Utopia Paper

Being Realistic in a Fictional World

Many civilizations throughout the course of humanity have strived to reach the “perfect society,” but none of them have ever withstood the test of time. The reason that no utopia has ever lasted permanently is because there is always some type of flaw within a system, no matter how perfect it seems to be. And once the flaw is revealed, the entire utopian system comes crashing down because it is no longer completely perfect. Humans that have complete use of their body and mind will never be able to live in a flawless society, because we can never completely accept perfection. This is demonstrated in the movies Logan’s Run, Wall-E, and the book We.

In the movie Logan’s Run, the people live in a utopia inside a domed city where everything seems to run smoothly. A computer controls everything and can fix almost every problem that the city comes across with the help of the Sandmen. The Sandmen are sort of the police of the society because they fulfill tasks that the supreme computer gives them. They also chase down anyone who tries to run from the Carousel (the machine that allows them to be “reborn” once they turn thirty). For every person that dies, another is born so that the population never changes and new problems never arise. People are made equal because they all have to wear the same clothes depending on their age, and everyone must die once they turn thirty. The flaw in the system is that some people wonder what is outside the city. They use their curiosity and imagination even though they are told not to. The main point of this movie is that humans will never accept perfection as long as they still have free will. They will always strive for more, because the imagination can never be fully satisfied. In the movie, Logan and the other runner hear about a place called Sanctuary, and so they decide to escape the city to find it. This is where the flaw was, within the minds of the people.

Wall-E...