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Philosophy is the study that seeks to discuss the issues in human life like happiness and
justice. Plato is one of the most important philosophers. Plato was born around 429 BC and he
was a student of Socrates (John 1911). Plato wrote one of the most important books in greek
philosophy which is “The Republic”. Plato’s “The Republic”  is mainly about the ideal state or
the utopia. “Utopia typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly
desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members.” (Henry 2003). According to Plato, there is
only one way to achieve the utopia or the ideal state which is justice. Justice simple to Plato is
“Doing the right thing” (Warburton 41). Although justice to Plato is as simple as anyone can do
it and attain the ideal state, it failed in almost all utopian works. Two of the most famous utopian
works are Sultana’s dream and Equilibrium. Sultana’s dream is a short story written by Rokeya
Sakhwat in 1905 about a woman who dreamed of a land in which women are free without any
religious or social restrictions and men are just workers in houses. Equilibrium is a movie
released in 2002 and directed by Kurt Wimmer. The movie is about the world after the third
world war when the state of Liberia decided to abolish all human feelings and emotions as they
think that feelings and emotions are the reasons why there is so much violence in our world. The
ideal state failed to sustain itself in both utopian works as in Sultana’s Dream in lady land there
is a lack of justice and oppression of women while in Equilibrium there is an oppression of
people by the government.
In Plato’s “The Republic” he seeks the perfect state or the utopia. According to Plato,
Justice is the way to the ideal state. He also mentioned some features of the ideal state. The first
one is the division of labor which indicates that all people need each other, the division of labor
is based on skills and the state must be defended by an army. Plato divided labor into two
categories: the first one is guardians which are the rulers and the auxiliaries. The second category
is the workers. The rulers according to Plato must be philosophers who are tested to be able to
resist and fight all their desires they are also not allowed to have any private properties.
Moreover, auxiliaries must be strong enough to defend their state. Plato did not mention anything
about the worker’s category as he was not interested in their life. Another feature is the role of
women as Plato thought that if any woman has the potential she must have the same
opportunities and education as men and she can be a ruler and if any woman has aptitude she
might be an auxiliary. Plato abolished the family as he thought that if all the children are raised
in public nurseries, the relationships are controlled and the defective children will be disposed of
the ideal state will be attained. Plato also abolished art in all of its forms as he thought that art is
just an imitation of imitation also he thought that art is a copy appearance. According to Plato if
the society is ruled by the four cartinal virtues the utopia will be attained. the four cartinal virtues
are wisdom which allows the ruler to take wise decisions, courage which make the auxiliaries
fearless and brave enough to defend the state, self-discipline must be in workers so that they can
accept their class and finally justice that happened when each person takes care of his own
business. Plato also mentioned 4 examples of injustice which are timocracy, digarchy,
democracy, and tyranny.
One of the most main ideas of Plato is the role of women. Plato believed that if women
are given the same opportunities and the same education as men, they can do more than men
could. Also, if they have great aptitude they can become guardians. The role of women is the
main theme in Sultana’s dream as in lady land women receive an excellent education as they
have two universities and several schools “Our good Queen liked science very much. She
circulated an order that all the women in her country should be educated” (Hossain pg.6).

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Moreover, some lady principals involve ladies to participate in wars using their words and brain
rather than strength. Plato also divided the state into guardians and workers under the name of
the division of labor. The lady land is an example of Plato’s division of labor as there is a ruler
which is the queen who roles the land with wisdom and knowledge. Furthermore, the auxiliaries
are the lady warriors who wh engaged in the scientific field and the military officers. And, the
workers in lady land are the men who are responsible for the housework as in lady land women
believe that men can not do anything “They should not do anything as they fit for nothing. Only
catch them and put them into the Zenana” (Hossain pg.4). Plato also mentioned that the society
must be ruled by four cartinals virtues which are wisdom, courage, self-discipline, and justice. In
lady land, there are just three of them which are wisdom which is in the queen to allow her to
rule the society wisely and contribute the roles among the people and control them. Courage in
the lady warriors to be able to defend their land. And, self-discipline in all citizens as they accept
their class and do not have the desire to change it.
Lady land failed to attain the ideal state as it lacks the fourth cartinals virtue which is
justice. There is a separation between men and women in lady land as the oppression of men is
the main theme of the short story as women in lady land believed that if they run the society they
will do better than men because men just think about the competition while women operate more
and think more in groups. “We shut our men indoors” (Hossain pg.3), in lady land the men are
useless as all they can do is to stay home and do the house works. On the other hand, women can
work in many fields like the scientific field, even the ruler is a queen, not a king. Another reason
why lady land failed to attain the ideal state is that lady land is a fake utopia as a lot of things in
it seem impossible to be real for example the idea of the war by brain and words not by strengths
and the automated farms and flying cars. “ I was astonished to hear that in lady land no one died
in youth except by rare accident” (Hossain pg.5) how will they control the people’s death. So,
overall lady land is just a dream and a fictional state that would never attain the ideal state except
in one condition if women show men what equality it is and have their rules like them without
eliminating them.

