vacationing to a utopia

i was at my house the other day watching tv and a commercial came up that was talking about going on a vacation to a number of far away place,for example they brought up hawaii and as they talked about it they showed all the different ocean scenes and people getting back rubs and all the different flowers, bacally making it look and feel like a utopia. a place where all your worries just fade away and your mind and body are in complete relaxation. but what made me think of this class is at the end of the commercial it said “find your utopia today”. it does seem that way that everyone wants to go to places like this becasue they feel like there is nothing there that is bad and that everything there is made out of sunshine and rainbows. even when people are at work they have the screen savers with a picture of an island with white sand and a blue ocean surounding it. so my question is do you think that places like hawaii have utopian principles? when you go there is everything just perfect and you dont have a worrie in the world. if so are there places that have dystopian properties? if you think that places have this utopian quality where would your place with utopian principles be?

6 thoughts on “vacationing to a utopia

  1. But haven’t we moved beyond the “body utopia” — the “Big Rock Candy Mountain” paradise where all of our bodily needs are met?

  2. Looking at Hawaii as a utopia would be difficult because it already a established state within a country. I also think that Hawaii could have utopian principles that people would favor, but then so would every other state in the U.S. It just depends on what people enjoy. Some may hate warm tropical weather and the idea of massages. Alaska in the dead of winter could still be a possible utopia location for some people. So Utopias are usually based off peoples principles. Hawaii could be a destination location where some people don’t need to lift a finger but it can also be a place where people are starving and have no shelter. A utopia for one person could be a dystopia for a different person, it all depends on that person. For example, half of those videos we watched in class would seem like a dystopia for me if I was to live there.

  3. I’m really into the idea of Utopia as a screensaver. Somewhere that’s just out of reach, but we can constantly remind ourselves of it while in our place of work (which may very well be the opposite of utopia). In fact, how people decorate their cubicles could be a reflection of their own personal utopias, the things they value most, the people they’d surround themselves with. i suppose that’s a loose definition of “Utopia”, but examining these outward expressions could lead to an idea of the kind of society they’d want to live in if given the choice.

  4. To revert back to the idea of body utopias; I think that this may potentially be the only possible manifestation of a utopian reality–based on where we are at this point as a global society. The idea of a vacation is absolutely utopian for the average member of Western society, as real life has quite an abundance of pressures, stressors, and pain; in fact, I would go as far to say, that to an extent (only in particular cases) real life in modern society can in fact be a dystopia, this is obvious by simply watching a segment of the CNN news–and they only report on the major things. The idea of going to a place away from familiar surroundings–surroundings potentially ripe with anguish–that, to use the Hawaii example, has a physical appearance which is both exciting, new, and according to most who visit, beautiful, is completely healthy and warranted. People deserve to decompress in an environment like that of a Hawaiian resort while leaving their real lives entirely back on the mainland. In short, I suppose I am saying, if no one ever had the opportunity to visit a place that many would compare with a utopia (a body utopia, of course), like Hawaii or Nantucket, then in many cases I would personally make the argument, what are you living for? Why work hard? Why contribute? Why not just be miserable and live out in the streets? Of course there are a plethora of other arguments contrary to my claims, however, I just hope to make the point that a ‘utopian’ vacation is the very essence of life and the apex of enjoyment for many people. Therefore, I believe in, and fully support the notion of the body utopian visions of Hawaii, Nantucket, Kennebunkport, Block Island and the like.

  5. Places like hawaii definitely exemplify utopia properties, but i think the idea of vacation itself is more utopian than anything else. it offers people a chance to escape reality with no obligations, doing things that only make them happy. Whereas in the real world everyone is stuck doing things that they dont want to do (usually). An interesting thing to think about though about island like hawaii, but more so regarding islands in the caribbean is that the general population that lives on these island are extremely poor. When you go to islands such as st. vincent or the grenadines the only people living lvishly there are those that are vacationing. the people that live there are usually living in extreme poverty. so although it is utopia for someone, for other the exact same location may be a dystopia.

  6. Hawaii seems to be one of the most beautiful and tranquil states in our nation. It has the lowest murder rate of any state in 2012, and its inhabitants frequently take place in festivals and public events, so I could see how some would consider it a Utopia. I have family stationed in Hawaii and have been lucky enough to visit the islands multiple times, and yes, after being engulfed in the islands activities, sights, and people, I would see it to be close to a Utopia, but as Curtis said, a “Body Utopia,” and this is from a tourist perspective. As Nick said, a Utopia can vary between each individuals tastes. Hawaii could be seen as a temporary Utopia for visitors world wide to experience peace and tranquility for a period of time. With this said, there are still impoverished people inhabiting the island. Locals may not see the Utopian properties we do, and so I believe that Hawaii could be a Utopia to some, but is not a utopia as we have discussed in class.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *