History Main / Utopia

In fact, it is so much easier to get people to agree with what is wrong with a place that most social-commentary settings fall into the {{dystopia}} category. When a brave author does attempt a Utopian setting it seems to [[AuthorFilibuster come from a need to grind a particular axe]]. Thus we get libertarian/conservative/progressive utopias, religious utopias, communal utopias, and other philosophic one-note offerings, each with its own collection of people attesting they would rather die than live there. It helps that the word itself was created to mean [[PerfectionIsImpossible such a place can't possibly exist because it's that good]].[[note]]The word is actually a pun; 'utopia' by itself means 'no place', but is pronounced identically (in English at least) to 'eutopia', meaning 'good place'.[[/note]]

See also PerfectPacifistPeople and UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans. Contrast with (of course) {{Dystopia}}. May run on {{Aesoptinum}}. CrapsaccharineWorld can be a subversion or a deconstruction of this trope. FalseUtopia is a mix of both sides: all the looks of a utopia, but all the problems of a dystopia to maintain it.

* Angelnetted worlds in ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' are essentially utopian. Within the angelnet you cannot be physically harmed, psychologically harmed, have your memeset (perception of reality) interfered with or have your rights violated. However the [[DeusEstMachina AI Gods]] are still the "iron fist in a velvet glove" so there isn't any ''real'' freedom, not that you'd ever know.

* LadyLand in ''Animation/{{Gandahar}}'' is in perfect harmony with nature until destruction comes.

* ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'': Deconstructed; the city of Olympus only acts as one due to a large part of its population being "bioroids", artificial humans with suppressed emotions. And then if course, there's the constant policing due to various external and internal threats that try to go against Olympus' utopian vision. Of course, later adaptations of the series reconstruct it as well, showing how the people involved generally want to do their best to keep that vision alive.

%%* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'':
%%** The Silver Millennium on the moon.
%%** Crystal Tokyo, the far future realm of Neo-Queen Serenity.

* According to ''Literature/TheBible'', the whole world will become a Utopia ''AfterTheEnd''. The Garden of Eden was also portrayed as utopian, though in both cases details are scant. Of course, that was before the Fall in any case.
* The good afterlife described by most religions is a definite example of this trope, often fulfilling the need for everyone to get along by restricting entry to believers only and/or involving them being enlightened/spiritually transformed, so petty human squabbling (not to mention physical needs, of course) don't exist anymore.

* This is [[StreetFighter Rolento]] [[VideoGame/FinalFight Schugerg's]] entire reason for joining the ''StreetFighter'' tournament more or less. He claims to want to build the perfect nation, except, his idea of Utopia is more uhh...[[ThoseWackyNazis totalitarian]].

!Examples:

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' has an often overlooked utopia in the form of "The Shire". The simple agrarian hobbits manage to live a leisurely lifestyle while remaining prosperous and undoubtedly well fed. They have average lifespans in excess of 100 years. They enjoy frequent celebrations and gift exchange. Their only armed force, Sheriffs, deal more with lost livestock then any real criminal behavior, and in fact in the whole history of the Shire there have been only four instances where the hobbits needed to muster any sort of military force; all were due to external threats. Apparently the Numenorians and their descendants found the hobbits' society particularly endearing as they've gone out of their way to defend the Shire from foreign invasion even after the fall of their own empire. According to Frodo, as of the events of the "Scouring of the Shire" chapter, [[ApeShallNeverKillApe no hobbit has ever killed another hobbit on purpose in the Shire]].
** Though it is debatable just how utopian the Shire actually is. It is worth remembering that all the hobbits that are POV characters except Sam are members of wealthy and powerful families, with Pippin being the son of the Thane of the Shire, and Sam is, in spite of his youth, pretty much an OldRetainer. Also, while no-one is denying that the Shire is probably one of the nicest places in Middle-Earth to live, the hobbits are also portrayed as insular, xenophobic, reactionary, clannish, gossipy and prone to TallPoppySyndrome in the extreme. It is also quite telling that when Lotho starts tearing up the Shire, the only recourse offered is "Talk to the Bagginses and hope they sort him out" and when he starts bringing in muscle from outside there is no power that prevents him from doing so.

* LadyLand in ''Animation/{{Gandahar}}'' is in perfect harmony with nature and is a borderline MarySuetopia until destruction comes.

* MarySuetopia -- Utopia when written weakly (conflict is not solved better, it just doesn't exist).

* The Union of American Socialist Republics in the alternate history series ''Literature/{{Reds}}!'' is a deconstruction of much of the tropes of utopia. Is life in the UASR better? Perhaps. Is it very different? Absolutely. The author's seem to take a differentiating approach with this question. While communism is often seen as a utopian ideology, and the UASR has many of the facets of utopia (free love, classless society, great freedoms), this comes at a cost that people socialized to live in a capitalist, democratic republic might find quite uncomfortable, such as very great social pressures to participate in political and social life, and other duties that don't gel well with an individualistic society. The cultural and social values that developed over a century of tremendous divergence, revolution and the like are very much alien.

* The titular setting of ''{{Literature/Dinotopia}}'' is based around a peaceful coexistence between dinosaurs and humans. Except for the carnosaurs in the Rainy Basin, who are convinced to stay put by dying herbivores making a pilgrimage there to be eaten. And that one guy nobody likes who rants about how Dinotopia doesn't mean dinosaur utopia-it really means "terrible place". He gets points for his Greek knowledge, but he's still a big jerk. But he does have a NiceHat.

