Mainly, the difference between Utopia and Dystopia is that one is forced and one is voluntary. In a Utopian society, everyone cooperates, has everything they need and there is never any violence.In a Dystopia, everyone is made to cooperate, the government distributes what the people need and no violence is allowed. If only the mindset of a Utopia could be captured in a Dystopia... it would be Utopia.
Utopia is a word derived from Greek, meaning "No where". This has become more and more literal, as no one can find a utopian society, and they are quite difficult to realistically create in literature because of all the holes in the way they are built. The chief instability, of course, rests on human nature. Who wants to just take what they need when they can have everything they want? Yes, I'm sure there are the good few who are satisfied with their fair share, but for every one of them there must be ten who are not.
And then the mopey teenage-angst/anarchist/rebel point of view: we live in a dystopia. Well, sorry, but I can't see that as being true. In dystopias, the government is nearly always totalitarianist. I live in America, and while many think true dystopia isn't far away for us, it isn't here yet. For example, one girl told me that the government controls how many children we have, here in the USA. Um, no. Birth control? SO not how it is used. She had just one point; money. At some point, you reach the capacity for how many children you can support. Well, then you go on welfare. Or give the children away. Or eat them (heh heh, A Modest Proposal reference...)The government may influence every sphere of our lives, but they do not and will never totally control them, unless they want to wire us all up, change our brain chemistry and make us droids. They wouldn't do that, it's too easy. Who feels accomplished when they open a well-oiled, unlocked door? The only point of ruling something is to have someone to boss around. If there's no one to bend to your will, why do you rule?
But, I digress. The major difference between Utopia and Dystopia is the government. In a perfect Utopia, there is a sort of voluntary socialist anarchy, where no one rules, there is no violence and there is only love. And no currency or want. And no one talks to their children about before the Utopia was created, because there would always be that one rebel who sparked the idea to go back to struggling for what you want. In dystopia, the government is totalitarianist and quite often fascist after a fashion. No one talks to their children about the past because no one is allowed to remember it as it was (a la Farenheit 451 and 1984), and there is no currency because that might spark a feeling of superiority in a place where it did not belong, and there is no love except for the country because one might betray the country (and therefore government) to the best of one's ability if it furthered that noble cause, love.
Keep Goth and Carry On.
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