The Running Man by Stephen King: Portrayal of a Dystopian Society (Essay Sample)

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Dystopia in The Running Man
In an article titled Why Do We Like Dystopian Novels, published in the Huffington Post, Dave Astor raises salient points on the present generation loves dystopian novels. Dystopian novels are characterized by negative aspects of life that occur in the near or distant future. War, oppression, despair, death and environmental destruction are attributes of this genre of novels. Astor postulates that these bad things are a projection of the current troubled planet. The novels ring true to the reality that the current corporate moguls, private military and politicians can commit awful acts to further their goals and ambitions. The author further contends that we admire such novels because they are honest and articulate issues that the current humanity can relate with in various perspectives (Astor np).
On the one hand, readers may be fascinated by the horrible events that the characters endure. On the other hand, readers may be amazed by the brave and cowardly reaction to situations. What compels millennials to read these novels is the hope that members of a dystopian society can recreate a wretched society into a utopian society. Astor concludes by asserting that when dystopian novels portray worst-case scenarios of the future, the present generation can be pushed to steer clear of those scenarios in the present life (Astor np). This essay examines argues that dystopian novels have found favor among the present generation, especially millennials, because they resonate with their ethos. This genre also affirms the challenges millennial currently face such as wars, oppression, diseases and corporate greed among others. The essay will explore the portrayal of a dystopian society in The Running Man by Stephen King.
Set in the year 2025, The Running Man is a novel written by Stephen King under the penname Richard Bachman. This novel, which illustrates a dystopian society, reflects the fears that rose in 1982. At the time, there were fears associated with various events such as the increased unemployment rates, the Cold War among other chaotic events that threatened to plunge the world into turmoil. The corporate and scientific community was the only one that seemed to benefit from this fear. The implications of such a society are embedded in The Running Man. In the novel, unemployment, corporate control, black market, absence of law and order substituted by competing authorities and division of society based on resources are obvious elements of a dystopian society. In a nutshell, the novel highlights how corporation use technology to control people’s lives and curtail their freedoms.
The Running Man, therefore, is expresses the fundamental political, economic and social anxiety of the current era. In the novel, the protagonist, Ben Richards and his family live in a damp high-rise housing project in a setting equivalent to a filthy neighbourhood in the present times. The author describes the environment of the housing project as vermin-infested. “Rats and plump alley cats circulated through the garbage” (King 711). The description of this broken-down housing project coupled with rodents and the smell of cabbage resonates with neighbourhoods in many inner cities across the globe (Texter 45). The same description of a polluted environment is familiar in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four in which he describes London.
In The Running Man, sharp divisions based on economic class between the urban lumpenproletariat (underclass) and the suburban bourgeois exist. The Free-Vee, a technological by-product of corporate control, fixes a distorted view of the lumpenproletariat in the eyes of the bourgeois. Furthermore, the technology is a tool that is used to narcoticize the underclass (Texter 45). The glorification with technology can best be captured in the following description; “Free-Vee is the stuff of dreams, the bread of life…Frisco Push goes for twenty a tab, but the Free-Vee will freak you for nothing” (King 715). Just as technology has currently pervaded every sphere of human life, Free-Vee is the tool for corporate control in a dystopian society.
Even though Free-Vee televisions are ubiquitous, they can be switched off. However, this does not hinder the influence of media over people. Everybody seems to know all the TV shows broadcasted by Free-Vee. Even though some like Richards hates Free-Vee, they are inclined to watch to either get a distraction from their miseries or numb their pain. As such, media has a sedating effect over people. The weather reports no longer give air-pollution count in a city suffocating from deadly gases. Bradley explains to Ben Richards the reason for the illness of his daughter. He states that the reason corporate no longer update the pollution count is that people were given Free-Vee to keep them away from cities so that they could “breath ourselves to death without making trouble” (King 784).
Bradley seems to echo the same sentiments as those of journalist Michelle Conlin. She refers current reality TV shows as weapons of mass distraction, which further disengages people from themselves and society (Conlin np). Because the underclass is kept in the dark regarding issues of pollution, they are left to the whims of corporate control. The underclass is nonresponsive and ignorant of the chaos and turmoil that faces them, unless it demonstrates a special interest. Free-Vee is used to condition the poor to become part of an oppressed system divided by economic means. This aspect of a dystopian society is prevalent it today’s society, a reason why millennials may be interested in such novels. Conlin muses over the cost of the current generation’s obsession with reality television shows, a signal of dystopian control. She wonders whether this obsession with television is a radiant novel form of spectacle or the entertainment equal of the Ebola virus, which leads right-thinking individuals to ignore their preferences and settling for irrelevant content (Conlin np).
Some commentators have argued that The Running Man anticipates and magnifies programs of the 1990s such as “Survivior.” The game shows in this novel feature spectacles or competitions that inflict emotional and physical harm to participants in return for big-money giveaways. The “Treadmill to Bucks” involves participants with chronic liver, heart and lung diseases running on a trade mill until experience a heart attack. Other shows such as “Run for Your Guns,” The Running Man and “Swim the Crocodiles” are life-threatening yet contestants participate to earn huge cash prizes (Texter 46). These macabre game shows illustrate, especially “The Running Man”, is more than just about war. By utilizing the techniques of contemporary game shows and war reporting, it lessens the fears of a nation regarding urban crime. It enables the underclass viewers to forge an identity and concurrently destroys the symbols of crime and poverty in what King refers to as “this dark and broken time” (King 761). As Killian notes “The Running Man” show is intended to “pleasuring the masses and getting rid of dangerous people” (King 905).
One millennial ethos of the current generation is to spread innovation and inspire people to achieve their full potential. Previous attributes, that may have hindered other generations, such as finances and class, are nowadays considered irrelevant. Through the Internet, millennials have been able to access a large pool of information needed for innovation. Another ethos exhibited by this generation is optimism in the face of the many challenges faced. Massive unemployment, the world implications of deregulatory economics, the stifling consequences of debts, loans and dwindling job p...