History Main / Utopia

* According to ''Literature/TheBible'', the whole world will become a Utopia ''AfterTheEnd''.

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 such a place can't possibly exist because it's that good.

** The BigBad of the 2nd file, Chuck De Nomolos seems to be entirely motivated by really hating the music that his society runs on. It appears some folks will always be tortured in any utopia.
* ''Film/TheMatrix'' has an odd case of this: considering that the Matrix itself was designed as a FalseUtopia for its inhabitants, one would expect it to be a world without many of society's problems. Because people kept rebelling since they thought something was off, the makers kept tweaking it until it reached a state mostly everyone was content with -- late 20th century life as we know it, which apparently was the "perfect" balance between struggle and peace to be liveable.

* The titular setting of ''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.

* In the Creator/RobertSheckley short story ''Ticket to Tranai'', the Earth-based protagonist has heard that the titular planet has no crime and no taxation. He finds out when he arrives that this is technically true, but only because there are no laws and the government employs muggers to take what it wants.

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.

** War does not exist internally within the Federation, it is a problem that the Federation tends to have with neighboring powers. Given the Federation's expansion and the availability of entire new planets for colonization, it is not surprising that many social issues are simply gone. No Federation race has to cram their entire population onto just one world if they do not want to. Thus common problems in future settings, such as overpopulated [[MegaCity mega cities]] are just not present because anybody that wants more open space can move to a less densely populated colony (overpopulation also seems to be prevented by [[FantasyContraception contraceptive injections]] mentioned in a couple episodes).

* 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.

* ''Literature/LookingBackward'': The future US has become one by the year 2000. Wealth inequality has been overcome, there's very little crime, and people generally live happier lives as a result of the socialist system the US adopted.

* ''Film/TheMatrix'' has an odd case of this: considering that the Matrix itself was designed as a FalseUtopia for its inhabitants, one would expect it to be a world without many of society's problems. Because people kept rebelling since they thought something was off, the makers kept tweaking it until it reached a state mostly everyone was content with -- late 20th century urban life, which apparently had just enough balance between struggle and balance to be a "perfect" life for people.

Common features include:

* William Lind's ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' presents the Northern Confederation as this, with the only critics in story being presented as evil [[StrawCharacter strawmen]]. It can only be considered a Utopia if you're a white heterosexual fundamentalist Christian, though.

* Gradually {{subverted}} in Creator/StrugatskyBrothers's ''Franchise/NoonUniverse''. While the early installments portrayed the world of the 22nd Century as a more-or-less straight-forward communist utopia, later novels began to subtly undermine this picture. Characters found themselves facing problems that clashed with their utopian mindset, the supposedly just government was revealed to be increasingly ruthless and duplicitous and the 22nd century scarcity-free society was shown to breed a class of bored intellectuals who went to extreme lengths to make themselves feel useful.

* 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 [[{{Understatement}} 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]].

* * William Lind's ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' offers the Northern Confederation, a neo-reactionary direct democracy with a very hands-off, Articles of Confederation-style federal government that scraps all welfare payments, rolls back feminism, homosexuality, anti-racism and other social changes of the 20th century that the author considers destructive, and effectively enforces an idealized, conservative 19th-century lifestyle for its citizens, with all the good ''and'' bad that entails. While the author evidently intends to present it as an honest utopia, or at least the closest thing to one we are likely to get, he also realizes that not everyone would be happy with it, and has characters criticize it in-story. Notably, one critic from an [[PuttingOnTheReich effectively Nazi]] fantasy nation dislikes their [[CapitalismIsBad shopkeeper mentality]], while others from a LadyLand are horrified by a nation that expects all women to be [[MandatoryMotherhood good Christian housewives]] and nothing else.

For the eponymous novel 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]].

* [[TropeNamer The name comes from]] Sir UsefulNotes/{{Thomas More}}'s novel ''Literature/{{Utopia}}'', [[OlderThanSteam published in 1516]], which described a communal, agrarian state. [[UnbuiltTrope However]], More [[LampshadeHanging hung a lampshade]] on the entire idea with the title- "Outopia," in Greek, means roughly "no place" ("Ou," "not," and "topos," "place") while "Eutopia" translates into "good place" ("Eu", "good"), thus the common meaning for More's title. The pun was almost certainly intentional. The extent to which More's Utopia is actually [[{{Dystopia}} utopian]] is a matter of some debate-More actually made a point that [[BigBrotherIsWatching there is no privacy]] or [[DirtyCommunists private property]], slavery still exists ([[DisproportionateRetribution as a way of punishing adultery]]), and though all four of the religions are tolerated, atheists are not, as "obviously" without belief in a god or afterlife [[HollywoodAtheist they have no reason to be moral]] (the fact that they aren't actually killed or otherwise punished, however, but merely sent to speak with the priests to change their minds, is [[FairForItsDay very progressive for the era]]).

If you're looking for the Creator/{{Channel 4}} drama ''Utopia'', [[Series/{{Utopia}} see here]] or Creator/TheABC comedy, [[{{Series/Utopia2014}} see here]].

