Utopias Gone Horribly Wrong: Evidence of Our Inherent Distrust of Perfection

Our discussion of Utopia and some of its possible drawbacks made me think of other examples of perverted Utopias (perverted as in changed in a bad way, distort not perverted as in a sexually deviant community or person). When we talked about More's acceptance of euthanasia and the almost total control of the state over every aspect of its citizens' lives, I started thinking about how many stories construct similar fictional societies like More's Utopia (some very close in resemblance) but change the outcome to illustrate the possibilities for corruption of More's idyllic state. Here are a few examples that include everything from literature to movies:

• Lois Lowry's The Giver

• In this book, the people live in a world without color, weather, pain, illness or death. Instead of letting people get sick and die or instead of raising children with birth defects, the people in this community euthanize them. Everyone takes medication to eliminate emotions and control sexual impulses (the men in the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation period would have LOVED this aspect of the community, at least with regard to women). One young man is assigned the task of having all these experiences through memories transmitted to him by an old man. Central to this story is the question of whether pain, distress, suffering and death are worth the joy, wonder and promise of human experience. It also forces us to ask what is ideal? Is a world without pain ideal? Or is it possible that life is only meaningful with pain and disappointment?
  
• More's conception of Utopia has many things in common with the world created by Lois Lowry. In The Giver, however, it seems that Lowry has come to the conclusion that an ideal world really isn't that ideal because it is devoid of human choice and meaningful experience.

• Pleasantville
• In this movie, two modern teenagers discover that the seemingly conflictless, ideal world of 1950s television is not truly very perfect. They discover, like Lowry's character that emotion, conflict and struggle are equally a part of life as love, discovery and joy.
  
• This movie also (like Lowry's The Giver) focuses on the essential role knowledge, understanding and self/societal awareness play in making life meaningful and allowing us to grow as people. Meghan brought this up in class asking how the citizens of More's Utopian society could ever grow or progress and Mary Ellen talked about how the Utopians seemed to be mindless and blindly obedient. These same objections/questions are present in both The Giver and Pleasantville.

• The Stepford Wives
• Women killed and replaced with robots (original) or women turned into robots so that they can be the perfect wives. Need I say more.
• (Ok so maybe I need to say one little thing) One man's utopia is another woman's nightmare and demise.
• Also in this we see the question of the destruction of individuality, independence and self as the cost of a "perfect" society.

So maybe Utopia isn't so great after all. Maybe life would be totally boring and meaningless if we didn't have anything for which to strive and what can you strive for if everything is perfect? According to these Utopian inversions, I guess in order to enjoy the sweet parts of life we have to experience the negative aspects too.

–Maybe instead of wishing for Utopia we should just Grin and Barrett!–