dystopian

I can't believe I never learned this word

Definition of dystopian:
“Dire; grim: ‘AIDS is one of the dystopian harbingers of the global village’ (Susan Sontag). As bad as can be; characterized by human misery. Antonym: utopian.” (answers.com)

Where I ran across it:
4/28/08 NYT Video Game Review, “Grand Theft Auto Takes On New York” by Beth Schiesel.

“...It was just another night on the streets of Liberty City, the exhilarating, lusciously dystopian rendition of New York City in 2008 that propels Grand Theft Auto IV, the ambitious new video game to be released on Tuesday for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 systems...”

My two cents:
Of course. It’s the opposite of utopian. Well, duh. Hit me with a hot note and watch me bounce, it’s a true (if not embarrassing) revelation. If I am being scrupulously honest I must admit that I don’t recall ever using the word dystopian in my life, despite the fact that I now realize that’s what Orwell’s 1984, Huxley’s Brave New World and Lois Lowery’s The Giver were all about. Wow, better late than never, I guess.

Seems that dystopia will always serve as entertainment. But don’t even get me started on the whole Grand Theft Auto video game debate. I am of the mind that there are far better, healthier ways to pass the time. There’s just way too much glorified graphic violence in video games today, especially this one. Movies and TV run a close second. Granted, there’s plenty of blood and sin in, say, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Shakespearean plays, and dramatic opera plots. But they don’t petition us to find joy in violent acts, nor do they solicit compassion for bad behavior and a lack of moral conscience. No, they serve as cautionary tales. Grand Theft Auto and others like it, however, provide constant, repeated exposure to graphically violent role play, eventually seducing players into associating with the violence as somehow fun and exhilarating. Frankly, it worries me that people are becoming systematically desensitized; inured to the very things that should horrify them.

The last sentence of this NYT review gives me great pause: “...But like millions of other players I will happily spend untold hours cruising Liberty City’s bridges and byways, hitting the clubs, grooving to the radio and running from the cops. Even when the real New York City is right outside.”

Now that’s not just dystopian. That’s downright dumb.