Future Imperfect

Huxley’s dystopia hits the small screen in a new take on Brave New World

- Huxley’s Dystopia

Utopias aren’t all they are cracked up to be. Take Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The 1932 novel revolves around a futuristic society obsessed with achieving happiness… no matter what the price. NBCUniversal launches its Peacock streaming service in the US this month with the latest small-screen adaptation of the groundbreaking tale. Showrunner David Wiener believes that the literary masterpiece is one of those rare novels that has become more relevant as time progresses.

“What Huxley worried about considerably is how people would use technology to hold the inconveniences and boredoms and less pleasant aspects of the world at bay,” Wiener tells Red Alert. “He was concerned that would cost people something. That’s exactly what we’ve done.

“He even predicted things that have come to pass, such as in-vitro fertilisation and genetic engineering. All the nuances of the book that were so revolutionary in 1932 are really believable now. Culturally, it’s more of a mirror of this time than it was of its own.