Utopia: Impossible to achieve, impossible to upkeep

One of the topics discussed in our class this semester was the possibility of a utopian society. The general consensus was no and I am inclined to agree. In most films that begin with a utopian society, something happens to tear the society apart at the themes. While it makes sense that movies must have conflict and can therefore not allow a utopian society to continue, it seems unlikely that a utopia could be sustained in any world. Humans are curious beings. It only takes one person to begin to wonder “what if” and the utopia begins to crumble.

There are several movies that support this theory. One example is The Island. The movie is set in a society where the citizens must stay indoors due to a contamination of the outside world. The citizens are all entered in a lottery to be moved to The Island-the only non-contaminated space left. The main character, Lincoln Six Echo, is discontent with his life and begins to explore, eventually realizing that everything he knows is a lie. The world is not contaminated; he and everyone else in his society are clones of people in the outside world. When they “win” the trip to the island, they are in fact being taken to donate their organs to their sponsor. Lincoln Six Echo is horrified and escapes the compound.

http://youtu.be/oR9JPy00Ojk

The Island is an ideal model for a utopia gone wrong. If Lincoln Six Echo had not gone looking for something different from the everyday, he would not have discovered what was really happening to the people chosen to go to the island. His discovery eventually leads to the destruction of the compound where he lives and life he and those around him have always known. In other words, Lincoln Six Echo’s curiosity destroys the utopia he was living in.