Dystopia In The Giver

Words: 493
Pages: 2

Imagine living in a world with no war, no pain, and no suffering. Nobody gets hurt, no one goes hungry and everyone follows the rules. Everyone gets along and all citizens manage to live in perfect peace and harmony. A world like this seems so perfect it is almost unreal. This dreamlike civilization is called a utopia. It can be described as an imagined place or state of things in which everything is “perfect”. In the movie The Giver the director Phillip Noyce includes the elements of utopia versus dystopia in order to create the idea that The Community, the society in which Jonas lives in is a utopic civilization.
The movie starts off with a bird’s eye view looking down on the community. The panoramic view allows the audience to see that
…show more content…
Basic human feelings such as love, hate and empathy were suppressed from the community. Memories of diversity and culture were erased and placed only in the mind of the giver and the receiver of memories. Citizens were under twenty four hour surveillance, they had no free will or independent thought. Spouses were assigned as well as their “offspring” essentially creating a community with no interpretation of reality. Citizens live in oblivion when it comes to knowing what life consists of they lack basic freedoms and pleasures which reverse the intended reasoning behind creating that type of society. This gives the audience the notion to believe that this “utopia” is rather the complete opposite. Jonas was able to see and express the idea that living without basic human feelings is inhumane and unjust.
The elements of utopia and dystopia come together and play a key role in the movie The Giver. Although one is set to believe that The Community was a utopian society one quickly sees that lacking basic human pleasures is far worse than thought. Being human comes with problems and complications that are completely