Utopia vs Dystopia

The world we live in is the world we acquire through our five sensibilities. This shapes our world view. While keeping one foot firmly in 'our' world, we tend to stretch and see the worlds beyond. The worlds that exist in the media, Internet or even a tourist brochure. The other world is always tempting and alluring. It is clean and beautiful and it is replete with limitless possibilities. 

The advertisement /marketing industry has constantly exploited this yearning in human beings. A close examination of the images projected through the media bears an example to this. This kind of representation is stronger when it comes to the portrayal of real estate deals e.g A new township or a new apartment. It also resonates in ads related to detergents and dental products. 

There are pockets in our world where everything resembles an utopia. They are rare and mostly inaccessible to the ordinary. In the world of words ( Literature) the perfect world is named as Utopia after the title of the novel by the same name by Thomas More in 1516. The world utopia itself has undergone many transitions during the course of human evolution. From a literary concept it became a social phenomenon. 

For many centuries this 'fragment of imagination' drove the world in search of a panacea to the universal maladies. The direct off shoot of this is the branch of philosophy is titled Utopian socialism. The communist manifesto is an another attempt to define a perfect world. There were attempts to create a perfect world of fun and frolic in the form of theme parks and amusement centers. The french cultural studies critic Jean Baudrillard names this as simulacra or hyper real. He was also aware of the influence of the influence of the visual media on human minds. The Disney theme park serves a world of escapism. In a larger understanding of the word, it resembles the definition of art where the artist draws the audience into a world where they live for a momentary span of time. 

Off lately I watched a classic by Clint Eastwood titled - A perfect world. The movie is about the relationship between an outlaw and his 10 year old hostage. This where the heart of the movie lies. It is also a perfect example of the dystopia (outlaw) co existing with the so called utopia ( kid). Roger Ebert examines the movie and finds the perfect one-liner to describe this relationship - The child is the father of the man.  The two worlds spills over to the other and sometimes we feel that in the climax the roles are reversed. 

Just like the beauty and the beast syndrome sometimes it is essential to have the co existence of the dystopian and utopian world views in our lives.