Overview of Dystopian Literature (in the eyes of Stefanee Montesantos)

1984 by George Orwell
- Well I believe it is safe to say that this book has made me lose my trust with the government. This "Big Brother" fiasco has messed me up. I know avoid all routes that I know have a police car monitoring. I clear my history like crazy, and have stayed away from all politics because it quite frankly scares me. This book has really changed the way I think of society. It has also taught me that social psychology is a tool that powerful people use, and "Big Brother" is one of them. I can not wait to reread this book when I am older, and see how else I become paranoid with the world I live in.

FEED by M.T Anderson
- I could not say that this book changed my way of thinking. It wasn't a very influential book, but I absolutely love it. I think I like it because of the way it was written. It had a very quick, and easy story line that let you connect with the characters, but it also didn't drag on certain things. It got be aggravated, it made me cry, it made me laugh, it made me smile. Not to mention it was written so eloquently. It was written almost futuristically. The way M.T Anderson used words stayed did the futuristic time period such justice. I loved reading every word of it.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
- Well, I think it is safe to say I absolutely loved this book, and its sequels. I read this book series over Christmas break and it was everything I needed to get back into reading. I was really overdue for another book series to read really fast, and this was exactly what I needed. This book being the first one in the series was quite slow, but man did it pick up the pace in the end, which set it for the rest of the books. I think I liked this book the most because I could connect the best with these characters. I saw aspects of myself in each character and it just hooked me in even more. I think what initially hooked me was when Miranda's friend was killing herself because of what the church was telling her to do. I have always had a problem with the way religion is interpreted by some people. When I saw that Pfeffer was challenging those same challenges I faced, I was instantly hooked. In the second book of the series, it is very interesting how she takes a whole new light on religion. I also just liked this book because my obsession with the Moon is a problem:)

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- This book just hits me in so many different feels, I don't even know how to describe it. It mainly hit in my feminist feels. It just bothered me so much what they were subjecting women to. Healthy women at that as well. I think the worst part of it all was "The Ceremony". As a fellow writer, the entire idea of it, and how being a Handmaid works was simply genius. But as a ethical person, it is just wrong. The entire book was just beautifully wrong.
   So, since I loved this book so much, I made it my mission to find the movie online. I did, but I wasn't able to watch it all. I did find some rather amazing information though. Aidan Quinn played the role of Nick. Now Nick was by far my favorite character in the entire book. He was so mysterious, and you could just tell that he was hiding something that would save the day in the end. He also cared so much for Offred, that he just made my heart warm. Then I saw who played him in the movie, and my heart just melted. I absolutely love Aidan Quinn in Practical Magic and in Legends of the Fall. 

World War Z by Max Brooks
- Okay, I know that it seemed like I didn't like this book in class, but I actually really enjoyed it. I think I need to reread it, and fully enjoy it. It is just one of those books that I need a bit more time to read and fully appreciate everything this book has to offer. And man does it have a lot. It just covers so much globally! What I thought was most interesting was the Redeker Plan. It has so much to entertain ethically, that I want to explore it some more. I never thought that I would ever like a book with zombies!

Idiocracy: A Take on Modern Society

Dank… sick brah… suhhh dude… literally… streak… i can't even… broski… chollo… bfffls… 

   This is common lingo used in today's society. If you where a person that just came to the United States, I'm sure you would be quite confused with the everyday conversation of some people, especially from adolescence. This type of specialized lingo is utilized in the movie Idiocracy to portray a form of satire. This movie uses terms like fag, retarded, and has a very large emphasis on sex and money. The use of these words are somewhat similar to what we do today with words like nigga, and beaner. Also, the obsession of sex and money are just exaggerations on what today's society obsessed with.
    What this movie did was it took a sort of serious topic of todays society, and used satire to show its obscurity. It dumbed people down because stupidity is funny for the intelligent. It made derogatory words common to show that we use them often in society, and then made them funny. It took sex and made it a very big topic for that society. People laugh at sex, but they also are always drawn to it. Have you ever heard the term that sex sells… Well yeah, it does, especially in this movie. Also, money all everyone wants in this movie. That seem's to be the the case in todays society as well.
   With all of these similarities between today and the movie, I can only hope that we do not fully evolve into the people of Idiocracy. If so, I really do hope I am not around for that time. I don't think I would be able to sit and watch my society crumble the way it did.

(I hope you enjoy yet another parallel between today and Idiocracy)