Dystopian Vocab
Control Mechanisms
Worldbuilding
Books & Media
100

A word that means “a system of ideas imposed to shape thought and loyalty”

What is propaganda?

100

Watching: One common way dystopian governments keep citizens in line.

What is surveillance?

100

The difference between a post-apocalyptic world and a dystopian world is that the dystopian world has this.

What is government control?

100

In this story, a girl named Katniss takes her sister’s place in a deadly competition.

What is The Hunger Games?

200

In dystopian fiction, scarcity refers to this.

What does scarcity refer to in dystopian fiction?

200

When one or more large companies control society, this term applies.

What is corporate control?

200

Something that might be banned in a dystopian world.

What is media (books, movies, etc)?

200

In The Giver, what color does Jonas begin to see first?

What is red?

300

The systematic teaching of beliefs or ideology to control citizens.

What is indoctrination?

300

Banishment is a term that refers to...

What is exile?

300

This is an example of something that might cause a world to become dystopian.

What is war/disease/natural disaster, etc?

300

In Fahrenheit 451, these are illegal and regularly burned by “firemen”

What are books?

400

A system where people are treated unfairly or cruelly, often by a government or ruling class.

What is oppression?

400

In 1984, the name of the government’s watchful eye that monitors citizens constantly

What is Big Brother?

400

A common reason people don’t fight back in a dystopia

What is brainwashing?

400

This dystopian movie features a society where people are divided by genetic “perfection,” and a man fakes his identity to chase his dreams.

What is Gattaca?

500

This term describes the process of controlling or limiting access to information, books, or ideas.

What is censorship?

500

In this movie, characters are trapped by machines in a simulation

What is The Matrix?

500

This is a word that could be used to describe a utopia.

What is peaceful, ideal, perfect, etc?

500

The book in which the characters are part of an experiment run by WICKED to find a cure for a deadly virus

What is The Maze Runner?