Dystopian Novels: a cliche?

[Forrest Philpot]

The commonplace plot/setting for a Dystopian novel is the future, in a heavily-populated city, where the government controls every movement (and sometimes thought) that the citizens make. 

A few commonplace Dystopian books:

1. 1984 - George Orwell

2. Anthem - Ayn Rand
3. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

5. Harrison Bergeron - Kurt Vonnegut

some films
1. Metropolis
2. 2081

3. Soylent Green

4. iRobot

[Ginger Bell-Petty]

The dystopian novel is more of a type of critique (of society, government, religion...well, you get the idea) of the here and now;even if that " here and now" was some very long time ago the themes these books address are still relevant today, with "Brave New World" and its consumerism springing first to mind. The similarities within dystopian literature exist as expressions of some our deepest fears (especially in the West), the horror of becoming a cog, to exist only for the benefit and at the pleasure of a government or corporation; these concerns are still valid. It is because of both their prescience and historical resonance that novels depicting bleak futures for humanity rise above cliche and continue to compel our attention.

[Kotryna]

"The reason that cliches become cliches is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of communication." Guard!Guards! by Terry Pratchett 

Dystopian novels have to represent the human fears about the future. And usually those fears are very similar in each individual. So we basically have and idea wrapped in a story. And from book to book the idea remains but the cover changes. Sometimes the idea is that we fear the changes we see in our government. We guess the possible outcome of these changes and create a story about The Party that controls every aspect of life. 

What I was trying to say is that people think and fear similarly so the outcome might seem as a cliche, which is ok by me. As you can see from my quote.

[Mary]

Perhaps it is the idea of the dystopian novel is the cliche.  Each is unique, yet there seems to be an abundance of the subject.  Personally I am just happy that the romanticized vampire flow has been decreased thanks to the dystopian novel.

[Audrey Jordan]

I'd say they are prone to cliches, but the dystopian genre in itself is not a cliche.