* SugarBowl -- where [[TastesLikeDiabetes cuteness and sweetness]] is king.

* {{Arcadia}} - a place where people embrace the good old ways and live in wondrous simplicity.
* CrystalSpiresAndTogas - When extreme technological advancement wraps itself in the trappings of ancient civilization's aesthetics.
* MarySuetopia - Utopia when written weakly (conflict is not solved better, it just doesn't exist).
* SugarBowl - where [[TastesLikeDiabetes cuteness and sweetness]] is king.
* NoPoverty - a frequent feature of any Utopia.

For the [[TropeNamer eponymous book]] by Creator/ThomasMore, [[Literature/{{Utopia}} see here]]. If you're looking for the British drama series of the same name, [[Series/{{Utopia}} see here]], or for the Australian comedy series, [[{{Series/Utopia2014}} see here]].

* The setting of ''Manga/{{Aria}}''.
* Crystal Tokyo, the far future realm of Neo-Queen Serenity, in ''Franchise/SailorMoon''. And much earlier in the same setting, the Silver Millennium on the moon, which it is to at least some extent based on.

* In ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'' several characters tell legends of Alma Torran, a paradise ruled by King Solomon which was eventually destroyed. [[spoiler:It turns out Alma Torran did indeed exist, in a parallel universe.]]
* Deconstructed in ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' where the city of Olympus only acts as one due to a large part of its population being "bioroids," artificial humans with suppressed emotions. And then if course, there's the constant policing due to various external and internal threats that try to go against Olympus' utopian vision. Of course, later adaptations of the series reconstruct it as well, showing how the people involved generally want to do their best to keep that vision alive.

[[folder:Comicbooks]]
* In ''Comicbook/TheAutumnlandsToothAndClaw'' despite a rash of racism the floating cities are a utopia. The animals live peaceful lives dedicated to the pursuit of magical knowledge and industry. In the Autumnlands at large there haven't been '''any''' major wars for a very long time.

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': As one might guess given it's name as originally envisioned Paradise Island was a utopia, a peaceful bountiful place of learning and science where women from across time arrived as refugees [[WarRefugees fleeing war]] and other oppressions and decided to stay and build their own immortal society.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': While still an {{Arcadia}} Themyscira is a far cry from the utopia Paradise Island was, at first. Later writers reconstructed it as a utopia where WarRefugees from across the galaxy were welcomed, orphans were taken in and scholarship flourished while knowledge from across the universe was collected and stored in the libraries. This version also accepted orphans and refugees who were not female, though the Amazons themselves are of course all women.
* The original depictions of the ''ComicBook/SilverSurfer'''s homeworld of Zenna-La (the name being a variation on TheShangriLa) were decidedly utopian. Zenn-La was a very old, very high tech society that had long ago achieved world peace, where crime was virtually unknown, everyone was peaceful and learned, and where most human physical wants were easily met with technology. Its people had long ago explored great swathes of the universe... and having thus explored, they had come home again and stayed there. Norrin Radd, who would become the Surfer, found his world horribly ''boring,'' and resented the current generation (himself included) for reaping the benefits of their ancestors' labors which they themselves did nothing to earn. The 1990's animated series depicted a less isolated and introspective version of Zenn-La. In this version, the planet is famed throughout space for its spiritual enlightenment, and pilgrims come there to study the ways of peace. Even dissident Kree and Skrulls who want to find a way to end their millenia-long war. In both versions, they're defenseless when Galactus comes, until Norrin offers himself to the PlanetEater.
* This is also a long-standing WhatIf trope with Doctor Doom; whenever he actually manages to take over the world, he manages to change it into an honest to god utopia with minimal (not none, mind) removal of freedom. At the end of the day, the reason he never seems to get there in the main universe is because he's too obsessed with one-upping Reed Richards, that and he often finds VictoryIsBoring; it's a lot easier to conquer than it is to sustain, paradise or not.
* The alternate future shown during the "Old Woman Laura" arc of ''ComicBook/AllNewWolverine'' is this. Here, the heroes have finally won after defeating all the villains during the "Doom War". The sole exception is Latveria which is still under the iron thumb of an aging Doctor Doom, something Laura seeks to rectify.

* Le Guin's novel ''Literature/TheDispossessed'' is subtitled ''An Ambiguous Utopia'', which nicely summarizes the setting - Anarres is presented as a much less flawed world than ours, but it is still far from perfect. Le Guin puts down much of this to an [[ObstructiveBureaucrat obstructive bureaucracy]] and decay of the idealism that led to Anarres's founding in the first place.

* Twilight Mirage - 4th season of ''Podcast/FriendsAtTheTable'' is explicitly described as "utopia in decline", but utopia nonetheless.

* The Franchise/EvilliousChronicles by Music/{{mothy}} frequently involves characters either discussing the concept or attempting to achieve it, often in the process providing a {{Deconstruction}} of what it means to have a utopia and how to get one (the Clockwork Lullaby song series in particular features a set of characters trying to achieve utopia by collecting ''seven demons of sin'', with others rightfully skeptical of the results that would produce.)

* Zaofu from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. It's effectively portrayed as the ideal civilisation, with innovation, freedom and self-perfection being key but not sacrificing security and commonwealth like many libertarian dystopias. It's so perfect, in fact, that the final antagonist of the series, Kuvira, tried to model the Earth Empire after it, with mixed [[TheEmpire results]]. It's also achieved in a fairly realistic fashion too, and while things are good for the citizens, it has a grim side in that [[RealityEnsues it siphons resources away from the rest of the Earth Nation]].