ABSTRACT
The fundamental character of changes is what defines both Utopia and Dystopia: they both address re-writing social structures, advocating overall transformations of the political, economic, and so on orders. Both of them are concerned with change, “seek[ing] to alter the social order on a fundamental, systemic level”. Utopias nowadays tend to breed suspicion and distrust: as observed by Zizek, there is a strong anti-utopian bias to “crush actual hope, immediately to denounce every critical project as opening a path at the end of which is something like a gulag.” Dystopias and utopias of 21st century arise from the three major tenets of philosophical posthumanism, as outlined by Ferrando: post-dualism, posthumanism, and post-anthropocentrism. Cristina Paravano pits Cecelia Ahern’s Flawed and Perfect against examples of young adult dystopian fiction to muse on a new generation of female protagonists who go beyond fixed binaries, embody diversity (ethnic, gender, sexual), and manifest (unabashed belief in) their empowerment.
