Imperfect Worlds and Dystopian Narratives in Contemporary Cinema is a collection of studies on filmic dystopias: Goto, the Island of Love; Even Dwarfs Started Small; Stalker; Videodrome; Sexmission; Ga-ga: Glory to the Heroes; Kingsajz; Equilibrium; V for Vendetta; Children of Men; The Aerial. Employing a variety of theoretical perspectives (from cultural semiotics to post-structuralist approach), the authors analyse films from different cultural, linguistic and political contexts, demonstrating the interplay...

Spectres of Utopia. Theory, Practice, Conventions introduces the latest trends in utopian studies, displaying a wide variety of theoretical perspectives as well as social, political, and cultural practices ranging from intentional communities and globalization to literary and cinematic utopias and dystopias. The contributors, who come from different disciplinary backgrounds, attempt to redefine not only the basic concepts of utopia, dystopia, and anti-utopia but also utopian studies as a whole, applying new conceptual and philosophical paradigms in the wake of the downfall of communism...

Gazing in Useless Wonder focuses on utopias as self-referential texts that literally have to constitute themselves as imaginary or intentional entities before they can work as vehicles for socio-political ideas. Foregrounding the construction of utopian fictions defines both the perspective and the differentiation of the analytically significant elements, so that the traditionally dominant topics such as the nature and origins of the ideologies behind the construction of the ideal model are taken into account only insofar as they contribute to the aesthetic effect of the utopian...