Utopian Dreams

• People who struggle through bad realities create utopian visions that reflect the anxieties of their time
• During difficult times like war, utopian dream literature is needed to escape tragic reality
• Reality triggers the creation of a utopia
• Human suffering and harsh social conditions lead to utopian dreams as a universal theme
• Utopian dreams are part of the collective unconscious
• If the world were perfect, no utopian dreams would be created
• Examples of utopian dreams in literature:

  • "Lord of the Flies": Jack's utopian vision turned into a dystopia for others
  • "Of Mice and Men": Striving for the American dream, a utopia for privileged Caucasian people
  • "Animal Farm": Reflects anxieties of the Russian Revolution
  • "Pleasantville": Living in a dystopian American society, seeking perfection in a television program
  • "Fahrenheit 451": Burning books to create a utopia leads to a dystopia
• Revolutionary Imagery - Spring Mode:

  • Quest for an ideal (love, society, spirituality)
  • Return to nature (fields, orchards, earth)
  • Search for truth, beauty, goodness
  • Search for a better world (equality, fraternity, liberty)
  • Rebirth, revival, resurrection
  • Defeat of the powers of darkness
  • Birth of the hero
• Examples of Spring Mode:

  • "Bambi": Connected with nature, flowers, animals
  • Comic vision of the animal world: birds, owls, deer, rabbits, butterflies
  • Comic vision of the vegetable world: alive trees
  • Painting of Mao Zedong: symbolizes heroism, harmony, and nature, comic vision of human world
  • Painting of Vladimir Lenin: community feeling, care for children, springtime, comic vision
• Oscar Wilde:

  • "A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not even worth glancing at, for it leaks out the country in which Humanity is always landing"
• Human suffering + harsh social conditions = utopian dreams as a universal theme