Depicting Utopia is always problematic. Here the general idea is
- people don't have jobs or work
- people wear their pajamas all day
So that's an ideal? Lazy people who can't be bothered to change into clothes in the morning?
People usually also live in an architecturally mediocre buildings for which there can be no design rationale. Could my Utopia have a few windows?
Well, wearing pajamas all day works for Hugh Hefner.
And actually, the one thing I liked about the movie's vision of Shangri-La was the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired architecture.
But the idea of a peaceful, stress-free, conflict-free existence where nobody has to work very hard and everyone can fritter their time away fishing or meditating or contemplating their navels is hardly a Utopia. At best, it would be terribly, terribly boring. The greatest human achievements and accomplishments arise from the need to overcome difficulties and surmount obstacles. To quote Captain Kirk, "Maybe we weren't meant for paradise. Maybe we were meant to fight our way through, struggle, claw our way up, scratch for every inch of the way. Maybe we can't stroll to the music of the lute. We must march to the sound of drums."
And then there's the famous speech by Harry Lime (Orson Welles) from The Third Man:
"In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
And then there's the famous speech by Harry Lime (Orson Welles) from The Third Man:
"In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
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Graham Green wrote that. It's not actually true.
The Swiss have invented many things, and it's not just cuckoo closkc but high precision equipment etc. (I think the cuckoo clock was actually invented outside Switzerland) The Swiss have had dozens of Nobel prize winners and are world leaders in science. They also saved Einstein's life. They have also had dozens of painters, writers and poets including Fuseli, Hermann Hesse, Paul Klee etc.
On the other hand, Afghanistan has not been stable for the best part of a thousand years, and has not produced Leonardos etc.
And not to mention the BEST chocolate in the world!
shareRussian literature is believed tobe many by a product of turmoil and hardship of life.
shareLying around in one's PJ's, waxing cornball philosophy all day, having young hot chicks always around, great food, peasants waiting on you hand & foot isn't a bad way to live.
The only reason I wouldn't be able to stay is no cable TV or internet.
And didn't mr. Spock reply, All I know is that for the first time in my life I was happy.
shareLiving in a place free from the illness, distresses, wars, terrors, crime, food shortages, unemployment, and racial tensions, to mention just a few, I would hardly consider boring--personally, I would consider it paradise.
shareYou have to remember when this was made - i.e. the late '30s.
Most people remembered the horrors of WWI, and many would have seen their friends blown to pieces on the battlefield. Couple this with a very genuine - and well-founded - fear that another war was looming up, because Hitler was sabre rattling, and Mussolini, Stalin and the Japanese were also making belligerent noises, and loom up it did, in 1939... killing millions more people.
The mounting situation in East Asia is brought up at the beginning of the film, and Japan was already making inroads into north China.
Shangri La was the alternative to these dreadful things. Restful? Yes. Boring? Maybe. Full of fear and death? No! (Except in the surrounding mountains)
I can tell you as a happy retiree that being free of strife and challenge makes me as happy as I've ever been. I know my wife feels the same. I am interested in many things and never have enough time to do all the things I'd like. Anybody who would be bored in such a situation simply lacks an imagination or curiosity about the world. Shangri La looks pretty good to me, too, as long as they had the internet. :)
share"I can tell you as a happy retiree that being free of strife and challenge makes me as happy as I've ever been."
I'm glad to hear it. Although I can't imagine you've been in that situation for more than a few decades. In the case of Shangri La we're talking hundreds of years, maybe even thousands in some cases.
But they don't seem to have the internet either.
I'm not retired yet but I feel the same way you do. The older I get the more interests I have and I'm never bored.
I think Shangri-La looks great! Plus ditto on the internet.
I agree - I think Shangri La is not about lounging about but doing a fair day's work with a contributive and acknowledged result. People found inspiration and ambition there - look at the ideas of Thomas Mitchell and Edward Everett Horton etc..
shareWhat do you think those people were doing when Conway was walking around the village the morning after he talked with the high lama ... I didn't see anyone wearing pajamas all day ... and I didn't see any lazy people ... I saw a candle stick maker ... lots of sheep herders ... someone making pottery ... a black smith ... people transporting goods ... his girlfriend teaching a class ... what movie were you watching?
shareIndeed. How little faith must one have in mankind to believe that being freed of economic-societal stress would reduce us all to lazy, worthless slugs?
please insert signature hereshare
That's right ... just because they weren't corporate slaves doesn't mean they don't have a desire to better themselves and others ... look at the guy who was the plumber ... at first all he was interested in was the gold ... after he realize money wasn't important helping the community became the focal point ... and he started plans to install plumbing for the village. So the need to strive would still go on ... without corporate crooks ... armies ... or police .... Utopia.
shareMy own experience is that just because I'm retired doesn't mean I sit around in pajamas all day. I'm having the time of my life. I still like to write, like to write computer programs, like to participate in discussions, enjoy my little workshop where I can fix things or make things. I have long lists of things to do when I get the time. I can't figure these people who retire and are so bored they have to go back and work for someone. My wife is with me constantly and we are very happy together.
share"Utopia" was originally a book written by Sir Thomas More in 1515, about an ideal society with no private property and toleration of all religions. Several attempts have been made since to set up such a society but it has never been achieved.
shareI think an important point is being missed here.
In this book, Hilton is talking about Shangri La to be found or to be built 'inside' of ourselves. He clearly asks or challenges us to discover our own Shangri La 'inside' of us and develop it further, like a personal garden.
Listen carefully to the high Lama when he is handing over the Shangri La to Robert Convey.
The concept of Shangri La has to do with our journey inside, it has nothing to do with the out side world as such but the concept says that the perfumes coming out of the garden inside will spread in the outside world via actions and speech which will, in turn, attract other people of the outside world to try to find/discover/build their own Shangri La.
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Guess you love our world just as it is,so perfect & all.
shareLet us look at the people today who have the closest thing in reality to this particular aspect of Shangri-La: the rich. These folks can indeed lounge around in their pajamas all day if they wish, and some do. Others climb mountains, invent, race boats, or jump out of airplanes. Some make another billion dollars, though if you think about it, they can probably get by on the first thirty or forty billion just fine.
Now imagine that nobody has to work for a living; genies or robots provides all that we need, and most that we want. Does the entire human race suddenly lay around all day in their pajamas? I doubt it. Oh sure, some would, and God bless them. They've found what makes them happy, and the corporate world no longer has to put up with workers who would rather not work. And the rest, the ones who would find this too boring to endure? Let them climb that mountain, restore that classic car, build that replica of Boba Fett's armor out of semi-sweet chocolate. There's always something to do, if you can afford it and have the time.
I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler.
- Jon Stewart
I always thought it was not Utopia they were trying to get accross to the viewer but society of selflessness. The end result of what the communists have been trying to achieve as well as those espousing the christian ethic. 'Do not think of youself... Put others first... ' The problem is the end result cannot and can never be achieved (end to want). that is where communists and christians err. It takes individual selfish work for someone to live and thrive.
" Made It Ma... Top - O' - The - World! "