Similarities Between Utopia And Dystopia

It starts with the factory and the workers, and short after shifts to the Pleasure Gardens of Metropolis where the rich live. They do not interact unless approved by the founder of Metropolis. Perhaps it starts this way to give an overview on how they differ in lifestyles, and as an early reminder that this fictional society is different from our own. There is no complete freedom. At the end of the movie however, gone are the barriers between the rich and the poor, along with the repetitive routine the workers endured each day. Even though at the end there was still an established social status, the concept of separation and complete social control vanished. It makes one think about the society he lives in and the norms he has conformed to as a result of that particular society. Are there certain status quos that exist in our society? Is there a way of diminishing or controlling this? Would it benefit the members of

The topic of utopias have always been an interesting topic for philosophers throughout time. Many ideas and perfect laws have been discussed, however every man’s virtue, is another’s vice and there are disagreements. Both Plato’s The Republic and More’s Utopia heavily discuss their ideas of a perfect society. Their thoughts on a utopia have plenty similarities, more specifically in gender relations. They believe that for a society to truly be equal women must work as much as men and that both men and women should have an education. Plato and More, two very progressive philosophers for their time, convey ideas that defied conventions at the time, however both were still influenced greatly by traditions and while their views seem extreme yet

The concept of contrasting social class is manipulated using innovative cinematic techniques, including non-diegetic sound, mise-en-scène, bright lighting and various camera techniques and angles. The scene instigates with calm and composed music being played during the beginning of the

It is difficult to point out that religion, though very significant, was an issue accounted for among each of these novels. Because of the societal corruption within the author’s realities, they were given the opportunity to recreate the religions, the beliefs, and values their utopians strove for. Sargent states that many Utopian communities “have been religious and they tried to lead a way of life that their members believed their faith required”(Sargent 35). Utopia offers its readers a sense of what More was personally feeling during the time he wrote his novel. More was a Catholic Humanist and because of this, through his writings, he strove for the improvement of the Christian society. Because More was writing Utopia during the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation, he incorporates many of these desired betterments through the indirect criticisms of Lutheranism and Protestantism. He nearly entered the priesthood, living for four years of his life within a monastery, thus incorporating in him the values and beliefs he lived by throughout his political and literary life. He was eventually beheaded for resigning from his duties to the king because he disagreed with the elevation of the King through the combining of church and state. His Utopian’s religious beliefs were the same in that they each believed in only one true God. They believe in the mortality of man’s soul, that “God of His goodness has designed that it should be happy; and that He has therefore appointed

The film M by Fritz Lang (1931) is a timeless masterpiece that not only reflects the fear and distrust present in German society after WWI, but also uses sound in ways it had never been used befor. M was made during a time of paranoia in Germany, set against the backdrop of a rapidly deteriorating Weimar Republic. The country was in the midst of heightened poverty due to unemployment and increasing criminal activity after the stock market crash of 1929. It was also a time where psychopathic serial killers were at large in German cities. In the film, the panic felt by the townspeople to try and catch the murderer, and the paranoia that it could be anyone among them, is reflective of the fearful emotions felt by the German people during the early 1930s. The use of high camera angles show the vulnerability and innocence of the children, the murderer’s victims. The use of shadows and reflections show that the murderer has two sides, and it is because of these two varying characters that he can walk amongst society unknown for what he is. For example, when the townspeople see a man telling a little girl what time it is, they immediately assume he must be the murderer. Because of their paranoia, they jump to conclusions,

Each person has their own vision of utopia. Utopia means an ideal state, a paradise, a land of enchantment. It has been a central part of the history of ideas in Western Civilization. Philosophers and writers continue to imagine and conceive plans for an ideal state even today. They use models of ideal government to express their ideas on contemporary issues and political conditions. Man has never of comparing the real and ideal, actuality and dream, and the stark facts of human condition and hypothetical versions of optimum life and government.

According to researches “on an interpersonal level, classism might play out when a middle-or higher class person acts arrogant, superior, or entitled- or is considered smarter or more articulate than a working-class or poor person” (Class Action,2017). While being in such class, it does not give you a definite status you are however considered as normal. The reasoning for being normal causes the middle class to be lukewarm, which means it is noncommittal. The fact that classism is light in the middle class, it becomes brighter when referring to higher classes.

