Continuing my brief foray into the many and various ways (available on the Internet) in which Utopia is imagined or visualised to publicise, conceptualise or legitimise art, advertising, fiction or film....
“The Man From Utopia.” Album by Frank Zappa, 1983. The
“The Man From Utopia.” Album by Frank Zappa, 1983. The
album is named after a 1950s song written by Donald and Doris Woods. The sleeve art features the work of Italian artist Tanino Liberatore, portraying Zappa on stage trying to kill mosquitoes. The cover represents Zappa’s disastrous performance in Palermo, Italy in July 1982 in which the firing of tear-gas canisters and live ammunition between the security forces and the audience forced the band to flee the stage. Tanino Liberatore also created RanXerox, or Ranx, with fellow Italian Stefano Tamburini in 1978. RanXerox is a science fiction graphic novel series featuring Ranx, a cyborg-punk creature made out of photocopier parts. The artists also worked on the comics Cannibale and Frigidaire.
Utopia Dive Village, Honduras, opened 2007. A scuba diving and luxury vacation resort in the Caribbean, on the island of Utila’s ‘pristine beachfront.’ The resort has a blog, ‘Building Our Place in the Sun,’ detailing its construction, the diving on Utila and the local Utilian carnival parade (http://www.buildingourplaceinthesun.blogspot.com).
Utopia Dive Village, Honduras, opened 2007. A scuba diving and luxury vacation resort in the Caribbean, on the island of Utila’s ‘pristine beachfront.’ The resort has a blog, ‘Building Our Place in the Sun,’ detailing its construction, the diving on Utila and the local Utilian carnival parade (http://www.buildingourplaceinthesun.blogspot.com).
“Road to Utopia.” Released in 1946 (but filmed in 1943) and directed by
Hal Walker, Road to Utopia is part of the “Road to…” series of musical films. Starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, the film takes place on board a ship and in Alaska during the Gold Rush. Featuring songs such as ‘Good Time Charlie,’ It’s Anybody’s Spring,’ and ‘Welcome to My Dream.’
“Utopia 2516.” A musical by the Australian company Captivation Musicals performed in Plymouth in 2004. Written by Drew Lane Utopia 2516 depicts a world without war, hate or greed but also bereft of love, joy and happiness.
“Utopia Place.” A private place for gay and bisexual men to meet in North Geelong, Victoria, Australia. ‘Utopia’ is commonly used to promote homo- and bisexual clubs, facilities and travel resources: the Utopia-Asia.com website, for instance, offers an online community to foster a deeper understanding of gay life in the region and publishes Utopia Guides for homosexual travel in Asia. Founded in 1994 by Singaporean, American and Thai partners, it aims to create ‘positive social alternatives for gays and lesbians in the Asian region.’
“The Fortress of Utopia.” A novel by Jack Williamson, 1939. A U.S. writer, considered by many as the ‘dean of science fiction,’ Williamson was a novelist, short story author and university professor, and influenced Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Frederick Pohl. By the 1930s, Williamson was an established genre writer and contributed regularly to the pulp magazines, publishing many collaborations with the science fiction author Frederck Pohl. The gritty, realistic tone of his work from the 1930s onward is thought to be influenced by his psychiatric treatment and psychosomatic physical illnesses. Williamson is also famous for coining the word ‘terraforming,’ (literally ‘Earth-shaping’) used as a synonym for planetary engineering.
