It sets up a schematized but historical typology, with many examples. Section A deals with defining, and justifying the definitions of, utopia as either eutopia or dystopia and anti-utopia. The section 'Premises' (theses 1-3) leads to 'A/ Epistemology and Utopia' (theses 4-13), 'B/ Politics and Dystopia' (theses 14-24), and 'C/ Ausklang on Agents: Who Are We? Where Are We Going To?' (theses 25-30). Second, taking Black Mirror's 'Fifteen Million Merits' as an example of contemporary televisual dystopias, I argue that the supposedly ironic construction of beautified cinematic mise-en-scènes deepens and complicates the underlying ambivalence of 'beautified dystopias.' My assumption is that this is not an exceptional case, but rather an integral part of the current dystopian structure of feeling.Ī Little Tractate On Dystopia 2001 is a sequence of 'theses,' many of which have one or more appended 'glosses,' grouped into sections.

In a rereading of Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, I first examine how D-503's aestheticizing voice -although undeniably constructed for a satirical effect- fosters a degree of fascination toward the dystopian world in excess of Zamyatin's intentions.

Drawing from examples in literature and television, this article argues that 'beautified dystopias' generate a surplus (or excess) of aesthetic enjoyment, harboring a mystifying potential in tension with the critical-satirical potential of dystopias. Despite the implied critical stance of dystopian narratives, there is a strand of beautiful, aesthetically pleasant dystopias -inherently ambivalent texts that are both fascinating and horrifying.

My yevgeny zamyatin