Historically there have been social divisions and very little structural functionalism. Metropolis being produced during the German revolution we can see parallels with its time. From the opening scene we can instantaneously see the abuse of technology through extreme close-ups of the machines and clocks working non-stop. Lang’s use of auditory imagery sets the mood and foreshadows significant events through the buildup/climax of music. We see the workers who are at the bottom of the hierarchy worked until near death to provide power to the upper class and run metropolis. When the protagonist Freder who is the main figure head of Metropolis’ son visits the

This hope is reflected by Lang’s interwar context, as whilst it had been affected by post war political instability, it had not been influenced by further social and physical catastrophes of WWII. In Metropolis, the masses achieve their hopes via rebellion, reflective of Weimar’s democratic governments that struggled to achieve acceptance of their right to rule from its people. The film opens with the epigraph “the mediator between head and hands must be the heart”, which foreshadows Freder’s realisation that the working and elite must work together to achieve progress. The metonymy in the titles that claim “the hands that did not understand the brain” suggest that workers do not understand the fruits of their labour, and that it may be more inspired if they had this knowledge. This importance of social class communication is emphasised as Lang alludes to a distorted version of the Tower of Babel, in saying they “speak the same language but could not communicate”, highlighting that the social classes have distinct perceptions of a functional society and that Frederson’s metropolis reflects only capitalist gain. The ordered mise en scene of the final shot of the workers in disciplined formation shows achievement of social unity. Thus, Lang thoroughly highlights the importance of social class communication to hold common values in the pursuit of positive societal progress, which he views as

The opening scene of the film utilises multiple aspects in order to display the hopeless that looms over the dystopian world that the audience is presented with. The film uses a mix of both visual imagery to show this along with verbal features in order to convey this to the audience.

The perspectives presented in Fritz Lang’s avant-guarde silent film, ‘Metropolis’ (1927), and George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ (1949), are reflections on the zeitgeist in their milieus. Though the texts were composed only twenty years apart, they both explore their composer’s respective personal, social, cultural and political contextual tensions and concerns. These include the dystopian concept of unmediated use and abuse of power and its threat to individualism, reflective of the rise of totalitarian regimes such as Stalin and Hitler; and the reliance on and dehumanising impact of technology, emblematic of the Machine Age across twentieth century Europe. While, Lang opts to use the medium of film, experimenting with

The protagonist lives in a dystopian world. In “The New Utopia” by Jerome K. Jerome covers a modern realm of society where others are expected to abandon their free will by demand of the government and modify any aspect of themselves or the public if they are not equal. Visiting the world, it reveals a corrupt system of equality, separation of natural instinct, and the worship of ‘The State’ which controls the people. Despite its world striving for equity, people are physically altered to look like their peers. One dystopian trait shows individuality being forbidden in the future.

The silent film, Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang, released in 1927, reflects the social situation of the time in Germany during the Weimar Period, before the rise of Hitler power. At that time, there was a new political climate, which was in favor of an equity-oriented fascism rather than liberty-oriented capitalism. The film clearly gives viewers an idea that fascism way of the political system is the preferable ideology for the society by depicting the class struggles between capitalists and labours. Thus, the movie was often interpreted as a propaganda movie and being criticized.

The movements of German Expressionism and Japanese pre-war cinema produced trends greatly influenced by its historical context. These contexts contributed to shaping their own stylistic styles captured throughout the theme, mise-en-scene, and cultural ideologies. Although these two movements occurred in fairly similar time periods, they both occurred in different parts of the world which had a fundamental role in generating key contrasts between these movements. Both occurring in pre-war periods, a striking similarity existed between the two; they both displayed the economic instabilities. Both subtly exhibited the internal anxieties that the individuals faced in the differing societies. German Expressionism had the stylistic forms that in turn captured distorted images or grotesque style to convey an abstract sense of reality throughout 1920’s. On the other hand, the Japanese pre-war cinema expressed the humanistic family by displaying their everyday struggles of the lower middle class known as the “common people” during the 1930’s. Although these movements were individually unique throughout their distinct stylistic devices and ideologies, they essentially came together during this time period to help transform the art of national cinema.

The world in any society has two sides, Utopia which is defined as the perfect world and the peaceful life that is free from disasters. This word " Utopia " is derived from Greek roots by Sir Thomas More which means "a good place" (More 37). Merriam Webster defined Utopia as "an imaginary place, all life aspects are perfect, as the world suffers from nothing" (Webster 19). while Dystopia is defined as an imagined universe in which the unequal society controls the fancy of an ideal society which are maintained through technological, moral, corporate or totalitarian control " Beauty of dystopia is that it lets us vicariously experience future worlds but we still have the power to change our own" (Condie 75). in which the genre challenges utopia’s