Utopies et dystopies Cours

Writers have written utopian stories for centuries starting with Plato, in 380 BC. In the Bible Genesis is a kind of utopian world that turns into a dystopian one after the sin of Adam and Eve. The book that gave its name to the genre utopia is Utopia of Thomas More published in 1516.  

Plato's Republic is considered the first example of utopia in history. In this dialogue, (which follows Socrates' method of engaging conversations) Plato establishes, philosophically, a state that would be seen as a model for societies emerging and/or functioning in Plato's time as well as for societies extending to our times. All changes to the functioning of these societies should follow and fit into the model of the ideal state, the Republic.

The Garden of Eden, in Genesis (one of the 46 books of the Old Testament), is also seen as a utopian society inasmuch as Adam and Eve live a utopian lifestyle, up to the moment they first sin by eating the forbidden fruit. The world then becomes a dystopia due to the corruption of the mankind.

In 1516, Thomas More protested against English life in Utopia, the book after which the genre was named. Indeed, the genre was named after the imaginary ideal kingdom created by Thomas More. In this perfect place, everything is pleasant, there are no money worries for the citizens to be bothered with, and problems do not exist. Everything that happens, happens for the greater good.

As a socio-political satire, Utopia criticizes Europe's political corruption and religious hypocrisy. The problems of the real world (poverty, crime, political corruption) are contrasted with the harmony, equality, and happiness that reign in Utopia.

In both utopia and dystopia, the reader will find characteristics of science-fiction and fantasy, and the plot is often set in a futuristic world where technology has been developed to create perfect living conditions. However, utopian and dystopian novels' focus is not on technology per se, but rather on the way the citizens live and react to the conditions created, that is to say on their psychological and emotional reactions to the society they live in.

The list of the ills and problems facing human society is an never-ending list. It comprises homelessness, poverty, racism, homophobia, disease, greed,
 avarice, crime, violence, sexism, selfishness, among others. The fundamental issue raised in utopian and dystopian novels is to know whether it is the society's aim to erase those ills and, if such were the case, whether it is possible to eliminate them.

In utopian literature, authors present human beings as good. In dystopian literature, human beings are evil or at least capable of great evil. It is often the worst version of human beings that is described. 

On the one hand, according to some assumptions, human beings are basically (in the sense of "originally", that is to say, at the origins of humankind) good.

Utopian literature is like pastoral literature as it looks backwards to a Golden Age where human beings lived in harmony with nature, and lived simple, happy lives tending sheep, making love in the sunshine, and playing pan pipes. This perfect world takes no account of evil forces and the original sin. Nevertheless, there is one major difference between utopian and pastoral literatures as in utopian literature, the Golden Age is yet to come. This type of literature is to be put parallel with pastoral painting.

On the other hand, if according to other assumptions, human nature were to be described as dystopian, then human beings would be seen as being basically evils or at least, having an ingrained capacity for great evil. Most of the Christian branches believe in the Original Sin, the first one committed in the Bible, being disobedience to God's command not to eat the fruit of knowledge. When Eve committed Adam to share the fruit with her, it caused the fall from innocence and mankind's banishment from the Garden of Eden. Since then, every single human being has an evil part deeply rooted inside themselves. The capacity for doing evil things is present in all human beings.

Yet, even though all human beings have this evil side inside of them, the Christian faith also believes that man can ask God for forgiveness and can choose to turn away from sin. Baptism is an act for seeking forgiveness. To that extent, the Bible can be read as a message of humankind's redemption, from God. 

But in dystopian literature, the Original Sin provides the author with the worst version of human evil.

Dystopian literature has more than often given the writers the opportunity to question the world around them. The first half of the twentieth century provides us with many indications of a world gone wrong.The twentieth century has been the century of dramatic events and irredeemable changes that have shaped the genre of dystopia. Consequently, authors were inclined to depression or pessimism about human nature or the human spirit which is why this genre can literally be said to have significantly emerged in the last century. The most famous writers of dystopian fiction are William Golding, George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. 

William Golding, after serving during World War II and having witnessed the horrors of the war, was disillusioned about human nature as he realized he had a Nazi within himself which was only restrained thanks to the society's rules and laws. He thus wrote the story of boys, who, left to their own, begin to torture and murder themselves. To that extent, Lord of the Flies is, still today, a truly disturbing fiction book. Indeed, it is generally agreed that children are the future of a nation. Hence the importance to grant them with a good education, to organize an efficient educational system, and to teach them the basics for living in a society, the point being to give them the tools to fit into our world. Unfortunately, once they find themselves left to their own on the deserted island, even though they were given the education and tools they needed to fit into the English society, the boys turn into savages. This pessimistic vision of the human nature goes parallel with William Golding's state of mind in the aftermath of World War II. 

This was also true of George Orwell who, as a keen critic of imperialism, fascism, stalinism, and capitalism (which he all considered to be forms of political oppression), became disillusioned with Soviet Communism.

George Orwell wrote as a journalist in Germany after the war. It led him to write 1984, a dystopia about a totalitarian regime.

Another major dystopian novel to try and figure out what could have motivated authors to choose the genre of Dystopia is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, published in 1932. This novel raises a lot of important questions about individuality, human nature, and the downfalls of technological advancement. 

More than books and literature, dystopian literature also tackles the issue of education and knowledge, as keys to understanding the world and trying to make it a better place to live in. Brave New World definitely is a warning about education. Aldous Huxley's "hypnopaedia" (a.k.a. brainwashing) makes it clear that with education comes responsibility. Hence the importance to teach the citizens the same meaningless platitudes and irrational lessons in morality. Babies are brainwashed from the day they are born, thus indoctrination becomes part of you they are.

Nowadays, the dystopia genre is no longer limited to writers and film makers. Indeed, painters as well as architects (as early as the end of the nineteenth century) have seized the opportunity to express themselves through new forms of art that defy the usual codes of their disciplines and allow them to foreshadow a somewhat not so bright future. As such, their art is often based on society's short-sighted choices, as a way to denounce the downward slides of the consumer society and its consequences on the environment, the inevitable result of human over-consumption, over-construction, and over-population of our cities, for instance.