Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century
Slide Nr 1Alternate reality stories, often presented as speculative future or dystopian scenarios, date back to antiquity, and writers continued using them in the European Middle Ages. It wasn’t until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, however, that the genre began to enter the popular psyche – notably with the likes of HG Wells’ The Time Machine (1895), The War of The Worlds (1898) and A Modern Utopia (1905). Since the mid-20th century, the genre has grown in importance, highlighted by the steady stream of fascinating books, TV series and films released around the world. Here we present some of the best from the last 100 years.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 2Franz Kafka, The Trial (1925) – Written as many European countries were in the throes of rapid modernisation, transforming into the bureaucratic, rules-based states we see today, Franz Kafka’s The Trial (written 1914-15) was a pessimistic depiction of the nightmare that unreasonable authority might become. Protagonist Josef K is arrested, but not imprisoned – at least not in any recognisable prison cell. Instead, K enters into a labyrinthine world of hearings, misinformation, advice from uninformed lawyers and pressure to accept his guilt. Increasingly helpless, he neither discovers the charges against him nor works out any logic in the bureaucratic state’s justice system.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 3Thea von Harbou, Metropolis (1927) – Now seen as one of the most important films ever made, Metropolis got a lukewarm reception when it was released in 1927. Thea von Harbou wrote the original novel, as well as the screenplay for the ensuing film – assisted by her husband, filmmaker Fritz Lang, who directed it. The story focuses on the inhabitants of Metropolis, who are divided into two distinct categories: the industrialists and the workers. Metropolis uses classic dystopian images of a future society of robots, decision-makers hidden away in skyscrapers (inspired by the New York skyline) and a wealthy elite controlling the population. Created in post-WWI Germany, this pioneering sci-fi film had a multitude of influences, from the plight of the working class to modern art movements like Bauhaus and art deco.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 4Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932) – Published between the world wars, as democracy appeared to be losing its attraction to many people, Brave New World today appears as a visionary tale for readers. It presented a future with test-tube babies and a population in thrall to consumerism, and it reflected the turn to authoritarian rule in many parts of Europe. A strict hierarchy underpinned Huxley’s “brave new world”: it’s a world built on the backs of an underclass doing the hard work, and it’s a world of authoritarian rule. Promiscuity constitutes official policy, and the happiness drug “soma” is used extensively to help pacify the population.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 5Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here (1935) – It’s the year 1935 in the US, and Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip is in full election mode, which means whipping up hatred against minorities, pressing the right buttons to excite nationalists and promoting so-called traditional American values. He wins the election, takes control of the government and imposes something akin to the kind of dictatorial rule seen in parts of Europe at the time. The book was Sinclair Lewis’s warning that, yes, “it could happen here”.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 6George Orwell, 1984 (1949) – Such has been the impact of Orwell’s 1984 that key ideas and phrases have not only entered our language, but they’ve become very much part of popular culture. 1984 details a future totalitarian society characterised by mass surveillance (by “Big Brother”, the leader who is always watching you), all-pervasive propaganda, “thought police”, “doublethink” and the obligatory daily “Two Minutes Hate”, during which citizens must rant against enemies. In such a society, truth has no meaning whatsoever.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 7Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange (1962) – In this terrifying depiction of a soon-to-be Britain, society is terrorised by gangs of youths and extreme violence. The central thrust is how future totalitarian states might use psychological rehabilitation to control people’s behaviour. Around a decade after the book’s publication, A Clockwork Orange became a Stanley Kubrick film masterpiece. It’s not easy to watch, and it continues to be criticised for what some see as glorifying violence.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 8Doctor Who (1963-Present) – What once started out as a rather odd – and a bit frightening – BBC TV sci-fi programme for young adults about a time-travelling doctor is now a cult series with fans across the world. The Doctor looks human, but in reality she/he (the lead is regularly replaced and it’s currently a woman, Jodie Whittaker) is a Time Lord. Travelling backwards and forwards in his distinctive blue police box Tardis (the “time machine”), he meets famous characters from history, fights monsters, robots and other enemies.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 9Octavia Butler, Kindred (1979) – The protagonist in Octavia Butler’s now classic Kindred is Dana, an African-American woman who is pushed back and forward in time between 1976 Los Angeles and a Maryland slave plantation before the American Civil War. As a modern female in the US, she has extensive knowledge about the historical injustices against black people and the legacy it leaves for contemporary America. The novel expertly explores not just whether this knowledge can help Dana, but also issues of slavery and race, as well as gender and the way power is used. Butler wrote extensively within the science fiction genre throughout her career, including the highly praised Bloodchild and many stand-alone series.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 10Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) – First released as a novel back in 1985 to great acclaim, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale caused even more of a sensation when it was released as a 10-part TV series in 2017. Disease, infertility, environmental destruction, authoritarian government and military rule come together in a regime that subjugates women. All three seasons of the series have won a host of plaudits and awards.