The Utopian Dream

It is not a coincidence that the term "utopia" comes from the Greek for "no place" (Columbia Encyclopedia, 2001-2004). In Thomas More's book of that title, an ideal state is described where all human ills have been removed and where benevolent leaders make sure that things such as poverty and other miseries have been eliminated. Although More coined the phrase, his book was merely one in a long line of ideal state descriptions, ranging from Plato's Republic to H.G. Wells' A Modern Utopia.

In the 20th century, the notion of actually finding a utopia (or of creating one) gave way to darker and more disturbing visions. These used the utopian ideal as a satirical vehicle for dystopian or anti-utopian works. Among the most notable are Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984. As well, the utopian political, social and economic visions of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels have also come to naught with the collapse of communism. Thus, it is fairly clear that the notion of utopia as something we can reach as humans has been discredited.

However, this has not stopped people (especially people with wealth and power) from attempting to create modern utopias. One of the greatest examples is that of Walt Disney who has managed to harness people's nnstalgia for a shmpler time and turned it into a lucrative business. The Walt Disney theme park, according to Johnson (1991), "serves as

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Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)

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