Dystopian Culture and the Theme of Segregation on the Movie "Divergent"

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Divergent
Divergent is a fictional movie series based on Veronica Roth’s 2011 novel, created by Lucy Fisher, Pouya Shahbazian, and Douglas Wick and directed by Neil Burger (Adam). Released in three series, namely Divergent in 2014, Insurgent in 2015, and Allegiant in 2016, Divergent is a movie set in post-apocalyptic Chicago, where people are divided based on their virtues into five factions, namely, Amity for peace, Dauntless for bravery, Candor for honesty, Erudite for intellect, and Abnegation for selflessness. This system promotes organization and order among the people, and one of the priorities when choosing a faction is to be true to yourself. Beatrice Prior is the movie's main character, and she has issues with where she truly belongs. Originally from Abnegation by birth, she ends up choosing Dauntless when the time came for her to decide on which faction to join. The term “divergent” was first shockingly uttered in the movie when Beatrice takes the aptitude tests that will determine your virtue or characteristic, giving an idea of what faction an individual belongs to. The test reveals that Beatrice does not fit in one faction but three, namely Abnegation, Dauntless, and Erudite, which makes her divergent (Christy Par 5-6). Along the way, Beatrice, who will later be called Tris, will learn about why a Divergent is seen as a threat in their dystopian community. Divergent perfectly showcases significant key points regarding dystopian culture and highlights the theme of segregation. In this paper, the relationship of authorities, control, and segregation in forming a dystopian community will be discussed.
The movie, Divergent is a clear description of the Dystopian culture. Dystopia refers to a futurist imagination of a society characterized by “tyrannical societal control and the misapprehension of a perfect society sustained through bureaucratic, hi-tech, moral, and totalitarian control” (Stefanopoulou, Christos-Thomas & Konstantinos 49). The film is set 200 years into the future after the war, in an imagined controlled version of Chicago City, where the inhabitants live within the city walls and cannot leave. Chicago is presented as a constant state of depression and survival mode, very fitting to what to expect in a dystopian world. Society is organized into societal control groups known as factions based on different characteristics to which each individual must belong (Stefanopoulou et al. 49-50). In the five clans, Abnegation is selfless, thus ideal to rule, Amity is peaceful, Erudite is composed mainly of professionals, Dauntless is made up of the military and society protectors, while Condor is known for the honesty to run the courts. The clans are divided based on their virtues and the model and color of clothing, which sets them apart. Abnegation wears simplistic grey; Amity wears yellow and red; Dauntless wears black; Erudite, blue; and Candor, black and white. In dystopian culture, there is a loss of individualism which is precisely what happens in Divergent. The differences of each person are used to strategically make the people conform so that the authorities will control everyone with ease. Uniformity is promo...