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 11Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park (1990) – With its premise that everyone would love to see dinosaurs in real life, Jurassic Park was always likely to be a big success. The plot is based on the idea that scientists using genetic engineering could bring back lost dinosaur species, and a savvy billionaire could put them in an island zoo for us to wonder at. Following the successful novel, Crichton also wrote the screenplay for the 1993 film, which, boosted by technological advancements in special effects, took the cinema world by storm. The idea was based in science, though some experts criticised the author for sensationally jumping from reality to a near future that was little more than fantasy.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 12Diana Gabaldon, Outlander (1991) – The Outlander series of novels is placed firmly in the “historical fiction” genre that is nowadays so popular. Inspired by the time-travelling she’d seen in Doctor Who, Gabaldon published her first Outlander book in 1991 (the eighth of what will be ten books was released in 2014). The story revolves around Claire Randall, a nurse during the Second World War, who travels back to 18th-century Scotland. Chock full of romance and adventure, the stories are beloved by millions of international fans, prompting the release of a well-received TV series in 2014.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 13Philip K Dick, The Man in the High Castle (1962); Len Deighton, SS-GB (1978); Robert Harris, Fatherland (1992) – Books and films depicting a “what if” version of history are hardly new, and a favourite premise of the past three decades has been a world in which Germany and Japan won WWII. Robert Harris’ Fatherland was made into a successful film (1994), and Philip K Dick’s The Man in the High Castle (TV, 2015-) and Len Deighton’s SS-GB (TV, 2017) have both recently grabbed the imagination as TV series. Such dystopian imaginings of a recent past show not just a one-dimensional enthusiasm for – or heroic resistance against – authoritarian rule, but they also highlight the compromises that ordinary people have often made under such regimes.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 14Koushun Takami, Battle Royale (1999) – Students forced by an authoritarian Japanese government to fight to the death convinced few people in the book industry when Koushun Takami first tried to get his novel published. But Takami knew better. He finally got it published three years after it was complete, and it quickly became a bestseller. It’s set in 1997, in a world where Japan won WWII and is now under the dictatorial empire of the Republic of Greater Asia. Fear is integral to controlling the population, and the regime regularly picks 50 school classes at random and forces them to fight to the death. An action-packed, fast-paced, violent thriller, it subsequently received wide-ranging praise from critics (it has also been published as a manga and made into a film).
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 15Malorie Blackman, Noughts & Crosses (2001) – Malorie Blackman’s thought-provoking Noughts & Crosses series (it has five books) revolves around an alternative history of 21st-century Britain by inverting colonialism, slavery and its legacy. Written for young adults, it presents a world in which “darker skinned” people (the Crosses) have for centuries discriminated against and ruled over “lighter skinned” people (Noughts). The BBC TV series aired in March 2020, and with the current discussions surrounding the BLM movement, the timing could hardly have been better.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 16Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006) – Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007 (just a year after it was published), Cormac McCarthy’s The Road tells the story of a father and son crossing post-apocalyptic North America. Neither character is given a name, and as the pair become increasingly destitute, hungry and desperate (they even have to flee cannibals), it seems clear the only thing they have is each other. McCarthy brilliantly explores the father-son relationship, moral values and human vulnerabilities.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 17Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (2008) – Published in 2008, The Hunger Games book series is premised on an annual gathering where kids are forced to enter a competition that is a battle for life and death, live on TV. Set in the ruins of a post-apocalyptic North America, a wealthy elite keep most of the country outside the Capitol in destitution (a highly successful film version came out in 2012). The story revolves around a 16-year-old girl who volunteers for the Games in place of her 12-year-old sister. Her aim? Survival.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 18Charlie Brooker, Black Mirror (2011-Present) – Black Mirror started as a series on the UK’s Channel 4 in 2011, but such was its impact that Netflix snapped it up and has since given it a worldwide audience. Each episode stands alone, and has a new cast, setting and theme. An element of normality, believability and humanity provides the essential backdrop to each story, but this inevitably clashes with Brooker’s astutely constructed dark, tech-inspired alternative realities.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 19Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven (2014) – Station Eleven begins with Year Zero, when life as it was known collapses due to a flu epidemic that kills most people on earth. It follows a theatre group travelling and entertaining survivors in The Great Lakes region of Canada, who come across a town controlled by a religious fanatic named the Prophet. Electricity, gas and running water are mere memories in this post-apocalyptic mystery novel, while mobile phones and credit cards are only seen in the Museum of Civilisation.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 20Megan Hunter, The End We Start From (2017) – As the reality of the climate emergency has become ever clearer, an increasing number of novelists have used a world destroyed by climate catastrophe to frame their books. Megan Hunter’s The End We Start From (Benedict Cumberbatch has acquired the film rights) is set in a London submerged beneath flood waters. This is a story about people forced to become refugees, struggling with food shortages and chaos; but it’s also about motherhood, family and the determination to survive.
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Special Alternate Reality
20 Compelling Alternate Reality Stories From The Last Century.
Slide Nr 21John Lanchester, The Wall (2019) – John Lanchester’s The Wall is another dystopian novel that plays on the anxiety engendered by climate change. Set in the near future, it explores fears of rising sea levels, migration and populism, and places them in fortress Britain, a country surrounded by a wall. Prospects, including survival, rest on one’s position in the hierarchy – until the position and value of Brits and Outsiders becomes blurred.
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