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It is not new to find Utopian and dystopian elements combined in a single work. They appear in both an ancient text, Plato's Republic (dates from ca. 375 B.C.), as well as in a modern science fiction film classic, THX-1138 (dir. George Lucas, 1971; based on an award-winning film school short subtitled Electronic Labyrinth).
The authoritarian "managerial meritocracy" proposed in Plato's Utopian vision has been most severely criticized by Sir Karl Popper, a philosopher/political scientist who, in The Open Society and Its Enemies, considers Plato's state a closed, tribal, and magically-imposed society. The presentation here attempts to compare and contrast the classic treatise and the modern science fiction film in very broad terms. Our conclusion will draw on Popper's critique of Socrates's pupil.1
Although Plato in part echoes the Golden Age from the dawn of history that is described by his Greek predecessor, Hesiod, his concept of "civil society" remains today nevertheless a controversial Eden. It is a rather naive quest for a definition of justice that leads to an elaborate and revolutionary Utopian construct. In the end, justice, it is decided, "'consists in minding your own business and not interfering with other people'" (Lee 204).
For Plato, a strife-free, interdependent, and communitarian society, however remarkable for its promulgation of happiness, would have no personal freedom or liberty as moderns might define these terms. Plato was openly critical of Athenians who were left too much to run their own lives, the result of which, he thought, was unhappiness and undiscipline. In this Ideal State, the leader is followed by the unquestioning faithful. Moreover, it is one man, one function: no "Jack of All Trades," no "Renaissance men" may exist here (Lee 152, 156-57).
Fearless and indomitable. Guardians of mettle and vitality rule and govern and protect the civil society (Lee 125); Auxiliaries execute their decisions. According to Plato's "magnificent," or "noble," or "handy lie," the Myth of the Metals, Guardians, like thoroughbreds, have gold in their veins; Auxiliaries have silver; and the rest are made of bronze and iron (Lee 182 ff). Golden parents beget golden children, silver parents silver children, etc. Yet in this world, the family is abolished and replaced by the state. Eugenic breeding will assure that the best men mate with...