Utopia Essay

The word utopia is a Greek work meaning no place or place that does not exist. A utopia is considered to be an ideal or perfect society that has a flawless legal, social and political system. These ideas of a perfect society and why such perfection may not be possible, are depicted in three texts, Utopia (written by Thomas ore, !"!#$, The Island (directed by ichael %ay, &''"$ and Imagine (written by (ohn )ennon, !*+!.$ All three texts ha,e similar and related themes and messages about the concept of a utopia. -ir Thomas ore presents the reader with his ,iews on what could be perhaps the closest thing to a perfect society in a text that helps us to see the ,alues and beliefs of !"!#. %ook .ne first tells us of the tra,eller /aphael 0ythloday, whom ore meets for the first time in Antwerp, 1landers, a region of %elgium, through his friend, 2eter Giles. ore, Giles and 0ythloday supposedly discuss topics and ideas relating to that time, such as exploring the topic of how to best counsel a prince, which was a popular theme at the time of writing. %ook .ne shows a negati,e ,iew of ci,ili3ation in ore4s time and has /aphael critically analysing the legal system, go,ernment, economy, philosophy, crime and punishment in 5urope though more specifically, 5ngland. 6n this, /aphael points out the unfair distribution of wealth and power, the abuse of political position, the une7ual participation of producti,e labour and the distribution of farmland for sheep gra3ing and how it affects theft, po,erty and homelessness in their own country. 2eter Giles and ore both suggest that with 0ythloday4s wide range of experiences and wisdom he could gi,e ad,ice to royalty, though this idea is re8ected by 0ythloday saying he would not be listened to as his ,iews are too radical. .b,iously ore is saying here that many of his own ideas would not be listened to by the royalty of 5ngland. (And he was, of course, executed for his ,iews a short time later.$ %ook Two is mostly based on /aphael4s account of the great features of 9topian society, and how it compares fa,ourably to their 5uropean system. Great detail is used when /aphael describes se,eral aspects of the 9topian legal system as well as the 9topians4 ,iews on marriage which is held in the highest regard, where any breach of chastity is se,erely punished. :hen choosing a partner, one is permitted to see the other one naked in order to ha,e a better understanding of the person they are to wed. /eligion is also examined since this was an important part of !#th century society. There is a ,ariety of different religions but a uniformity is the belief of immorality (cliff$ and so they ha,e de,eloped a cheerful attitude toward the approach of death (cliff$. Atheists are looked down upon and cannot hold a place in office. There is no pri,ate property in 9topia, unlike 5ngland, and the 9topians themsel,es ha,e no money. The gold, sil,er and 8ewels in the treasury is only used in times of war to bribe the other countries either to fight for them or to stop fighting. Gold is of no ,alue as there is so much in 9topia and is gi,en to babies for toys and sla,es to wear. An extension of this lack of emphasis on material possessions continues in community life -imple clothes and housing are compulsory, so e,eryone looks similar and e7ual. The oldest member of the family is the leader, so there are no disputes for power. Thirty families eat together in a mess hall, the food made by trained women. Tra,elling is only allowed when one has no tasks to perform within the society and permission must be gained to lea,e the town. )eaders and go,ernors are chosen from people with the most intelligence and integrity while the head of the go,ernment is the prince. -o ore is still ,ery much aware of a royal system as in his own time, but he ob,iously liked the idea of a lack of corruption and a fairer distribution of power than was found in his day. At the end of %ook Two, ore states he has not been wholly con,erted to the 9topian system but regards some of the features of the society as worthwhile and wishes they might be adopted in 5urope. As the story of the 9topia is told by a fictional character (2eter Giles and Thomas ore are in fact, both real people though /aphael is not$, ore has made an effort to distance himself from the story so as to get people to think he does not necessarily belie,e in the opinion of the tra,eller. 6 belie,e the ,iews expressed by the tra,eller about the way 5urope and in particular 5ngland was being run were ore4s own, though the 9topia itself was total fiction. The idea of 9topia may ha,e been

