By Heather McKnight
Utopia Falls (Feb 2020) is a ground-breaking and vastly under-discussed Canadian sci-fi TV show about Afrofuturism, youth activism, and eco-awareness.[1] Created by R.T Thorne, it is the first sci-fi hip hop cross-over, and challenges the white-heteronormative-masculine norms of the sci-fi genre, offering a cast that features mostly BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of colour) actors. The show represents diverse sexualities and kinships, placing women in authority.
Utopia Falls is set hundreds of years in the future where during surface wars the great flash sent everything dark, poisoning the world. The remaining survivors were forced underground until what emerged was New Babyl, a seemingly utopian society with a dystopian undertone. We see clear links with our ongoing real-life apocalyptic fears around climate crisis and nuclear extinction.
Things digress from the expected sci-fi narrative when we hear that “the youth of New Babyl have the most important duty of all”. This involves honouring their predecessors through training to compete in “The Examplar”, a music and dance competition that unites, entertains and inspires the people of New Babyl. The engagement of the young participants transforms, however, when they make a discovery about the past that will change their perspective and have far-reaching consequences for the people of new Babyl…
In our far-from-equilibrium times with pandemics, climate crisis, ongoing wars and genocides on one side, and high-profile activist movements of Black Lives Matter, and youth climate strikes on the other we should have expected such a TV show which is “about the erasure of history and Black culture in the future”[2] to be centred and discussed widely in the press?
Daniella Broadway, from Black Girl Nerds notes it “gives us what we’ve been waiting far too long for — representation for people of color in [TV] sci-fi.”[3] The writer, R.T. Thorne, is also a significant figure as chair of the BIPOC committee of the Directors Guild of Canada, hoping to “fight systemic racism and help create much-needed change in our industry.”[4]
However, while it came out in February 2020 it has received little interest despite its cultural relevance for the time we are in. I have not-yet been able to find any academic articles that reference it and have been shocked by the tirade of dismissive reviews and low ratings on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB. Disgustingly, this is part of the broader racist and discriminatory structures of the TV industry and society at large. The combination of sci-fi, dance and music on tv is undoubtedly a new one. We can speculate that the traditional world of TV reviewers have found this unsettling and failed to see its significance.
As the creator, R.T. Thorne himself notes, “[p]eople definitely looked at me weird when I first threw it out there a few years ago, just this idea of science fiction and hip hop.”[5] However, on further inspection, what is more surprising is that this hasn’t happened sooner. Science fiction has long been a space for stories of imaginaries of a better world, battles for equality, and critical interventions in the now by positioning dystopian futures.[6] Thorne had noticed that despite these narratives, these future scapes tended to be dominated by electronica and not the kind of music that would galvanise and politicise.
He saw a place for hip hop in how we imagine and critique our own futures in science fiction, as a music of protest as well as popularity. Hip hop forms a signifier in the show for both the erasure and reclamation of black histories. The show goes on to valorise the potentiality of non-violent protest, while also exploring physical and structural violence, tackling police brutality, the injustice of incarceration, privilege, nepotism, infertility, ableism, and precarious bodies in activism. [7]
While not necessarily gaining recognition on mainstream platforms, the show has garnered critical acclaim in the industry and a strong youth following. It has had nominations for the Canadian Screen Awards for best YA programme and direction, for the Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards, and won the Tweens and Teens Award and Outstanding Achievement in Production Design at the Directors Guild of Canada.[8] It has also been a hit with young BIPOC and LGBT+ fans noting, “[f]or the first time there is a connection between art and what my life is actually like” and others stating that has been unique in the genre of TV sci-fi not only in its representation but also its stories which are set against a backdrop of people of colour trying to uncover stolen aspects of their cultural history.
Utopia Falls represents youth subcultures on television in a way that fundamentally values BIPOC, and LGBT+ lives, and aims to inspire knowledge informed activism and values the revolutionary potential of the arts.[9] Despite its relevance to teen engagement with Black Lives Matter protests, and School Strikes, season two has not-yet been announced. However, there is a clear call for its reinstatement in online petitions and teen-activist blogs that indicate we should not be ignoring the relevance of Utopia Falls, or its ability to inspire future sci-fi shows, as well as its viewers. [10]
As R.T. Thorne notes, the show is about a cultural revolution and not just a political one.[11] He states: “At the end of the day, [‘Utopia Falls’] might not be for everybody, I get that. It’s all good. I’m happy that we’re the first science-fiction hip hop [show and] bring hip hop into the future… There are black nerds out there that love whatever they love. I hope that it just inspires them now to be able to see that culture matters in a future scape.”[12]
Utopia Falls is a highly ambitious and influential show, and I will be writing more about it in due course. In the future, you’ll look back and be glad you watched this show, it’s a sea change, part of a transformational landscape of TV that educates, informs and inspires as it entertains.
Find further information on where you can watch Utopia Falls here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10193046/
Read more about R.T Thorne’s new Series The Porter here: https://thewiderlens.ca/2022/03/02/r-t-thorne-on-bringing-black-canadian-history-to-life-in-the-porter/
References
[1] ‘Utopia Falls — CBC Media Centre’, accessed 28 June 2021, https://gem.cbc.ca/, //www.cbc.ca/mediacentre/program/utopia-falls. Note this has failed to be include in the recent Routledge guide to Teen TV, despite coming out after numerous other TV shows featured with less radical messaging.
[2] DGC Ontario Staff, ‘R.T. THORNE ON BRINGING BLACK CANADIAN HISTORY TO LIFE IN THE PORTER’, Spirit of Creativity, 2 March 2022, https://thewiderlens.ca/2022/03/02/r-t-thorne-on-bringing-black-canadian-history-to-life-in-the-porter/.
[3] Danielle Broadway, ‘R.T. Thorne on the His Television Series “Utopia Falls”’, Black Girl Nerds (blog), 26 March 2020, https://blackgirlnerds.com/r-t-thorne-on-the-importance-of-representation-culture-and-the-arts-in-his-television-series-utopia-falls/.
[4] Lauren Malyk July 9 and 2020, ‘R.T. Thorne Named Chair of DGC BIPOC Members Committee’, accessed 7 September 2021, https://playbackonline.ca/2020/07/09/r-t-thorne-named-chair-of-dgc-bipoc-members-committee/.
[5] Angelique Jackson and Angelique Jackson, ‘“Utopia Falls,” “Dawn” Bosses on Black Creators Breaking Barriers in Genre Entertainment’, Variety (blog), 31 March 2020, https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/utopia-falls-rt-thorne-black-creators-genre-entertainment-victoria-mahoney-charles-d-king-1203549108/.
[6] Tom Moylan, Demand the Impossible; Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination, New edition (Oxford: Peter Lang UK, 2014).
[7] Judith Butler, The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind (Brooklyn: Verso Books, 2020).
[8] Utopia Falls — IMDb, accessed 9 September 2021, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt10193046/awards.
[9] Stefania Marghitu, Teen TV (New York: Routledge, 2021), 2, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315229645; marvelous-me-always, ‘Black Lives Matter — Utopia Falls!’, Tumblr, Marvelous Me Always (blog), May 2020, https://marvelous-me-always.tumblr.com/post/617086007472422912/alright-so-i-just-finished-utopia-falls-on-hulu.
[10] ‘#utopia-Falls on Tumblr’, accessed 28 June 2021, https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/utopia-falls?sort=top.
[11] Jackson and Jackson, ‘“Utopia Falls,” “Dawn” Bosses on Black Creators Breaking Barriers in Genre Entertainment’.
[12] Jackson and Jackson.