Dystopian Games: Diagnosing Modernity as the Scene of Tests, Trials and Transformations

Tom Boland (2024) Cultural Sociology, 18(1), pp. 72-90 Abstract. Emergent genres can serve as diagnoses of society, particularly dystopias which exaggerate yet articulate problematic elements within modernity. Herein the focus is on ‘dystopian games’, particularly The Hunger Games and Squid Game, part of a wider genre emerging in contemporary culture wherein dystopia is not just totalitarian, oppressive or ideological, but also requires its protagonists to participate in contests and trials ...