used both as a comparison between different ways of thinking or as a way of ore presenting his real opinions in a fictional way. 6t is more likely, though, that the 6sland of 9topia was an attack at the 5nglish go,ernment of the time, and the author was mocking the harshness and ridiculousness of certain laws and punishments as well as some go,ernment policies, such as the power that some people ha,e and how that might only ha,e been achie,ed through bribery or flattery. 6t is clear by the end of the book that ore does not necessarily agree with all the ways of 9topia such as sla,ery and some of their punishments, but accepts many of its ideas and principles, reinforcing the fact that the 9topia seen could be an extended criticism against the go,ernment at the time. 0e would ha,e known that such a utopia was not possible, but he did want people to make a comparison with that fantasy world and the world they saw around them. The language throughout the book is 7uite formal yet appropriate for its day. .riginally written in )atin, it still has a formality about it which makes the ideas seem serious to us. A sense of realism is added to the writing by the letters at the beginning of the book (between two real people talking of this fictional place as if it were real$ and the excessi,e description of laws and customs gi,en throughout the book. The great amount of detail which ore uses makes 9topia sound like an authentic place and with all the new worlds being disco,ered at this time its existence would be all the more possible. The book is ,ery much written for its time as the educated readers of !"!# could see by the beliefs, laws and philosophies criticised and expressed through the writings. ore is concerned with his own society and how laws were being abused and po,erty was increasing. Although the language used puts the book firmly into the !#th century rather than our era, it is interesting to us today since it is the earliest work which tells us about a flawless legal, social and political system. The film, The Island (directed by ichael %ay, &''"$ continues to criticise society, although that of the &!st century using modern filmmaking techni7ues and the popular contemporary genre of science fiction. 1rom the ,ery beginning of the film, the audience is gi,en the impression that people are li,ing in a society that is near perfection, where something like a missing shoe is cause for worry. As the story progresses, the audience is fed pieces of information that lead them to start to interpret the society differently. The people4s li,ing in this perfect society are nothing more then clones, made for their organs and body parts to be har,ested to keep their counter;parts outside The 6sland ali,e and extend their lifespan. 1rom their creation, these clones are brainwashed into thinking they are real people, sa,ed from a nuclear holocaust that has ra,aged the earth and left it contaminated. All their mo,es are go,erned, and they ha,e the mental capacity of fifteen year olds so it is not a world that most of us would really want to inhabit. 5,en though we are clearly shown that the clones are li,ing in a perfect or ideal place, one can not help but feel sorry for them as we watch their personal freedom stripped away. 5,erything in the society is strictly controlled, e,eryone is healthy, e,eryone has a useful occupation, e,eryone4s life is e7ually important. :hile this seems perfect in some ways these creatures lack the freedom to make their own choices and are destined to die because their makers see them as unimportant. The use of ,isuals and lighting and colour help to reinforce our idea of the utopia at the beginning of the mo,ie, as e,erything on The 6sland shines brightly white and e,eryone wears the same colour, showing us healthy people and a clean, prosperous society. As the mo,ie progresses, the inhumanity of the creators of the clones is re,ealed to us more and more such as through the use of special effects and camera angles eg< the camera 3ooms out to re,eal rows and rows of clones in suspended animation showing us that this is a scientific nightmare (lighting is also used here as it is 7uite dark in the room possibly to emphasise the e,il of the creators$. The ,iolence and inhumanity is also seen when a minor character is chopped up in front of our eyes and his organs har,ested to sa,e his host. 0is screams of desperation, the close;ups of his agony and the graphic use of special effects clearly demonstrate for us how immoral this futuristic utopia is. :hile this is in direct contrast to the ,ery imperfect, dry, ,iolent and o,erall harsh reality that we are shown when two of the clones learn the truth and escape to the world outside the confined life created for them, we know that this freedom is preferable to the sterile, meaningless life they ha,e left behind. 2eople today are concerned about nuclear war, the future of humanity, freedom of speech, the impact of science and technology on our li,es and the morality of playing god with cloning. The director has taken all of these issues and placed them together in a futuristic setting to directly tie the