Plato’s ideas were so clear in the “Equilibrium”. One of his ideas is the division of labor
as according to him the state must be divided into guardians and workers. In the film the ruler
was Depont who poses as the father, he makes sure that everyone takes his daily dose of the
Prozium, but he does not do. As a result, he feels normal and has feelings. this was crystal clear
in one of his meetings with Preston when he shows some emotions such as anger and arrogance.
Also, he sometimes moves his hand on his table to feel it (Equilibrium 01:12:50-01:13:24). The
auxiliaries are represented in the clerics and the soldiers who defend the state. And, the workers
are the rest of the people in Liberia. Division of labor is also clear when one of the auxiliaries
which are the cleric killed the ruler which is the father (Equilibrium 01:37:54-01:38:17).
Although, the father is the villain in the movie as according to the filmmaking the black color
stands for the villain and he wears black all the time. But, according to Plato, even he is the
villain killing him is totally wrong and will not lead to the ideal state. Abolishment of art is clear
in the movie as according to the rules of Liberia any form of art is not allowed and it will be
destroyed by the government whether it is music, books, or paintings. And, when the government
found that someone has got a verified painting they burnt it and killed its owner (Equilibrium
00:06:40-00:07:29). Moreover, when they found that Mary has a room full of forms of art they

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burnt it and she was arrested and executed for sense crime (Equilibrium 00:25:44-00:27:50). The
abolishment of the family was also clear in the relation between the cleric and his son as it is not
normal, they do not laugh with each other even the son does not call him dad or something like
that but he calls him with his name. Moreover, there are no feelings between them as the son
sometimes acts like he is the father, not John “What are you doing? I said what are you doing?”
the son asked him in this tough way when he caught him when his dose had broken. Also, he acts
in a very tough way when he ordered his sister to stop (Equilibrium 00:23:08-00:24:24). 
The cinematography or the cinema effects of the film are more than perfect. In the
opening of the movie, there are close-ups between John and Partridge while they are searching
for clues in the crime scene which shows the difference between the two men as John does not
feel anything while Partridge hides something (Equilibrium 00:02:52-00:05:47). Moreover, in
any fight the camera circles around the fighters to allow the audience to become a part of the
action and feel the danger rather than just watching. (Equilibrium 1:33:05-1:33:13). Furthermore,
throughout the whole movie the colors are cold and dark, all people wear black even the children
except in the last scene when Preston kills the father and took out the government he wears a
white suit which symbolizes him as a free strong hero (Equilibrium 01:29:30-01:40:29). 

The ideal state in the movie totally failed to sustain itself. As in the movie people
believed that the reason why there was so much violence and hate was the feelings and emotions
of the people. So, the government decided to prevent anyone to feel or having emotions and this
is representing the oppression of the people by the government. The ideal state mainly depends
on justice so how it would be attained when there is no justice. When God created people he
gave them the capability to have feelings and emotions also allows them to decide how to live.
Sweeping men of all feelings and emotions means that there is someone who dictates them how
to live which means that they are robots or computers. In a flashback cuts the scene, before
Preston’s wife was arrested, Preston was shown in dark cold colors while his wife was shown in
bright colorful lights which symbolizes that since she felt and had emotions she lived a more
colorful life than him and when she disappeared and got arrested there was not any bright colors
in the scene (Equilibrium 00:21:05-00:22:20). In the movie to make sure that there are not any
emotions or feelings, the government destroyed any form of art like music, movies, and
drawings. Moreover, the government also forced the citizens to take a drug that abolish any
human emotion and if anyone breaks his daily dose he would feel again. Like what happened to
Preston when he breaks his dose accidentally he started to have emotions as when he looked
through the window and see how beautiful is the city during the sunrise which symbolizes that
because of this drug the people cannot feel even the beauty of their city. Moreover, When
Preston was walking to his work when he walks up a staircase, he removed one of his gloves and
put his hand on the railing he heard a soft ringing sound that shows that his feeling of sensation
is new and comforting to him (Equilibrium 00:32:28-00:35:25). All of these scenes symbolize
one thing which is how were the people of Liberia oppressed and that is the reason why Liberia
would never be an ideal state. 
To conclude, both works failed to attain utopia according to Plato’s theory as in Sultana’s
dream there is an oppression of men in the separation between men and women. Moreover, lady
land is a fictional land that is impossible to be real so, it is just a dream that will never come true.
On the other hand, in Equilibrium Liberia failed to attain the ideal state as there is an oppression

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of all the people as they want to prevent people to feel which is also impossible as God created
all the people and gave them the ability to feel. To sum up, according to Plato the ideal state is so
easy to attain but in reality, justice seems impossible. 

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References
 Burnet, John. Plato's Phaedo. Oxford University Press 1911
  Giroux, Henry A.  "Utopian thinking under the sign of
neoliberalism: Towards a critical pedagogy of educated
hope" (PDF).  Democracy & Nature.  Routledge. 2003
 Equilibrium. Directed by Kurt Wimmer, Miramax, 2002.
 Hossain, Rokeya S. “Sultana’s Dream”. Digital. Library
Server at Penn Libraries, 8 June 2018,
https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sultana/dream/d
ream.html
 Warburton, Nigel. Philosophy: the classics. London,
Routledge, 2006.