Utopia

“The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and of architecture, all make the point as clear as possible. The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden, If you don’t want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don’t have a soul.”

                                                                                                                      -Sir Thomas More

The human imagination has no bounds, and we have taken it to unimaginable possibilities and beyond; many such possibilities having come to life.

One such idea was the idea of Utopia, the existence of a society with no flaws, perfect in every sense, where everything runs as smoothly as can possibly be.

The idea of Utopia first came appeared in Plato’s republic, where he gives his idea of how an ideal society should function and how that society can cultivate more peaceful peoples.

Later, Sir Thomas More used the same term to describe Utopia as an imaginary society and how it exists in isolation, in his book Utopia.

Ever since, Sir Thomas More’s proposed society has become the blue print for a realistic working nation. However, he did not intend to do so while proposing the idea of an ideal society through his book Utopia.

Human imagination has no bounds, but our imagination needs a trigger. Perhaps the idea of Utopia came into existence in times of war.

The logic behind these statements would be that, we realize the value of something only when it’s gone or we don’t have it. So, the greatest ideas of a peaceful society were perhaps developed in an environment, which was completely violent, which is a contradiction in terms.

The point is that, need is the trigger. Although the Utopian society proposed by Sir Thomas More has become the blue print for a realistic society, but looking at it today, the IDEA of a Utopian society is what we wish to achieve, not how he described Utopia in his book as.

In the 21^st Century, there are a variety of ‘needs’ and hence a variety of ‘triggers’. Hence all of us have our own version of a Utopian world. So, it’s difficult to describe and define Utopia as such.

 Life in the 21^st century is very different from what it was back in 1516, when Sir Thomas More wrote the book. We live in a society, which offers everything ‘instantly’, be it food, information, luxury, pleasure, relaxation.

With changing times, the idea of Utopia has also changed. Today, along with ‘instant’ food, entertainment, luxury etc., we have instant Utopia as well. Places like Las Vegas and the Disney movies are said to be the Instant Utopias of the 21^st Century, many also call it ‘Fake Utopia’, which is a paradox.

 The reason for it being called ‘Fake’, according to Ken Sanes, would be that it postulates and promotes the ideology of instant happiness, and we all know that without hard work and time there is no success or happiness.

So is Disney to be blamed for teaching us how to dream but not teaching us how to achieve it?

One could either criticize this bunch of Fake Utopias on how it teaches children to wait for your prince charming to find you or wait for your fairy godmother to wave her wand and make everything perfect.

Or look at the bigger picture; look at what it teaches children in the end. The happy endings are not false promises; they teach the children a very important lesson of life- hope and faith.

What sources of entertainment like Disney are doing is only helping us in expanding our horizons of imagination.

True it does offer an escape into another world, but as citizens of the 21^st century, with innumerable distractions, and living the fast life, the source via which we expand the horizons of our imagination also needs to be radical and escapism in my opinion is radical enough, given that we come back to reality to implement and achieve our ‘dreams’.

Saying that Disney falsifies our desire of a better world would be incorrect.

The ideology that Utopia as a concept is promoting is the ideology of perfection and people living in a ‘perfect’ society.

However, we all know, that there is no growth in a society where there is no change, where everything is perfect. In a society where nothing changes and is perfect might be seen as an ideal society but changing our perspective, it is also a stagnant society.

Change is inevitable, is the only constant and is also a vital element for a civilization to survive in contentment.

Now, looking back at the idea Utopia, it seems completely imprudent.

If the idea of Utopia can change and vary over a span of time, the means to achieve it will also change.

The concept of Utopia, has been polished and understood better over the years. And I believe that the way the message is being conveyed by the Disney movies, cannot be understood better. The reason being that we live in a world which thrives on competition, we as adults know well that there is nothing for those who don’t work hard.. The one important lesson anybody learns living in the 21^st century is that hard work is the way to a better life. So, we know the value of hard work well.

In the midst of all the struggle and hard work we get to watch these brilliant movies which show us ideas undreamed-of, show children how to have faith and hope even in the harshest of conditions, teach young girls that they don’t need a prince charming to be happy; we get to visit places like Las Vegas which take us to another world and show us what its like to have all the things that we could ever dream of. These instant utopias give us a channel into the possibilities of what life has to offer.

Hence in my opinion, the instant utopias like the Disney movies and places like Las Vegas are more realistic than the concept of Utopia, they are the perfect amalgamation of dreams and reality.