film in with the concerns of people today. The director has also increased the appeal of the film for today4s audiences by including a lo,e story between the two main characters, a ,ery human emotion being felt by two ,ery inhuman creations. The director shows us how important freedom of speech and free will on both indi,iduals and society are. 6t is made clear that a message the director is trying to portray is that we should ,alue human emotion and personality. The clones in the mo,ie are caring, good humoured and hard working indi,iduals unlike the rich people in the film who are all portrayed as selfish and materialistic. They li,e in large houses and ha,e e,erything they4,e e,er wanted, emphasising an idea that money can buy happiness in modern society. ichael %ay wants the audience to see that science cannot sol,e all problems and that money does not meet all our needs. :e should not think that we can play god with scientific expertise and any utopia created without considering the real needs of human beings will always fail. The song Imagine ((ohn )ennon, !*+!$ is also based around 9topian ideals and was largely influenced by the e,ents happening at the time (especially the =ietnam :ar$. The time the song was written was also shortly after the hippy era or the peace mo,ement, while many people took drugs to clear their mind or to see their perfect or ideal world. (>rugs were one means of escape from the modern day world.$ The lyrics of the song were inspired by (ohn )ennon4s hopes for a more peaceful world, though )ennon himself said that it was an anti;religious, anti;nationalistic, anti; con,entional, anti;capitalistic song, but because it4s sugar coated, it4s accepted. 0e then went on to say that it4s ,irtually the communist manifesto. (Lennon in America by Geoffrey Giuliano). (ohn )ennon sings 6magine there?s no countries, it isn?t hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too and 6magine no possessions, 6 wonder if you can, no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. These lines express similar ideals to those in both Thomas ore4s Utopia and in The Island, as in all of these texts the composer suggests those who li,e in utopias ha,e no personal possessions and e,eryone is classed as e7ual. All these texts share these ideals which are also similar to communism. The meaning of the song, ha,ing been written in a dramatic time full of protests, political problems and international affairs, meant many people could relate to the song (through wanting peace$ and increased its o,erall popularity. usic, especially protest songs, was popular in the late sixties and early se,enties and was easily accessible to e,eryone. The genre of music meant that many people around the world could hear the song and its message of peace and unity. (ohn )ennon uses clear and open ,ocals with a repeated piano rhythm throughout the duration of the song. The thin texture of the song allows listeners to concentrate on )ennon4s lyrics and message and the catchy melody and chorus of the ,ocals continue to increase the song4s appeal. The lines you may say 64m a dreamer, but 64m not the only one, 6 hope someday you will 8oin us, and the world will be as one, are repeated in the song. These lines sum up the ideas and ,alues expressed throughout the piece and reinforce (ohn )ennon4s message of peace and unity. The repetition of these lines makes them easier to remember than other lines in the song. The word imagine is repeated se,eral times throughout the song in an attempt to persuade the listener to think of other possibilities than the harsh reality of the world they were li,ing in. The fact that )ennon4s utopia has ne,er been reali3ed pro,es once again that the perfect society may ne,er really be achie,ed. All of the composers knew this, but wanted us to reach for a better way of life. All three pieces of material express their own opinions on the perfect society or utopia, and these perfect societies are shown through different forms of media. :ithin all of these so;called utopias flaws may be found whether they are lack of freedom, or simply ideas that while one person may agree, others may not. All the texts can be related to the ideals and ,alues of a communist go,ernment, supposedly treating e,eryone as e7uals by restricting their freedom and rights. As well as expressing the composer4s opinions on the perfect society, all three texts were actually created for different purposes. 5ach piece expresses the composer4s opinion on his society of the time, and critici3es issues affecting the people of the era. 6n Utopia, ore expresses his disgust at the 5uropean go,ernment, but portrays his opinions as nothing more then fiction. ichael %ay uses The Island to critici3e modern day issues such as ad,ancing technology especially cloning and uses ,isuals to make people more aware of what he belie,es could possibly happen in the future. Imagine can be seen as a means of escape from reality whether the utopia portrayed in the song is (ohn )ennon4s idea of a perfect world or not. 5ach text though, reminds us of the flaws in society by setting

out unrealistic goals and methods to achie,e perfection. :hile a utopia may appear to be the ideal society, it seems to ha,e been pro,en time and time again that a perfect harmonious society will almost certainly ne,er be achie,ed.

Bibliography Utopia (%ook$ (!"!#$ by Sir Thomas More liff !otes on More"s Utopia and Utopian Literature (%ook$ (!*+" reprinted !**@$ by #arold M. $riest The Island (1ilm$ (&''"$ directed by Michael %ay Imagine (-ong$ (!*+!$ written by &ohn Lennon and taken from the album Imagine produced by $hil Spector, &ohn Lennon and 'o(o )no http*++en.,i(ipedia.org+,i(i+Utopia-./0!o1el./2 (:ebsite$ ()ast 9pdated !st (une &''+$ Author 9nknown http*++en.,i(ipedia.org+,i(i+Imagine-./0song./2 (:ebsite$ ()ast 9pdated *th (une &''+$ Author 9nknown httpABBwww.lyric3.comB8ohn;lennonBalBimagineBsong;C'*@C.html (:ebsite$ ()ast 9pdated &''+$ Author 9nknown, )yrics by &ohn Lennon

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