If I ruled the world, there would be more movies, books and video games about the future of the human race living in Utopia. I mean, obviously the world under the reign of John Mark Adkison would be just like Mary Poppins, perfect in every way, so everything else written, filmed or designed would be happy, glorious and well-mannered (I am being sarcastic, not egotistical).
Future Utopian storylines need more publicity because there are far too many future dystopian stories floating around out there, and it is beginning to just become depressing.
For those of you who do not know, the term “utopian” refers to a society of idealistic and social perfection. The term was taken from Sir Thomas More’s “Utopia,” in which he writes about an island nation that lives in his definition of ultimate perfection. Basically, Utopia is Disney World minus the screaming children added to a Sandals resort and multiplied by an endless supply of chocolate. Oh and I guess there wouldn’t be any war, famine, disease, nuclear bombs or Kardashians.
And for those of you who do not know, the term “dystopian” refers to “a society characterized by human misery, squalor, oppression, disease and overcrowding.” Basically it is what our world looks like when Murphy’s Law gets excited and everything that can go wrong does go wrong. It’s the dentist’s office minus the anesthesia added to a zombie apocalypse and populated by Kardashians.
Novelists love futuristic dystopian storylines, probably because readers love them just as much. While dystopian literature has been around since the 1800s, futuristic dystopian novels got big in the mid-20th century with Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” Ayn Rand’s “Anthem” and George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” (though Orwell’s book wouldn’t be considered so much futuristic anymore as just dystopian). And they are experiencing a popular resurgence with the wildly successful “Hunger Games” trilogy and its upcoming movie adaptation (if you can get the teeny-boppers to like something, the world is yours). Then there are also television shows such as “Terra Nova,” “The Walking Dead” and “Falling Skies,” all shows in which humanity has either ripped the world apart, died and come back to rip the world apart or let aliens come in to rip the world apart.
Anyway, most futuristic dystopian novels are all about humanity in some way messing up and wrecking the world. I mean, really, are we so hard on ourselves that we crave to read about our race destroying the world? When will utopian novels, movies and TV shows have their time in the limelight?
You might be saying, well who would want to read a book where everything is perfect and hunky-dory? Where is the conflict, the villainous government, the herd of zombies and the rising phoenix metaphors? What could possibly motivate a utopian novel? Well, you could always have something from outside Earth trying to mess up a Utopian future, such as aliens or an underappreciated computer system.
I admit I love a good dystopian series just as much as the next person. “The Walking Dead” is one of my favorite shows, but more for the drama than the zombies, their acting lacks certain depth. I also cannot wait to see “The Hunger Games” and I would totally volunteer to hide away from bloodthirsty teenagers in the woods with Katniss Everdeen.
But what I am trying to say is, lighten up on yourself, humanity. We are getting better as the years go on. Look at the accomplishments we’ve made in personal hygiene for example. We may have some major flaws, but we have even more major strengths as well.
