MovieChat Forums > Things to Come (1936) Discussion > Any TRUE utopian films?

Any TRUE utopian films?

posted 16 years ago by wilsonbond_99
18 replies | jump to latest

Most science fiction films are dystopias: they react against the very idea of a utopia by showing every future as ugly, nightmarish, and wrong-headed to the core. This seems to me the easy way of doing SF in the movies; it's much harder to creatively imagine a futuristic society that works, and would be desirable to live in, as Wells and Korda try to do in this film. Other than Things to Come, though, I can't think of a single example of such a movie.

"Mollymauk doesn't park. He makes lazy circles in the sky."

[–] Bill_Bikk 16 years ago

total recall has a happy end

[–] wilsonbond_99 16 years ago

Well...Metropolis has a happy end too, but that sure don't make it utopia.

"Mollymauk doesn't park. He makes lazy circles in the sky."

[–] latrekker2004 16 years ago

Well...

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0070707/

[–] wilsonbond_99 16 years ago

SLEEPER?! Hey, any society that has the Orgasmatron is pretty close to utopia in my book! And as I recall, smoking was "the healthiest thing in the world for you" there too. A civilized world.

"Mollymauk doesn't park. He makes lazy circles in the sky."

[–] smnplmr 16 years ago

Well, I know it's not directly concerning life in the world itself, but maybe you have overlooked the biggest and most complex universe in the history of Science Fiction - Star Trek? The citizens of the Federation live in an undeniable Utopia, where war and money no longer exist... The few scenes in the ST films (and TV series) that do feature life on Earth show organised bliss... think that's about as good an example as we're gonna get!

As I understand it, a Utopia is a world where peace is intentional and prosperity is intended for all its occupants, whereas a Dystopia is created by making its occupants THINK they're living in a constructive society (1984, Brave New World, etc).

[–] andrewwjohnson 15 years ago

........It would be impossible to have drama without conflict. In "Star Trek" the earth may have been a peaceful and tolerant place, but out in space there was conflict with Klingon's, other bad actors and planets that were at least as messed up as earth was in the past. They may have4 gotten rid of the no smoking signs and had orgasmos in "Sleeper", but the world was ruled by a dictator or at least his dismembered nose that needed to be cloned. At the end of "Things to Come" the residents of the underground Robert Taylor Homes rebelled in the end and there was that thirty year Second World War.......A true utopian novel like "Looking Backwards", actually of socialist tract then a novel, if filmed, would probably be the dullest movie ever made.
I'm not Spartacus. The dude over there in the sandals who looks like Kirk Douglas is.

[–] melinda2001 9 years ago

You're saying Star Trek's Utopian Earth doesn't count because there are other planets that are not Utopian? I think it counts just fine. You can also count Her (2013) and Mr. Nobody (2009) as well, all of which show that drama and Utopian worlds can coexist like man and fish.

[–] scotbpens 15 years ago

While it's never been filmed, Aldous Huxley's Island is about a supposedly ideal society on a fictional tropical island. With only the barest hint of a plot, it's more of a philosophical exposition than a novel. It would make a terribly boring movie.

Then, of course, there are the two film versions of James Hilton's Lost Horizon. Whether you consider Shangri-La to be a utopia or not is a matter of personal opinion, I suppose.

All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?

[–] Line-of-Flight 15 years ago

I was thinking about Huxley's Island too. The big critique always is that utopian movies would be boring, so there's no way to actually make one. That's incorrect though. There is at least one way, and Island could be done that way: as an erotic movie/ porno. You know I'm right ;) Utopian Porn

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"Well, I'm sure your knowledge of bullsh:t is limitless"

[–] xenophile2002 9 years ago

That's how I did it.

I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler.
- Jon Stewart

[–] senkisem 15 years ago

The No. 1. true Utopia film (neglecting here the obvious 'Things to Come' and the already mentioned 'Lost Horizon'] is the Soviet 'Tumannost' Andromedy' ['Andromeda Nebula], based upon an Ivan Yefremov novel [same title]. Unfortunately, only the first part of a planned trilogy was filmed ['Prisoners of the Iron Star'] in 1967.

Although disguised as SF comedy, the Czechoslovakian 'Muz z prvního století' ['Man from the Fist Century', 1961] is also pure Utopia - and a brilliant film as well -, and a very close second.

The Japanese 'Latitude Zero' has a very nice, true Utopia inserted into the - otherwise rather silly - plot.

Another Czechoslovakian SF film, the equally brilliant 'Ikarie XB1' [1963] is also utopian [based on the novel 'Magellan Nebula' by Stanislaw Lem] - although its plot takes entirely aboard a spaceship.

Between 1959 and 1976 East Germans made four SF films ['Der schweigende Stern;, 'Eolomea', 'Im staub der Sterne', 'Signale - Ein weltraumabenteuer'], all utopian to a certain degree.

The Soviets made several utopian SF films as well - most notably, 'Cherez ternii k zvezdom' [1980] --- which is kind of Utopia vs. Dystopia. There are other Soviet films that are also utopian (at least, in part - such as 'Gostya iz buduschego' [also based on a story by Kir Bulychev]).

[–] Line-of-Flight 14 years ago

Hey, thank you very much! I'll surely go and try to check them out (if I can get them). Sound very cool, I love that stuff.

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"Well, I'm sure your knowledge of bullsh:t is limitless"

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin888 14 years ago

It's hard to imagine what can't possibly exist.

Utopian fiction is ultimately Communist propaganda.

"It's not about money.... It's about sending a Message..... Everything Burns!!!"

[–] Line-of-Flight 13 years ago

Then try reading Ayn Rand for a change ;) Or better yet, don't

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"Well, I'm sure your knowledge of bullsh:t is limitless"

[–] Line-of-Flight 13 years ago

Then try reading Ayn Rand for a change ;) Or better yet, don't

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"Well, I'm sure your knowledge of bullsh:t is limitless"

[–] Strazdamonas 11 years ago

not sure if seriuos or trolling. either way you made my day, i havent laughed that hard in a while.

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Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

[–] xenophile2002 9 years ago

I second that emotion.

I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler.
- Jon Stewart

[–] MoviemanCin 8 years ago

Yes it is!

Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar, and / or doesn't.