Welcome to the Hive World
Web Page
Many times the hive world in science fiction may be defined by the existence of the "Hive Mind". The hive mind is often described as the whole that controls or contains the minds of the hive members. In most cases this is seen in terms of insects and the hive queen, where the queen is the brain and the other members of the hive are merely extensions of the hive mind.
A hive world can also be a society that mimics the hive mind pattern, where the world has an aspect of conformity and/or mindlessness within individual members. To Americans, the hive world is generally interpreted as evil and, because of their lack of individuality, against the American system of democracy.
In the past, especially in 1940's through the 1960's, the hive world can be seen as the enemy in SF, movies and literature. The conformity and mindlessness of the hive members often represented what Americans feared about communism, loss of individuality.
Hive worlds have also been interpreted as attacks on the feminist movement in the US. Hives are typically dominated by a matriarch, the queen, and the fear of the hive could be seen as fear of female equality, or domination.
In the 1960's and '70's, SF literature began to change as the way Americans perceived other societies and war changed due the the Vietnam War. Hive worlds were less evil than in past literature and in some cases were seen as having lessons to teach humans. Women tended to write more positively about hive worlds and about martriachies that resembled the hive world society.
Movies still cast the hive world as basically evil, though that is bound to change as the film genre catches up with the changes in SF literature.
On the following page there are several examples of the hive world in literature and film throughout the past century.
Jason, Cindy, Paula, Tim and Manon
April 18, 1997