Thursday, July 10, 2014

Article Analysis #4 - When Science Fiction Writers Used Fictional Drugs

     The use of drugs and the oppressive nature of a dystopia go hand in hand. This can be seen in the film we previously analyzed, THX 1138, where drugs are used to sedate the population into easily controllable subjects. The article also talks of a novel called "This Perfect Day" in which a fictional drug called LPK is used. This drug is similar in nature to that used in THX 1138, as it "dampens the basic passions, including joy, sexual desire, and physical aggression". These effects work perfectly if the subject being administered the drug is meant to placed under control of authority.
     As previously discussed, dystopian science fiction is in fact fiction, but it can play into our fears about possibilities in the real world we live in. The United States has a very powerful and influential pharmaceutical sector that can certainly assist in pushing these fears along. This can be seen in how effortlessly drugs are prescribed for a host of various reasons, whether they warrant drug therapy or not. Kids who lack proper attention skills in school are slapped with an ADHD diagnosis and fed handfuls of Adderall and Riddlin, and that's only a small example. There's other drugs they could be given for mood issues, anxiety, sleeping, eating, basically if it's a part of daily life, there is a drug for it. It also seems as if doctors are becoming less and less hesitant to start prescribing drugs to children at very young ages, starting them on a medicated path that could last the rest of their life. It's easy to see how these types of real life situations can spawn a darker dystopian work of fiction.

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