Having recently begun a new novel unit on speculative/dystopian fiction, Year 10 English students had the opportunity to participate in a group activity creating fictional societies that come close to perfection in their foundational ideals. As part of the exercise, one group was tasked with creating a dystopia under the guise of a utopia, unbeknown to the rest of the class. Each group developed and delivered a poster and pitch for their society, which was then followed by a class vote to determine which society was most favourable.
"Although this task was very enjoyable, it was very difficult. Finding the perfect balance and the fine line between utopian and dystopian was a challenge, but that didn’t stop the whole class having fun with it. It was exciting to listen to the creative ideas around the classroom, with everyone having a different take on the task and learning from each other.
Ultimately, we learnt that it’s almost impossible to create a real utopian society, however that didn’t stop us from giving it our best shot! It was not easy taking education, finances, religion, energy and even location into account, and it really taught us the many factors of any society that need to be considered. It was a vital part of our dystopian unit, as during our brainstorming, we began to recognise the line between dystopian and utopian, as well as how to recognise them both. In the beginning of the process, our ideas resembled those of a dystopian society, but the way they evolved and changed to resemble a utopian society shows how much we learnt from the task, and how much we can learn from studying dystopian novels."
Written by Bella Egan, Year 10