Great point about the banality of dystopian literature. In a world of Boku Harum, ISIL, and North Korea, dystopia is the last thing I need in my fiction. I consider KSR's 2312 the closest thing to utopian lit that I've read in a very long while - and that's probably a stretch.
On television, of course, Star Trek was a utopian fiction that ran for many decades, although the rebooted Star Trek movie series took a brief detour into post-9/11 dystopia with Into Darkness.
Star Trek 8 was about revenge and the forced extermination of the human race and all sapient and sentient life in the entire galaxy. Star Trek 9 was all about forced relocations of cultures and societies for imperial type purposes, in a pretty bald allegory of Israel and Palestine. Star Trek 10 was all about genocide and hatred. Trek could get pretty damn dark on a regular basis.
Utopian settings do not often beget interesting conflict that well enough satisfies the hunger of the modern narrative.
Also, the relative setting of a piece is usually a reflection of the level of optimism present in the culture of the author that breeds it. I don't know if you've noticed, but we're living in a time of political turmoil, endless war, declining economic fairness, repeated failure on part of the social justice system, and a biosphere that's being steadily eroded by our inability to reign in our voracious consumption.
Outlook for the future: not so bright. Our fiction is reflecting that because the world a hundred years from now is looking less and less Star Trek, and instead more and more Mad Max.
What about Minority Report and Artificial Intelligence? Not sure if they qualify or if any futuristic movie that is not dystopic just looks really nice in comparison.
There aren't many utopian novels after WWII. Perversely, Heinlein's Starship Troopers is utopian... so much so, a serious take on the novel couldn't be turned into film.
Read Existence by David Brin. It's exactly about this subject. It might start out kind of feeling distopian, but it's the opposite. It's ambitious and earnest and intelligent, which will cue in most people a reflexive urge to trash it.
Also Our Better Angels by Steven Pinker makes a strong case that we're not as bad as we think we are. And that we're not currently as bad as we were.
What I'm personally tired of is cynicism in fiction. (And internet comments) The world is as those who wield power make it. People that wield power don't have to be monsters.
I'm tired of dystopias too...which is why, when my lease runs out in the winter, I'm moving the hell out of Seattle.
The city council is planning new cameras and mulling a tax on people who move out of this city. If that doesn't scream "1984" then what the hell does? And the only reason they're pushing a relocation tax is because they can't build a Berlin style wall to keep "Western Influences" out and the people in.
Star Trek 8 was about revenge and the forced extermination of the human race and all sapient and sentient life in the entire galaxy. Star Trek 9 was all about forced relocations of cultures and societies for imperial type purposes, in a pretty bald allegory of Israel and Palestine. Star Trek 10 was all about genocide and hatred. Trek could get pretty damn dark on a regular basis.
@1 Game of Thrones isn't dystopian.
Also, the relative setting of a piece is usually a reflection of the level of optimism present in the culture of the author that breeds it. I don't know if you've noticed, but we're living in a time of political turmoil, endless war, declining economic fairness, repeated failure on part of the social justice system, and a biosphere that's being steadily eroded by our inability to reign in our voracious consumption.
Outlook for the future: not so bright. Our fiction is reflecting that because the world a hundred years from now is looking less and less Star Trek, and instead more and more Mad Max.
I'm over Zombies, Legos, Transformers, and every damn movie looking like a fucking video game!
Other than that, dystopia? not high on my list.
as a fan of that book and The Hunger Games, she did not take it well.
Also Our Better Angels by Steven Pinker makes a strong case that we're not as bad as we think we are. And that we're not currently as bad as we were.
What I'm personally tired of is cynicism in fiction. (And internet comments) The world is as those who wield power make it. People that wield power don't have to be monsters.
The city council is planning new cameras and mulling a tax on people who move out of this city. If that doesn't scream "1984" then what the hell does? And the only reason they're pushing a relocation tax is because they can't build a Berlin style wall to keep "Western Influences" out and the people in.