History Main / FalseUtopia

* Murricaville in ''VideoGame/MisterPrepper'' has become a city of this sorts because the President and government have created a full PoliceState that watched even the very ''thoughts'' of its citizens.

->''"Technically, Utopia shouldn't have much use for a detention facility... but if you do business as long as I have... well, you learn to pick a brand name from the writin' on the wall."''

* The world of ''Sugar Rush'' in ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph''. This CrapsaccharineWorld is full of sugar... too bad all its inhabitants apart from Vanellope are jerks [[spoiler:and the King is outright evil, and his machinations are a major reason ''why'' the other inhabitants are jerks]]. Plus, all the sweetness TastesLikeDiabetes.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation: U.T.O.P.I.A.", Chester traps Number 1 in a virtual reality where his personal paradise is an island with no adults, and all kids live happily and carefree.

** The Wano country's center, the Flower Capital, seems to be a ThemeParkVersion of Feudal Japan TurnedUpToEleven...but the government is run by corrupt officials, those who have no money are run out of town, and the real power running the kingdom are Kaido's pirate crew. The landscape outside the capital are polluted due to Kaido's factories, towns are starving because healthy food is at a bare minimum, meaning they have to literally live off of the Flower Capital's leftovers. The Shogun didn't like the misery of the nearest "leftover town" so he introduced an artificial fruit that results in GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul into the leftovers. Orochi claims that the constant smiles mean Wano is close to Heaven, but those that know the truth believe the loss of emotion makes their country has become a Hell.

* ''Series/Westworld'': As seen in Season 3, the world is very advanced technologically thanks to virtual reality technology. In high-tech cities like Los Angeles and London, people can change their outfits and ride in automatic cars. There's also an A.I. system called Rehoboam that guides people into giving direction in their lives and it can predict what humanity's future entails. But this limits the humans' ability to make conscious choices making them live in loops just like the hosts. This also explains why rich people rather go to Westworld because they can do whatever they want without Rehoboam looking over them.

* No. 6 in the novel-turned-anime ''No.6''. [[spoiler:The utopian town of No.6 uses its citizens to revive Eliurias and to control her. Most who get wasp eggs implanted in them die in a fashion resembling rapid aging.]]
** As if that wasn't bad enough: [[spoiler: genocide! The higher-uppers of No. 6 wiped all of the People of the Forest, save for Nezumi, who escaped.]]
** And, [[spoiler: every year, armed forces of No. 6 use sonic weapons to flatten all the slum-type houses of the West Block and captures its inhabitants, only for them to be killed by being dropped in a HUGE corpse pile.]]

* A major theme of the ''Franchise/PrettyCure'' fan fiction ''FanFic/UtopiaUnmade'' is that the Precure Kingdom is not as perfect as some of its residents make it out to be. Love and Miki in particular mock the idea of it being a paradise.

* ''VideoGame/Warhammer40K'': The Tau Empire, with its "Greater Good" philosophy, steady rediscovery of science, and... all secretly one big police state headed by mind-controlling sages that maaay be Eldar manchurian agents. Of course, in the Grim Darkness of the Far Flung Future, this is the closest thing to TheFederation available, and their renegade outcasts are pretty well-off.

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* Wellington Wells in ''VideoGame/WeHappyFew''. The town sure ''looks'' bright and colorful, and everyone ''seems'' happy, but that's only because everyone is [[GovernmentDrugEnforcement drugged up]] on [[FantasticDrug Joy]], and if they ''don't'' act happy and cheerful they might be on the wrong end of the law, or an angry mob. The town is surrounded by ruined buildings infested with the Wastrels, moody and miserable outcasts who were driven out of town and left to fend for themselves because of their immunity to Joy. On top of all that, it's implied food supplies are running low and Wellington Wells' "perfect" society is on the edge of collapse. All the more reason for the protagonist to become a [[DefectorFromDecadence Downer]] and plot his escape.

** Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkgirl, and Martian Manhunter got blasted to an alternate world which everything seems nice, and its filled with some [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] type superheroes and supervillains. But it is all an illusion created by a mutant kid who gained his powers from a nuclear war which happened a long time ago.
** An alternate version of the Justice League - calling themselves, the Justice Lords, took over their world after assassinating President Lex Luthor in response to the murder of their Flash, and the world pushed to the brink of World War III. Their world shows that even Gotham, which in the League's world is a cesspool of corruption and crime, is a splendid place to live and Arkham Asylum looks like a regular mental hospital. However, elections are banned, protests are met with the Justice Lords appearing, journalists are placed on house arrest and you could get arrested for having an argument over the price of tea in the restaurant. Oh, and that nice Arkham Asylum? It has supervillains alright. Even reformed them...if you consider lobotomisation to be 'reforming' them into productive members of society.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': Sure, there are no more wars or acts of terrorism, and crime is low...but that's because the death penalty applies for [[AllCrimesAreEqual even the most minor infractions]], including violations of JapanesePoliteness, and there's no such thing as "due process" or "fair trial by a jury of one's peers." And even things like laziness (by [[JapaneseSpirit Japanese standards]], of course), or adultery, are considered capital crimes. People go by fake names as a matter of course, because they're so afraid of having their real identities revealed to Kira; even husbands and wives don't know each others' real names. The world is ruled by a large {{Cult}} who views Kira as TheScourgeOfGod, or (more accurately) as {{God}} Himself. If you don't like someone or [[HeteronormativeCrusader their lifestyle]], or they've wronged you in some way, or they're your rival, or you feel that they've [[FamilyHonor brought shame to your family]], just reveal their real name and picture to Kira, and he'll take care of them for you...and beware that ''you'' could be next. Young children are brainwashed into accepting Kira and his definition of justice, and threatened ''by their own parents'' with being killed by Kira for misbehaving or getting bad (or even just [[TheBGrade mediocre]]) grades. No one can trust ''anyone'' else; parents are turned against children, children against parents, friends against friends, lovers against lovers, and spouses against spouses. (And no doubt this would have ''disproportionately'' affected women, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, the mentally ill, religious minorities, poor people, and other marginalized people.)

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': Sure, there are no more wars or acts of terrorism, and crime is low...but that's because the death penalty applies for [[AllCrimesAreEqual even the most minor infractions]], including violations of JapanesePoliteness, and there's no such thing as "due process" or "fair trial by a jury of one's peers." And even things like laziness (by [[JapaneseSpirit Japanese standards]], of course), or adultery, are considered capital crimes. People go by fake names as a matter of course, because they're so afraid of having their real identities revealed to Kira; even husbands and wives don't know each others' real names. The world is ruled by a large {{Cult}} who views Kira as TheScourgeOfGod, or (more accurately) as {{God}} Himself. If you don't like someone or [[HeteronormativeCrusader their lifestyle]], or they've wronged you in some way, or they're your rival, or you feel that they've [[FamilyHonor brought shame to your family]], just reveal their real name and picture to Kira, and he'll take care of them for you...and beware that ''you'' could be next. Young children are brainwashed into accepting Kira and his definition of justice, and threatened ''by their own parents'' with being killed by Kira for misbehaving or getting bad (or even just [[TheBGrade mediocre]]) grades. No one can trust ''anyone'' else; parents are turned against children, children against parents, friends against friends, lovers against lovers, and spouses against spouses.

* A major theme of the ''Anime/PrettyCure'' fan fiction ''FanFic/UtopiaUnmade'' is that the Precure Kingdom is not as perfect as some of its residents make it out to be. Love and Miki in particular mock the idea of it being a paradise.

* ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'': A medicine is invented to rid people of emotion. War is over, the world is in peace. The price? People feel nothing, are incapable of empathy, and emotion-triggering activities like art are forbidden. People who even try to express or feel emotion get executed.
** The ending also reveals that the leaders of Libria are themselves [[{{Hypocrite}} sense-offenders]].

* ''Film/TheMatrix'' gives a subversion: Neo didn't live in a utopia, [[CrapsackWorld but when you look at what reality has become]] the Matrix ends up looking like a safe world that would be hard to let go. Some characters are shown to think this illusion is much better than reality [[spoiler:to the point of one of them betraying the Resistance because of it]].
** There were said to be previous versions of the Matrix that were supposed to be heavenly, but no one bought it.

* ''Film/ThePurge'' movies are set in an alternate timeline where the United States is ruled by a cabal called the New Founding Fathers who insist that their titular 12-hour annual "crime is legal" event is responsible for low unemployment, low crime rates and general improvements in the mental health (because people "purge" themselves of violent urges once a year). While the purge in itself sounds incredibly scary and not-very-utopian, the New Founding Fathers are strongly implied to be nothing more than power-hungry liars who fabricate all of these supposed benefits anyway through propaganda and misinformation, kill anyone who criticises them on Purge Night, and send out death squads to KillThePoor and make it look like more people are engaging in the Purge than actually are (when most people spend the night hiding or otherwise just trying to survive).

* ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' is one of the most notable examples of the False Utopia genre.

* [[spoiler:Inverted with]] The Sistar System in ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie2TheSecondPart''. The people are friendly and everyone is treated well, but Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi is transparently AffablyEvil, there are {{Stepford Suburbia}}s filled with unnervingly cheerful minidolls and abducted minifigs, and everyone sings an in-universe EarWorm that Wyldstyle is certain is a brainwashing technique. [[spoiler: Turns out it's a False Dystopia: the people really are happy, the song is harmless, and Whatevra was [[SheepInSheepsClothing telling the truth]] about not being evil; they're just really bad at communicating. And [[BitchInSheepsClothing Rex]], ''knowing this'', amost got Emmet to trash it.]]