Utopia and Dystopia
Explanations and Images
• Utopia: free of poverty,
disease, conflict, and
unhappiness. Eu topos –
Greek for “Well Place,”
a pun on “nowhere.”
• Dystopia: “Dys” or “Dis”
signifies “ill, bad, or
abnormal.” “Bad
Place.”
Metropolis
Fritz Lange’s Metropolis
shows a futuristic world
where the haves and
have-nots are separated
not only by class but by
space, where the thinkers
and doers do not interact.
Metropolis
The film shows many
industrial images of a
symbiotic relationship
between the human world
and the machine world –
one cannot survive without
the other.
Metropolis
Included in the film, a
protagonist of the upper
class descends from the
upper world and attempts
to help the lower world
out of love for a woman
in white working for
equality for all.
Metropolis
In the film, a mad scientist
attempts to create the
perfect worker, an
automaton woman – the
first robot on screen – to
do the work that the human
workers cannot do because
of their physical failings as
living creatures; thus creating
the fear of machines taking
over the world of humans.
Could also be used to take the
place of place of the woman in
white. (Maria)
Future Landscapes
The Following are a series of future
landscapes from the films: Blade
Runner, the Matrix, I, Robot, Gattaca,
and Attack of the Clones.
Blade Runner
Blade Runner
The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix
I, Robot
Gattaca
Attack of the Clones
Veils
Often in the Dystopian Film,
the story calls for a veiled existence
of the real world from the real world.
Many times, the story calls for the eyes
to be covered and then revelation can
happen. But even with the eyes open,
many times the characters still cannot see.
Blade Runner
A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange
The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix
Minority Report
Gattaca
Robots, Androids, and Clones
A fear of what humanity
can create in its own image
abounds in Dystopian Literature
and Film. Often Humanity
learns tends to want the help of the created
but then attempts to destroy the creature before
it can destroy Humanity. Many times there is a symbiosis
between the machine and the human.
Clones question the nature of humanity and focus the
audience to face a fear of losing what makes them
human.
I, Robot
Total Recall
THX 1138
THX 1138
THX 1138
THX 1138
The Terminator
The Matrix
The Matrix
Attack of the Clones
Attack of the Clones
Attack of the Clones
Religion
In the Dystopian Future
a cult of personality
based on the leader prevails
over thetraditional image of religion.
THX 1138