Liz Haden

Utopia: An Individual’s Fantasy?

                Fantasy has been a primary mode of storytelling for millennia as it presents a hero who must overcome a problem or conflict in his given environment or society. Due to the fact that the surroundings are fabricated by the creator, a model world must be created. Utopia and the concept of fantasy are closely intertwined. Utopian literature addresses social disruptions and creates a new idealistic world that the reader can analyze or even base political theories upon. Is it then that the concept of utopia can only be explored through the individual’s creative perspective? Imagination is both difficult and a necessity. Both utopia and fantasy give a sense of empowerment as it provides a work of art that reflects humanity's culture during a particular period and allows insight that often provokes discourse.

The concept of utopic societies has been around and conceptualized since the days of Plato. Due to the problems that arise within any given society, “writers have expressed their dreams in the form of literary utopias” (Colmer 1). The imagination makes utopia possible as people can fantasize about progressive societies that both address real world problems and motivate people for change. Colmer cites Arthur Koestler who upon examination stated that all utopias “are fed from the sources of mythology; the social engineer’s blueprints are merely revised editions of the ancient text” (Colmer 2). The writer is put in a place of social and moral high ground as to create a society that cannot truly be emulated but can serve as fantastical concept to criticize humanity and incite the imagination. Utopias are in essence an individual’s hypothesis and the human implications that form from the change that is implemented and therefore the primary appeal of such a genre in to the intellect (Colmer 2).  Utopian and dystopian literature become more abundant when social anxieties rise and an individual places a mirror upon society by creating a new one free of distress.

The utopian outbursts at the turn of the century and even the 1960s can be attributed to the fact that the old ways or the past is being destroyed and humanity is paving way for a future with new possibilities (Duncombe). Duncombe states in his lecture Utopia is No Place: The Art and Politics of Impossible Futures that “rational critique no longer has critical function” and people are moving toward an imaginative or fantastical approach. This I believe is due to the fact that utopia is better explored as an individual who is able to address certain concerns and form their literary work based upon their ideals. When the thought of a utopia is brought to the collective, more problems arise. The fantasy world that is created allows us to focus on becoming greater than we currently are. It provides a space for the audience to examine polarities and formulate opinions on the presented society in comparison to their own.

The concept of utopia is a fantasy of the individual for the collective. It is only possible for a society to be perfect in its entirety to one person because when others become involved in the fantasy, conflict and debate arise. As Jacob McCleese stated in Utopian Rhetoric: Dancing to the Beat, “many utopian fictions, take More’s Utopia for example, are presented as conversations,” allowing the individual writer to present multiple perspectives and discourse to the audience to contemplate and debate.

Work Cited:

Colmer J. (1978) Utopian Fantasy. In: Coleridge to Catch-22. Palgrave Macmillan, London

Duncombe, Steven. Utopia Is No Place: The Art and Politics of Impossible Futures. YouTube, Walker Art    Center, 10 Aug. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8BhXKGOeeY&t=657s.

McCleese, Jacob. Utopian Rhetoric: Dancing to the Beat. 15 June 2013.

Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey, edited by John Wm. Houghton, et al.,             McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central,                 https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uhcl/detail.action?docID=1705820.