‘FORBIDDEN TO DREAM’ OR THE IMPOSSIBLE UTOPIA

Abstract

It would appear inconceivable for popular culture to believe in a managerial utopia. This paper
focuses on the film industry where there has been a consistent tendency to portray image
sand narratives of utopias since its invention in 1895. Such utopias, however, concern with
political and sexual utopias. What seems unthinkable is the representation of a better life for
labour or new ways to handle line management. In order to understand this reluctance to
believe that management could possibly plan a better future, the rare feature films that do so
are reviewed. These were produced in countries known for having generated actual utopias
(i.e. Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, UK, USA, USSR). Subsequently, the
dystopias produced by the French film industry are analyzed and compared.