Guest post written by The Final Orchard author CJ Rivera
CJ Rivera is an adult dystopian author navigating the realms of high-tech turmoil and stark reality. Before diving into speculative fiction, Rivera enjoyed a successful career as a Creative Producer. She has penned and produced captivating content for media giants such as CNBC, NBC Universal, and the Food Network. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband, three daughters and her hydroponic garden.
About The Final Orchard: From debut-author CJ Rivera, comes a harrowing tale of a parent risking it all for her child. The Final Orchard is perfect for those looking for a novel that captures them like television shows Silo and Black Mirror.
Humans have an inherent fascination with fear, a fascination that is hard-wired and biologically driven. The thrilling, visceral reactions we feel when consuming horror are more than just fun dopamine fixes, they tap into an instinctual mechanism that has been crucial to our survival. Evolving as an adaptive response, fear triggers the “fight,” “flight,” or “freeze” reactions that prepared early humans to either confront danger or escape from it.
And while we’re no longer running from woolly mammoths, our hearts pounding in our chests, gasping, muscles tense, adrenaline kicking in, we still seek out that excitement. Through controlled environments like horror novels and films, our brains enjoy the rush of “safe danger.”
But the most successful horror stories, the ones that get under our skin and resonate deeper than just physical thrills, allow us to symbolically confront and explore the fears that haunt our everyday lives.
Whether its body horror reflecting our discomfort with disease, or dystopian tales echoing fears of societal breakdown, truly impactful horror holds up a mirror to the most pressing concerns of its time. Dystopian fiction, horror’s close cousin, extends this idea further by projecting our current fears into the future. While horror is rooted in the immediate, dystopia offers a haunting vision of what might happen if today’s fears go unresolved.
Timeless Terrors and Their Cultural Reflections
Scientific Overreach in Frankenstein
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is considered to be one of the first dystopian horrors of its era. It was first published in 1818 during the height of the industrial revolution, a time when rapid technological advancements were fundamentally altering society. Factories and steam engines were transforming economies and disrupting traditional jobs, leading to concerns of dehumanization. The story of Dr. Frankenstein, who becomes horrified by the monster he creates, perfectly mirrors these early 19th century fears about scientific overreach and the dangers of human ambition. The true horror lies not just in the monster itself, but in the consequences of “playing God”.
Cold War Paranoia in The Body Snatchers
Similarly, Jack Finney’s 1955 novel The Body Snatchers, which inspired the iconic sci-fi film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, is a classic horror story reflecting the paranoia of its time. Released during the Cold War, a period marked by fears of communism, conformity, and societal control, the story centers on alien spores that replace people with emotionless pod duplicates. This serves as a metaphor for 1950s America, where McCarthyism and the campaign to root out alleged communists created a culture of suspicion. People feared infiltration, unsure if their neighbors, friends, or even family members might be “infected” by communist ideology. The film taps into this anxiety, exploring the fear of losing one’s identity to conformity and the collective mindset.
Nuclear Fallout in The Hills Have Eyes
Wes Craven’s, The Hills have Eyes, tells the story of a family stranded in a desolate, desert landscape, stalked by mutated, cannibalistic humans. While truly gruesome and sometimes written off as excessively violent and disturbing, the 1977 film successfully honed in on the Cold War era fears of the time regarding nuclear testing and fallout, specifically those taking place in remote areas of the American southwest. In a broader sense, the film also tapped into post-Vietnam War fears of societal fragmentation, where the gap between differing social classes, cultures, and regions became more pronounced, emphasizing a fear of the “Other”
Power and Surveillance in The Handmaids Tale & 1984
Classic Dystopias like The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood and 1984 (1949) by George Orwell remain powerful examples of how dystopia can reflect and project societal fears. The Handmaid’s Tale envisions a future where women’s rights have been stripped away and they are reduced to their reproductive capabilities. Atwood’s novel taps into the 1980’s feminist anxieties about control over women’s bodies, a theme that feels uncomfortably close to current debates about reproductive rights. Orwell’s 1984, on the other hand, explores the fear of state surveillance, censorship, and totalitarian control—concerns that have only grown more relevant in the age of mass data collection and governmental overreach.
Modern Nightmares: Fears of the Present and Future
Systemic Racism in Get Out
In Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017) a Black man visits his white girlfriend’s family estate, only to discover a horrifying plot that uses Black bodies for the benefit of white elites. The film serves as a chilling critique of systemic racism and the exploitation of Black people, using horror to expose uncomfortable truths about race relations and the appropriation of Black identity.
Economic Inequality in Parasite
Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 film Parasite tells the story of a poor family who infiltrates the lives of a wealthy household, highlighting the stark social and economic divide between classes. The film contrasts the opulent luxury of the rich with the cramped, oppressive living conditions of the poor, offering a sharp critique of inequality and the widening wealth divide.
Climate Change and Authoritarianism in Children of Men & The Hunger Games
Films like Children of Men (2006) and The Hunger Games novels (2008) also explore present fears and extend them into dystopian futures that feel frighteningly plausible. The contemporary fears about climate change and environmental destruction, declining birth rates, and political instability, are realized in Children of Men which presents a world where humanity has become infertile, leading to societal collapse and widespread despair. The Hunger Games trilogy and subsequent films portray a future where a totalitarian government uses deadly games to maintain control over its population, reflecting current anxieties about authoritarianism, class warfare, and the commodification of violence in media.
Horror and dystopian fiction have always held a mirror to society’s deepest fears, from the anxieties of the Industrial Revolution to the present-day challenges of environmental collapse, inequality, and systemic oppression. These genres allow us to confront our worst nightmares in a controlled environment, offering reflection and sometimes catharsis. What makes these genres so powerful is their ability to evolve with the times, capturing the spirit of each era while maintaining their timeless relevance. As we face new uncertainties, horror and dystopia will continue to thrive— daring us to look at the darkness within and around us, ensuring that we remain forever captivated by the unsettling possibilities of what lies ahead if we don’t address our fears.
