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]]

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]].

* People in Creator/StanislawLem's world in ''The Futurological Congress'' could live life as they liked by taking pills which changed reality. Later the hero discovers [[spoiler: that everything he's seen has been hallucinated because the government was hiding-with more drugs-that Earth is overcrowded and freezing and everyone will die soon.]]

* Dream Land of the Franchise/{{Kirby}} series is this when not in danger, as the land is often described as a happy-go-lucky world "famous for peace and quiet".
** "It's the perfect little land... If you like that sort of thing." - ''Videogame/KirbysEpicYarn''

* Similarly to Rayman, Dream Land of the Franchise/{{Kirby}} series is arguably this when not in danger, as the land is often described as a happy-go-lucky world "famous for peace and quiet".

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': In "The Coyote," Bolt recommends that Charlie, the title animal, leave their yard and head to a more ideal place to the west, such as a state wildlife preserve, national forest, or national park. The coyote does so, singing the song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" (which describes such a perfect place) as the story ends.

** The second movie, "The Beast with a Billion Backs" [[spoiler:almost ends with all of the universe living in a Utopian setting on a galaxy-sized tentacled alien that loves everyone (romantically), renders them immortal, and looks like TheThemeParkVersion of [[FluffyCloudHeaven Heaven]]. Then a [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic jealous Bender and his robotic Army of the Damned invade "Heaven" and end up getting everyone exiled]], because [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop True Love is Jealous and Needy]].]]

* 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 women to be [[MandatoryMotherhood good Christian housewives]] and nothing much else.

** 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.

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.

* ''Literature/TwoThousandOneHundredFiftyAD'' (1971) is about Jon Lake, whose dreams take him 176 years into the future. Society there is mostly automated by machines and people spend their days expanding their "macro awareness". The members of this "macro society" say they have to reach Jon through his dreams, when he is most accessible. Jon begins to spend more and more of his time dreaming, escaping the world where he is a crippled war veteran studying for his doctorate in Psychology.

[[caption-width-right:350:''The Prologue and the Promise'' (crop), Robert [=McCall=]

For the 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 model in "Literature/AModelLife" is a perfect society of pre-chosen people who don't engage in violence or cruelty. James finds it utterly miserable, no matter what he tries to do. [[spoiler:This is subverted; the model isn't even real, but an elaborate therapy scheme.]]

* 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.