Get Happy: Play and the Utopian Imagination in Mark Osborne’s More

Using the short stop-animation film More, I explore the symbiotic link between play studies and utopian studies. Play and utopia may seem like unlikely sidekicks. Utopia is often defined as a static society that is purpose-driven and bounded by strict rules, while play is a spontaneous, rule-breaking activity through which participants may encounter new experiences and ideas. However, I re-assess utopia as an essentially “playful” genre, and argue that play and the utopian imagination are crucial ingredients to disrupting powerful and oppressive systems like those represented in More.