characters speak or in film, what music is played. This helps the author to effectively convey the troubles within these societies and therefore give us a warning and what we should pay attention to in our own society.
Stephen Speilberg’s film Minority report is a clear example of langue being used effectively to build the dystopian setting. It is rich in the small details that we often miss in the first viewing that give us a greater insight into the world that is being established around us. As many other dystopias, Minority report would appear to be a Utopia or a perfect world. And thanks to the main feature of the film, precrime, it is also a world that can predict murder and therefore eliminates it from society creating a perfect world, right? Some of the initial features that make Minority report seem like a utopia is what we purely see on the screen. The public buildings are smooth, white and perfectly clean giving the place a sanitised look with no imperfection. Stephen Speilberg leads us builds the setting of a society that has the wealth, time and care that is more capable to look after itself and its citizens. As the film progresses we see how the setting changes to a world that resembles a dystopia, shown by features such as camera angles, film processing, and the choice in music, which undermine the utopia we once saw. A great example of this is the spider scene. Here we are set in an apartment block and for the first time, we see dirty crumbling walls, characters that appear homeless and troubled and rats running around all showing elements of decay. We then see the total invasion of privacy the state has over its citizens when we get a birds-eye view of everyone in the apartment and even when characters go through to different rooms the camera follows showing there is no escape from the eye of the state. The music played in the background creates an atmosphere on tension when the tremolo cellos are played at dissonance with each other and the synthy unearthly sub-bass. Also the spacey sound with a large surprising low self filter and been boosted around the higher frequencies further express an element of unnaturalness and makes it undesirable to us the audience. The police wear so much technology that is covering almost all of there bodies which indicates even they are having there humanity stripped from them and are instead more of a tool than a person. Minority report uses these different language techniques to show us the different ways the state suppresses the individuals. All these features build the dark, decaying dystopia setting which we will see is very common throughout this genre. Minority report warns us what could happen if we allow technology to progress without the people in charge to care not for our privacy and personal lives.
Like Minority report, Gorge Orwell’s novel Nineteen eighty-four builds a dystopian setting by the language that is used within the novel but uses differing techniques. In Orwell’s novel, their is a new language Newspeak which is beginning to phase out traditional English as we know it. Newspeak is essentially a language created by the state that is being stripped of many words, or as one of Newspeaks producers Syme puts it, “We’re cutting language down to the bone” by “destroying words, hundreds of them a day“. Orwell further goes on to show us the power a state can have by altering the language and therefore controlling what we think. Syme even admits it to the protagonist Winston that “the whole Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought” which as Obrien says “Thoughtcrime will become literally impossible because there will be no words to express it”. Obrien continues saying that “Mental training undergone in childhood and grouping itself with Newspeak words, crimestop, black-white and doublethink makes him unwilling and unable to think too deeply on any subject whatsoever”. Orwell uses newspeak to illustrate a society that is unable to conceptualise an idea due to the language that is used. It shows that newspeak as a tool to control and suppress the individual which shows us a society where the state is literarily controlling the thoughts that can and will be created in the heads of its citizens. This in turn also strips the humanity which in contrast Minority report used the excessive use of technology to achieve this. Nineteen eighty-four uses language as a method to suppress the individuals rarther than showing there suppression like in Minority report, however similar to Minority report, the individuals are suppressed in similar ways. Both societies strip the individuality from their citizens and freedom of choice for totalitarian control. Nineteen eighty-four warns us what could happen if we give a state to much control.
The novel A Clockwork Orange is a builds a dystopian setting in some very similar ways to Nineteen eighty-four but conveys to the reader a different warning. Like in Nineteeneghty four, it is set in England and there is a new language inside A Clockwork Orange, Nadsat. Unlike Newspeak, Nadsat is a slang language that contains many words that are Russian and Slavic derivatives, such as the word “Nadsat” itself which means teen. Or Droog translates to “друг” which means friend. Given the novel was written in the 1960-70s which at the time the west feared the communism take over, the fact that there is a language with Russian influence suggests that this new society has either learned to coexists with the people of the USSR or like in Orwell’s vision, communism has spread to the rest of the world. This by itself would terrify the readers of the time. Also given throughout the novel we only really see the younger population use this language hints to the reader that there is some form of separation between the younger and older population. “appy polly loggy” when read is an extreme exaggeration version of apology (which is exactly what it means) which gives a mocking sound to the word. This would make sense as never once do you see Alex apologise to any of his droogs which could show us that apologizing is shown as a form of weakness for at least the teens in this society.
