Utopia, Dystopia, Film: An Introduction
Utopia, Dystopia, Film: An Introduction

Summary/Abstract: In the last three decades, numerous papers have been devoted to utopian and dystopian films, while some authors went as far as to suggest that a fairly diverse body of works, ranging from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon to Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, may belong to the same cinematic genre. This introductory essay examines the arguments for defining the utopian film as a distinct genre and explores the connections between utopian films and the modern utopian literary tradition. Since most of the films that have appropriated narrative devices from utopian literary works are also science fiction films, the paper ultimately argues for a reconsideration of the relationship between these two genres.

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