Dystopia
Popular Culture Connections/ Influence on Culture
Brave New World Candide
“Soma” by the Strokes
Forrest Gump
Voltaire, the author of Candide, and Robert Zemeckis, the director of “Forrest Gump” both use grotesquely naïve protagonists to portray their view of the world in which they live. Both are surrounded by a corrupt society and bombarded by various character defining events and are able to come to a better understanding as to their philosophy in life. This song is influenced by Brave New World because it describes soma to be
something that is used to hide away the pain people suffer but it just really OPERA REVIEW: ‘Candide’
covers what’s on top and never cures the pain. In Brave New World soma is
a hallucinogen used by those in power to subdue the citizens. Citizens of the
World State have been conditioned to love the drug. Problem arises because
they are being enslaved by the drug and turned into mindless drones.
“Brave New World” Movie
It’s a 1998 film based on the original book by Aldous Huxley.
There are some differences but the main point is the same.
It criticizes the use of advanced technology that corrupts its
people and destroying instead of preserving the goodness of
mankind.
Beloved
In this movie, Edith Brennan was a psychotic mother who was put into a mental asylum in the 1800's. As she was sent into the asylum, her child was taken away by the nuns. Her love for the child was unimaginable yet inhumane, as she escaped the asylum and grabbed her child. She ran off into the woods from villagers who were on the hunt for her. Because she didn't want the baby to grow up without a mother, she jumped off a cliff while carrying her own child.
Mama
The New York Times
The novel Beloved features the ghost of a baby killed by her enslaved black mother. It came out for the need of literature to commemorate slaves and their history. Ms. Morrison once said in a magazine interview “There’s no 300 foot tower, there’s no small bench by the road.” On Sullivan’s Island people held a memorial ceremony to dedicate her long awaited “bench by the road.” Like from the passage in Beloved, It calls on black people to love one another in the face of oppression and brutality.
Fresno Grand Opera Production has put Voltaire's work in good use showing the audience what the mixture of opera and literature can do. The music that hints danger and complexity really grabs the attention of many.