Here’s a list of some of the dystopian and post-apocalyptic books and shows I go to when I’m feeling too damned cheery about life. On the other hand, as you will find out, some dystopian fiction can leave us feeling A-okay, and that’s alright too. It’s not all pure misery. It’s not all a big Orwellian nightmare. We’re not all destined to end up on the ward under a permanent drip-feed of BlyssPluss as they siphon off our lipids and suck out our stem cells for genetic engineering and reproduction. Sometimes we get a happy ending. Because sometimes we need one.
The Fifth Element – Luc Besson
A controversial choice at the top of the list. More straight-up sci-fi than dystopian, The Fifth Element is nevertheless a marvellous romp, replete with three-fingered aliens, spandex, 90s-era supermodels, fantastical weaponry, all topped off by star turns from Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman. Pure high camp from start to finish, it is an exhilarating ride. Overturns the conventions of dystopian fiction, but hey, don’t we need things to turn out well now and again?
Brazil – Terry Gilliam
What a mad romp Brazil is. Not Gilliam’s strongest work, but a wonderful, wild, surreal journey of a movie. I rewatch it every now and again just to remind myself how bizarre it is. Seems to take 1984 as a jumping off point, then veers into wild, unchartered territory.
Utopia – Dennis Kelly
Objectively one of the best series to ever come out of the UK, of any genre. It just happens to be dystopian, or we might more aptly call it ‘pre-apocalyptic’. Everything about this series is right, from the storytelling, the cinematography, the performances, the haunting soundtrack by Cristobal Tapia de Veer that draws it all together. Don’t bother with the American remake – go straight to the original and don’t look back.
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
I would have to say, read the book and don’t bother with the movie. And read the book in one go, start to finish. It’ll take you about six hours. And it’ll leave you haunted.
Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel
Read the book and watch the series both. A strange, wandering post-apocalyptic musing on art and belonging, Station Eleven is like the chowder of post-apocalyptic fiction. It’ll leave you with a warm feeling in your belly. And that’s just fine.
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
A work drawing on some of our own, real-life totalitarian history, The Handmaid’s Tale has found fresh interest in the 20th century, probably because many of the more frightening elements in the story are playing out in front of us in our own countries and societies. Look at some of the most vocal politicians today in any Western country, and you see the template for a Commander Lawrence or a Commander Wharton. Frightening, when the ideological underpinnings of our modern world begins to resemble Gilead. Read the book. Series was great too, even if it did get a bit woke from Season Three on.
The Book of Eli
Great movie. More Gary Oldman in this one, and that is rarely, if ever, a bad thing. The Book of Eli charts the journey of Eli, a man who is transporting across country the only known copy of the Bible. Gary Oldman’s antagonist, Carnegie, seeks to seize the Bible for himself, knowing its potential to mould minds and establish power over populations. Obviously the tale has decidedly Christian undertones, but don’t let that put you off, for it turns out Denzel Washington is absolutely lethal with a machete. Slashing stuff.
Tender is the Flesh – Agustina Bazterrica
I went looking for other novels that dealt with the theme of cannibalism a few years back, an act of curiosity after the writing of my cannibalistic debut, Meat. I found this, a strange Latin American work that deals with a world wherein the eating of human meat has become commonplace and a tightly controlled industry. A short and excellent read.
The Madd Addam Trilogy – Margaret Atwood
Did you know Atwood has written a work of post-apocalyptic fiction? Well she has. There’s this madd trilogy, which starts with the story of Snowman, a strange, solitary individual who lives in a tree on the edge of a lake, and whose only companions seem to be these peculiar human-like creatures called ‘Crakers’. What unfolds is a tale of bio-engineering and all-consuming corporate greed, and a long meditation on playing God. Superb, if you love getting lost in a post-apocalyptic world.
Twelve Monkeys – Terry Gilliam
Banger from Gilliam. Perhaps his best. No doubt his best received, thanks in part to the stellar casting of Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Madeleine Stowe. Gilliam is the dystopian filmmaker par excellence, and excels in this story of a man who ventures from the future to the past to prevent the spread of a virus that wipes out most of humanity. Or is it all just a fever dream? Pertinent to our modern age, too, when we seem to keep falling foul of varying pandemics. Bummer, ain’t it.
Honorary Mentions:
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin
George Orwell –1984
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury