Welcome to the final day of the A to Z Challenge. I’m ending it with zoo, as it allows me to cover a number of themes I’ve been exploring for the past month.
First, the dystopia as a rebellion of the natural world against human ravaging. The show Zoo is an example of that. Originally a book by James Patterson, Zoo explores a world when animals start randomly attacking people globally. It is based on corporate conspiracy – the animals are sick, and a virus is causing the uprising. Each season of the show spins into ever more silliness, but the value is that it takes on the idea of nature’s revenge as delivered by animals (manipulated by humans, but still). Aside from this and Animal Farm, the impact of humans on animals are rarely taken on in dystopias as a key theme. For that, its worth a blog post. For a more detailed, interesting review of the Zoo experience check out Caroline Framke’s Vox article.
Second, sometimes our dystopian actions (putting animals in cages for folks to gawk at) evolve into something more. I love animals and have been to many a zoo, but I’m now careful as to which ones I go to. Zoos have become havens for endangered species. I’m not defending this, but recognizing that we have to use the resources we have to solve the problems we ourselves have created. Check out the debate on this issue in this Financial Times article on the role of zoos today. The thylacine below, more commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf is extinct. Most tigers are endangered. Zoos were a place that fed into it, and now may have to save it.
Harry Burrell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 
I Stock Credit: zilli
Third, sometimes dystopias are the absence of things that matter. Cormac McCarthy‘s dystopian novel The Road pictures a post-animal world for the most part. Humans survive, but at the cost of almost everything else.
Thanks for dropping by and joining me on the A to Z Journey. Remember to visit other bloggers participating on the A to Z Challenge.
Thanks for the A-Z guide Shari – I found it really interesting and useful, especially having written dystopia novels. Congratulations on completing the challenge 🙂
Thanks to Iain. I enjoyed getting to know your books, and our exchanges.
Congratulations on finishing the challenge Shari. While I haven’t made it to very many of your posts, I’ll be circling back and catching up. I’m always a bit surprised that everyone isn’t interested in dystopia, although I do find I have to ration myself so I don’t get overwhelmed. I read Patterson’s book and found it appropriately disturbing. There are so many things we need to change, and I hope we’re ultimately up to it.