Utopia is Dystopia
Utopia...
is an imagined place in which everything is in a state of perfection.
Dystopia...
as the antonym of utopia, is an imagined world in which people lead miserable lives.
technological utopia 💵
equality utopia ⚖️
social utopia 👥
technological dystopia 💵
equality dystopia ⚖️
social dystopia 👥
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas
by Ursula Kroeber Le Guin
In order for the people of Omelas to thrive with their "happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies," they must depend on one child's absolute desolation and dispair. (Le Guin 4)
The people of Omelas are outraged despite any explanations as to why the child must suffer. But, they know that if "the wretched one were not there sniveling in the dark, the other one, the flute-player, could make no joyful music." (Le guin 4)
Through this excerpt, Le Guin is explaining that the child is suffering for the greater good. Is this a small price to pay for a perfect utopia?
If a utopia is a perfect world, then Omelas is truly a dystopia. In a utopia, there should be no suffering or cost to pay; however, to achieve utopia, there is a cost. This paradox is explained clearly in The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas; the people of Omelas believe they live in a perfect world, but the suffering of the child subliminally disturbs them and affects their natural way of life.
The Perfect Match
The Perfect Match examines a society in which technology is the basis of its utopia. Tilly, an AI assistant, predicts what users want, who they should date, and even offers suggestions as to what they should bring up in conversation. With Tilly, people no longer need to remember any information; "having Tilly [is] like having the world's best assistant." (Liu 3)
by Ken Liu
At first glance, Tilly seems like the ultimate assistant to user Sai, until his neighbor Jenny argues that "Tilly doesn't tell you what you want, she tells you what to think. Do you even know what you really want anymore?" (Liu 3)
The makers of Tilly turned the world into a place where people act as puppets that are pushed to do or buy whatever makes the corporation the most money. With Tilly, everyone can be watched without their knowledge, just as they can be observed within a Panopticon.
Author Ken Liu explains the ultimate digital Panopticon through this short story.
click to edit
Harrison Bergeron
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Vonnegut Jr. writes about a world of quality in which the body politics of the time force people to be "equal in every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else." (Vonnegut Jr. 38)
In this perfect world, everyone is finally equal. No one can have a single thought for more than 20 seconds, beautiful people must wear masks to prevent jealousy; anyone above average must be handicapped to preserve equality.
So do we really want true equality? As every utopian idea, this kind of equality comes with a cost--individuality.
Vonnegut pushes us to question what kind of equality we want in our world and what it truly means to be equal.
When utopia comes with a sacrifice, it becomes dystopia.
Illusion of choice
Equality doesn't always equal good
The Twilight Zone: Eye of the Beholder
In this episode of the Twilight Zone, our ideas of beauty and illusion are tested. The eye of the beholder follows a young woman in the hospital receiving cosmetic surgery because she is "horrendously ugly." However, when they remove the bandages from her face and reveal a beautiful woman, the hospital staff is shocked to find that none of the treatments worked. In this world, our version of beauty is their version of an abnormality. This social contract demonstrates how everything has a different meaning in the eye of another society.
We later learn that the woman must be exiled and forced to live with the other "unsightly" people so they can "be with their own kind." As she is being taken to this village of the exiled, the man escorting her explains that "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". When we leave here, when we go to the village, try to think of that, Miss Tyler. Say it over and over to yourself."
As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, utopia is in the eye of the beholder.
The Matrix
While we watch The Matrix, we find that the main character Neo is met with a choice--to stay in the Matrix, ignorant of the outside world, or leave to "free [his] mind" and discover the truth about reality.
Self Versus Society
Illusion of Choice
The people of the Matrix are living in a seemingly utopian world; however, as we follow Neo on his quest, a dystopian world is revealed.
Ignorance is Bliss...
The choices Neo must make in the Matrix push us to wonder if life would be better without knowledge that the Matrix is simply a computer program designed to keep humans occupied.
Character Types
The Wise One
Deviant
Character Types
Victim/Innocent
Law Abiding Citizen
Deviant
Big Brother
Character Types
The Believers
Sacrificial Lamb
Deviants
Victim/Innocent
Character Types
Instigator
Big Brother
Law-abiding Citizen
Deviant
Character Types
Deviant
Big Government
Rule-followers
Ten With a Flag
If utopia is always dystopia, then why do we strive to achieve it?
Ten With a Flag follows a young couple in "a world where it is possible to know too much about your baby's potential."(Haines 1) After visiting the doctor, they discover that their child will be a perfect 10/10 and of great use to society. However, the child also is marked with a flag, meaning that there will be a complication and the couple has the option to abort the fetus.
Worried, the couple takes their "option." However, they find themselves in trouble as the government refuses to let them abort the child (after confirming it was their choice). This exchange results in the arrest of the husband and leaves the wife to care for their child. Later, we learn that the flag was the sacrifice the couple had to make in order to have a perfect child.
Ten With a Flag is the perfect model to represent the cost of utopia, as the couple had to make a sacrifice in order to have their ideal child.
Character Types
Big Brother
Controlling Government
Sacrificial Lamb
Rule-follower
It is human nature to strive for better, although we know we can never achieve perfection. We continuously make technological, medical, and social advancements in hopes of achieving a utopia. The search for sublimity is what brings us together to achieve a common goal, and the ups and downs of the journey to any kind of success allow us to actually recognize a favorable result.