WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I discovered something when watching the following films. With every Utopian future, something has to go wrong or at least not be quite right – in the same way that with every Dystopian future, someone overthrows (whether successfully or not) the powers that be.
Westworld
I’m just going to point out that after watching this film, I have genuinely no idea how they have been able to sustain the TV series for as long as they have. Delos brings us the future of holidays. No longer are people travelling abroad, instead they are able to experience a different time period. They say nothing can go wrong (HA!) until it does. Westworld is a little bit like Blade Runner, when you really get down to the nitty gritty of it. Yes, Delos have created this utopian idea for us but it is a dystopia for the robots that work there and as their AI evolves they begin to realise this and rise up against their oppressors.
Things To Come
This was a tough film to add in to the list – especially as the majority of the film, until around 28 minutes from the end, is reasonably dystopian. Everytown is a place destroyed and ravaged by war, and it isn’t until 2036 that things begin to turn around for them properly. Thanks to the help of the aviators as part of Wings across the World. The one thing I will say, for them to even be able to help Everytown in the first place – the rest of world must have become some sort of utopia. How it had not begun to reach them until 1970 I do not know. So I guess you could say that Things to Come is both utopian and dystopian.
In a weird way, the character of John Cabel is a human personification of utopia – as it is he that brings the ability to make Everytown better than it was after the war.
The Truman Show
This is something I would like to call a personal utopia. Obviously, the world that has been created for Truman is a utopia in itself – and amazingly, unlike other utopias mentioned in this article, there is no downside to it – but there is also the utopia of ignorance. Truman Burbank has no idea that he being filmed 24/7, not even when a light falls out of the sky. Yes, behaviours and the world around him begin to seem strange but he still does not truly work out the truth behind it all. It is not until his boat hits the wall at the end that Truman starts to well and truly realise that not all is what it seems.
Demolition Man
The utopia isn’t actually the main factor to this film, but it does bring an interesting subtext. In my opinion this has more connection to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World than just the apt naming of Sandra Bullocks’ character. A future where everyone is sickeningly happy, there is no crime, well proper crime anyway. Eating meat, drinking alcohol and swearing are all illegal – causing a dystopian for those that enjoy such things because they are forced underground. They are seen as vermin to those that enjoy the utopian world and Simon Phoenix, a criminal from the 1990s, is freed from prison to ‘exterminate’ the leader of the rebellion. I guess the future isn’t always perfect but thankfully John Spartan is realised from prison also, to continue is hunt for Phoenix. The utopia is about to get flipped.
Minority Report
In world where crime is at an all-time low, thanks to the precogs and their uncanny ability to predict an illegal act before it happens, life could not be better right? Well, unfortunately it seems they have a flaw. They are easily tampered with, making it possible to frame someone for a crime they did not commit. As I said before, with every utopian world something always seems to go wrong.
In Time
This is another film where it is a utopia for some but a dystopia for others. Of course who wouldn’t love to stop aging at 25 years old? Unfortunately it all comes at cost – one year left to live. Time is the new currency and is used to pay for everything. You are paid in time as well but it doesn’t mean much when the cost of living (literally) goes up day by day. If you’re lucky enough to have all the time in the world, then you’re rich but you also place a target on your back because people will try and steal your time – a little bit like they would now with your money but in this case you will end up dead every time.
