What’s the next wave of dystopia in popular culture?

I think the classic CRTs, mirrorshades, and black synthleather look of cyberpunk doesn’t really work with our expectations in 2024.

In the 70s and 80s, we expected acid rain, ozone holes, and lawlessness to fill our future, as companies took over from (relatively) responsible governments and civility/civilization collapsed. The outfit fit with that: keep the burning rain and sun off, while protecting against looters and raiders. Meanwhile, writers didn’t see how technology would shrink and get better.

In 2024 we expect our dystopia to be hot: the world is heating up, so black synthleather is out. Maybe mirrorshades stick around. Corporations aren’t taking over any more, governments are becoming corrupt/evil (e.g. Hunger Games). And technology is tinsy tiny, verging on invisible.

I’m thinking of the Hunger Games and Upload. (And the first five episodes of Fallout)

  • smegEnglish
    4·
    7 months ago

    Corporations aren’t taking over any more

    I beg to differ! Both people and governments are more reliant than ever on a handful of tech companies. Most of them aren’t your classic cyberpunk megacorp (though we do have some like Samsung which fit the bill) but the likes of Google, Apple, and Amazon have an incredible amount of influence and power over their users, as well as the capital to buy out any industry they want to take over.