Dystopia? You bet.

Dystopia: A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and
the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic,
technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated
worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or
political system.

If it wasn't already obvious that Matched is a dystopia, here are a few things that are sure to convince you:

Elements of Dystopia in Matched

• The illusion of utopia
• The Society picks out the best thing for everyone, and makes the citizens think that a perfect match/job is a perfect life
• Citizens are tricked into thinking that the Society is perfect, and that this perfection will make their lives perfect, too
• Uniformity> Individuality
• Everyone has to wear the same clothing; brown pants and a brown shirt
• Workers are to wear blue (all the time)
• Even girls that are being Matched only have a certain amount of choices for dress. The illusion of freedom of choice is shown here, when actually, everything is so well predicted, that there is practically no choice at all
• Constant surveillance
• Citizens are constantly monitored by the Society. You cannot tell a friend a secret without an Official knowing exactly what you said. Also, nothing can happen in your house without it being heard by the 'port'.
• Even garbage disposals are monitored to detect unusual substances sent down them
• Propaganda
• Free thinking is bad; look at the great life we've given you, why do you need to think about it yourself?
• The Society decides what movies teens will watch during their free time; of course, they use this time to remind them how bad the past was (filled with pictures of war and fighting), and when the Society is mentioned, happy faces and smiles fill the screen
• Forbiddance of ideas and information
• There are only a certain amount of books, songs and poems that the citizens can enjoy, the rest are burned and forgotten forever.
• Also, the Society almost never tells the citizens the complete truth.
• In the event of an emergency, citizens are forced to take a red pill that will make them forget everything the Society doesn't want them to remember.
• People live in a dehumanized state
• The Society doesn't treat its criminals in a humane way.
• The government has the right to declare a person an 'Aberration' for a crime they didn't commit. They can banish people to wherever they like without any evidence of what they did 'wrong'.
• Also, the Society dehumanizes its citizens by making all the important decisions for them (where they work, who they marry, what they eat, how they die)