Other Mothers and Fathers: Teaching Contemporary Dystopian Fiction

Abstract

A key preoccupation found in numerous works of contemporary dystopian fiction written since 2000 can be summed up in one figure: the parent. This ranges from biological and surrogate parents to metaphorical parents: ‘Mothers’ includes Mother Earth and Mother Nature as well as biological and filial ideas of motherhood, and reflect a preoccupation in recent dystopian fiction with environmental disaster and climate change. Similarly, the role of the ‘Father’ refers to both patriarchal terms, as well as to the literal role of the male parent. Since the year 2000, there has been an anxiety in genre fiction regarding the concept of caring for the world at large, and for fellow human beings, as well as for future generations. Although a similar trend can arguably be noted in postmillennial cinematic dystopias, this chapter focuses on a number of high-profile fictions—many of which have subsequently been made into successful films—to suggest ways in which modules based on contemporary dystopian fiction might be constructed to enable students’ engagements with wider and meaningful dialogues between different strands of ‘the dystopian’. This chapter outlines ideas that will hopefully go on to inform futures modules, or courses, on postmillennial dystopian fiction.