“Is it better for a man to have chosen evil than to have good imposed upon him“ is the idea Anthony tries to tackle when Alex goes through the Ludovico technique which aim is to make it impossible for Alex to commit violence again. This however just Alex to go into a deep spiral of depression as it also removes his love for classical music and is unable to defend himself. Ludwig, short for Ludovico, is also the first name of Beethoven who e composers some of the music Alex loves. This is ironic given that the Ludivico technique is destroying Alex’s love for Beethovens(and other classical) music. Alex this leads him to try and commit suicide which shows to us that “Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man.”. The Ludovico technique like Newspeak in Orwell’s novel is just a way to control the citizen’s thoughts and make them unable to process ones that the state does not wish for them to process. This then strips the humanity from Alex as he is unable to choose what is right and wrong and instead just merely exists. A Clockwork Orange warns us what may happen if the choice between good and bad is removed from us.
Blade Runner 2049 is a film that is rich in many elements such as symbolism that builds a vivid dark dystopian world. Like in Minority report the music used in the film alone paints a clear picture of a dystopian world. The opening music for the film is composed of many amounts of synth layers and even the strings sound synthy as well. This clearly indicates aspects that this world may be largely synthetic or large amounts of destruction to the environment as no natural instruments are present. Destruction of the past we once knew and how alien and different the society is going to be despite only being 20 seconds into the opening scene. Of course, when watching the film we see that this exactly the case that a large amount of the population is synthetically made people. Like in Minority report we feel alienated by the sounds we hear with the swelling and random oscillating unnatural synths further build on this effect. The destruction of the environment is also evident in the later scenes such as the dirty polluted air and the many grey fields bland fields all showing elements of decay. Decay is also evident in many dystopias such as Nineteen eighty-four “Winston smith [..] slipped quickly through the glass doors of victory mansions though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering with him” where gritty dust is the sign of decay here.
But perhaps a large connection between the texts is symbolism and Blade runner 2049 goes with this trend. Like in Minority report which uses broken glass birds eyeshot to show the destruction of privacy or Nineteen eighty-four where the religious buildings have been turned to museums/public buildings, the film uses many Egyptian like symbols. Firstly The Tyrell/Wallace building is a huge pyramid that dwarfs all other buildings in the region and its interiors are made of some orange or yellow stone with long corridors that resemble Egyptian pyramids. Its also worth noting that this is where the replicants are made and stored. When viewing Wallance its clear he thinks of himself as a king or a Pharaoh who has done humanity a great favour by providing them with free slave labour. Wallace also talks a lot about the stars which could be viewed as a connection between this Egyptian theme where they believed that the pharaohs could talk to the gods and once they died they went to the stars to join them. Also, slaves built the pyramids for the pharaohs much as the replicants have built the world for the powerful humans such as Wallace. This nicely symbolises the imbalance of power between the replicants and the true-born powerful humans which is evident throughout this society and is effective at getting across the setting. Also, Wallace being blind (or impaired vision at least) is symbolism for not being able to properly see and understand the treasure of human life which seems to be what most other (born) humans we see struggle to grasp as well. Bladerunner 2049 warns us of the dilemma that may to come if we ever have humans such as replicants and what rights they should have and why we shouldn’t have 1 corporation controlling so much.
These 4 texts are rich in the way they use language to create a vivid setting of a world that does not exist and go further to paint the author’s idea of a warning to the reader what could be to come. They try to make us pay attention to society and not be driven by beliefs or thoughts that are not our own. However, it is very easy to then to dismiss these warnings thinking “That could never happen”. But I ask, like Newspeak, is the English language somehow limiting our thoughts. Orwell once said, “If thought corrupts language, then language corrupts thoughts“. I would say words such as “love” which are so overused that they have their true meaning so distorted, that what is difference between saying “I love you” and “I love your dress”. Does this then limit our thoughts on what true love is? Is this the reason why we can’t truly explain how we feel for the one we truly love? What if there are many more examples like this that make it impossible for us to explain new concepts because we don’t have words that explain it? As Orwell said “The greatest enemy of clear language is insincerity“.