Compare and contrast the dystopian futures portrayed in The Matrix and Brave New World.

Science fiction provides some of the starkest reflections on the relationship between power, modernity and freedom, offering glimpses of dystopian futures in which modernity’s promise of freedom has instead led to a totalitarian future of domination and control.  Compare and contrast the dystopian futures portrayed in The Matrix and Brave New World.  What forms of power limit human freedom in these narratives, and how do they relate to the forms of power that inform critical theory?  What kind of freedom is possible given this power, and how do the protagonists navigate their dystopian worlds to achieve (or not) emancipation?