tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post9036719761710310914..comments2024-02-11T19:28:27.997+11:00Comments on Personal Reflections: Eugenics, Sterilisation and Racial ImprovementJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-5105750989657441012007-11-13T22:01:00.000+11:002007-11-13T22:01:00.000+11:00Neil, I fear am going to have to cede this field t...Neil, I fear am going to have to cede this field to you. It is so long since I read BNW!Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-90202143537826373452007-11-13T21:35:00.000+11:002007-11-13T21:35:00.000+11:00They are dystopian of course, but were exploring w...They are <I>dystopian</I> of course, but were exploring what others were offering as <I>utopian</I> and finding the visions wanting, Huxley especially being ambivalent, as I suggested, which is witnessed by other things he said and wrote at the time, and even in the novel itself where he allows Mustapha Mond some good arguments and the Savages in contrast some troubling disadvantages.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-55130966426600708442007-11-13T19:47:00.000+11:002007-11-13T19:47:00.000+11:00I should have said book, of course.I should have said book, of course.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-15163597454572523692007-11-13T19:46:00.000+11:002007-11-13T19:46:00.000+11:00I must say, Neil,that I never saw either Brave New...I must say, Neil,that I never saw either Brave New World or Blade Runner - I read it when it first came out - as in any way utopian. Quite the opposite. To me, as with so many other SF movies, they showed how society could go wrong.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-14900926199768274832007-11-13T12:20:00.000+11:002007-11-13T12:20:00.000+11:00He was writing at a particular time. That is partl...<I>He was writing at a particular time.</I> That is partly why the HSC unit is so interesting as it requires students to tease out the implications of that. <I>BNW</I> is paired with the 1980s movie <I>Blade Runner</I> so students can see how a similar fiction (in some ways) explored the utopian idea in a different context (and medium) while owing much to the earlier text.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-53600883020316908982007-11-13T11:36:00.000+11:002007-11-13T11:36:00.000+11:00Huxley's amibivalence does not surprise me, Neil. ...Huxley's amibivalence does not surprise me, Neil. He was writing at a particular time.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-2560558621240111932007-11-13T11:28:00.000+11:002007-11-13T11:28:00.000+11:00I got onto this material (and more) when teaching ...I got onto this material (and more) when teaching <I>Brave New World</I> for the HSC; it is part of the context of that novel, published as it was in 1932 when all this was happening -- referring to the second video at least. Huxley was actually quite ambivalent about it all, in my opinion. He was both attracted to and repelled by the utopias on offer at the time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com