* [[TropeNamer The name comes from]] Sir UsefulNotes/ThomasMore 's book ''Utopia'', [[OlderThanSteam published in 1516]], which described a communal, agrarian state. [[UnbuiltTrope However]], More [[LampshadeHanging hung a lampshade]] on the entire idea with the title- "Outopia," in Greek, means roughly "no place" ("Ou," "not," and "topos," "place") while "Eutopia" translates into "good place" ("Eu", "good"), thus the common meaning for More's title. The pun was almost certainly intentional. The extent to which More's Utopia is actually [[{{Dystopia}} utopian]] is a matter of some debate-More actually made a point that [[BigBrotherIsWatching there is no privacy]] or [[DirtyCommunists private property]], slavery still exists ([[DisproportionateRetribution as a way of punishing adultery]]), and though all four of the religions are tolerated, atheists are not, as "obviously" without belief in a god or afterlife [[HollywoodAtheist they have no reason to be moral]] (the fact that they aren't actually killed or otherwise punished, however, but merely sent to speak with the priests to change their minds, is [[FairForItsDay very progressive for the era]]).

* The Union of American Socialist Republics in the alternate history series ''{{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.

* {{Deconstructed}} by Aldous Huxley's ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', which provides an example of a hyper-controlled CrapsaccharineWorld, driven by utilitarianism, mass consumerism, and welfare-state planning and enabled by psychological conditioning, prescription drugs, and mind-numbing propaganda. Ironically, Huxley changed a few things about it that suddenly turned it into a utopia in a later novel; that book is called ''Island''.

* Crystal Tokyo, the far future realm of Neo-Queen Serenity, in ''Franchise/SailorMoon''.

* [[TropeMaker The concept itself]] is much earlier than the name, going all the way back to Creator/{{Plato}}'s dialogue ''Literature/TheRepublic'', written in the fourth century B.C.E. Plato's Republic, besides being OlderThanFeudalism, is the first of a long list of Utopias which most modern people would find [[CrapsaccharineWorld terrifyingly totalitarian]], with no private property and its caste system ruled absolutely by "philosopher kings". It also gave us the concept of the "[[PropagandaMachine noble lie]]", the mechanism Plato thought would hold it all together, namely people believing that they were born from the earth itself in their respective castes (to accomplish this, children would be taken away from their mothers and raised in state nurseries) and the gods or nature itself had ordained it that way. Since this was part of Hindu society for centuries among the many other systems like this, it seems that it ''can'' work, if not perfectly.
* {{Deconstructed}} by Aldous Huxley's ''Literature/BraveNewWorld''. Ironically, Aldous Huxley changed a few things about it that suddenly turned it into a utopia; that book is called ''Island''.

* [[Literature/LandOfOz Oz]] under the rule of Ozma is more or less a utopia; all problems come from either outside (particularly the Nome King) or from Oz's fringes.

* William Lind's ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' presents the Northern Confederation as this, with the only critics in story being presented as evil [[StrawCharacter strawmen]]. It can only be considered a Utopia is you're a white heterosexual fundamentalist Christian, though.

* According to ''Literature/TheBible'', the world will become Utopia ''AfterTheEnd''.

* 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 [[{{Understatement}} 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 syphons resources away from the rest of the Earth Nation]].

See also PerfectPacifistPeople and UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans. Contrast with (of course) {{Dystopia}}. May run on {{Aesoptinum}}. An CrapsaccharineWorld may be a subervion or a deconstruction of this trope.

See also PerfectPacifistPeople and UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans. Contrast with (of course) {{Dystopia}}. May run on {{Aesoptinum}}.

* William Lind's ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' offers the Northern Confederation, a neo-reactionary direct democracy with a very hands-off, Articles of Confederation-style federal government that scraps all welfare payments, rolls back feminism, homosexuality, anti-racism and other social changes of the 20th century that the author considers destructive, and effectively enforces an idealized, conservative 19th-century lifestyle for its citizens, with all the good ''and'' bad that entails. While the author evidently intends to present it as an honest utopia, or at least the closest thing to one we are likely to get, he also realizes that not everyone would be happy with it, and has characters criticize it in-story. Notably, one critic from an [[PuttingOnTheReich effectively Nazi]] fantasy nation dislikes their [[CapitalismIsBad shopkeeper mentality]], while others from a LadyLand are horrified by a nation that expects all women to be [[MandatoryMotherhood good Christian housewives]] and nothing else.

* The setting of ''HostileWaters'' until the beginning.

** The United Federation of Planets is said to be Gene Roddenberry's idea of "utopia"-no poverty, disease, or war exists on the Earth of the 24th century. ''Deep Space Nine'', though, pokes some pretty big holes in that idealistic view, with terrorism, war, and a 'secret police' cabal that will do ''anything'' to ensure that everyone is safe and sound. But since most of the stories of political intrigue were written after Roddenberry's death, [[DependingOnTheWriter it's hard to tell whether or not they're actually canon]].

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* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syRjyGxxba4 The town of Perfect.]] A [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin perfect place to live]] where there are beautiful gardens with no poison ivy or allergies, photographs always turn out beautiful, banks are always open, and carpets never stain. Unfortunately, most folks don't live anywhere near Perfect, so [[TagLine Walgreens has everything needed for the real world.]]
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