Interesting topic. During the build up of the so called Cold War and the prolification of nuclear build up there were a number of films that dwelt on the Dystopian theme. I wonder, in the back of people's minds, if the current and developing events in Iraq and this new virus plague from Asia is the catalyst for this discussion - some sort of resonant foreboding, like a pitch fork humming a bleak future, or at least a warning of a human landscape there because of our endeavours. Not so much OF a future, but FOR a future. Certainly the late 60's and throughout the 70's saw an amazing array of films which invited us to a dystopiasn place of residence. Some of these and others might be worthy of discussion and the current value of their warnings Zardoz THX 1138 A Clockwork orange Solyent Green No Blade Of Grass The Final Programme Logan's Run Fahrenheit 454 Rollerball Other movies: Metropolis Things To Come Terminator 1984 Planet Of The Apes Battlefield Earth The Postman Waterworld A few books I'd love to see adapted to film with a dystopian theme: Of Men and Monsters - William Tenn Hothouse - Brian Aldiss Paul :-)Nz > There's a decent and teachable article on capitalist dystopias by > Thomas Byers in Alien Zone (A. Kuhn, ed.) but it references Blade > Runner and Alien, and may not be relevant to the films you've chosen. > > If they're SMART first-year students, you can try to guide them > through some Baudrillard for The Matrix -- maybe selections from The > Precession of Simulacra. > > In general, the lack of articles in Film Studies that are both 1) > intellectually substantive 2) accessible to undergrads in a gen ed > class, is embarrasing and depressing. I don't pick articles for the > films I want to show. I try to find worthwhile teachable articles and > then show films connected to the essays. > > ---- > Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite > http://www.ScreenSite.org > ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org