#Middlebury #DVD #Video #Movie
There are those who would argue that today’s world is going to heck in a handbasket. I’ve always found it interesting when people complain about the breakdown of our world as we know it – I attempt to imagine their criteria for this dystopian future. Does it involve a computer takeover? Genetic tinkering? Just all out trash human behavior? Here are several iconic dystopian fantasies to choose from, and a few lesser-known morsels of impending doom. May the odds be ever in your favor.
“The Matrix” – Keanu Reeves stars as Neo, a hacker who is liberated from a simulated reality by the elusive Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and learns the secret and terrible truth that the world is not what it seems. Dystopian cause: computers.
“Death Race 2000” – For camp, I prefer Roger Corman’s 1975 version with Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine as some of the competitors in a transcontinental race where points are clocked both by speed and the number and type of pedestrian kills. Dystopian cause: totalitarianism.
“Divergent” – A worldwide war wipes out humanity, except in Chicago, where the remaining residents separate themselves into factions – the smart, the honest, the kind, the generous and the daring. Things get dicey when Tris (Shailene Woodley) tries to be more than one thing. Dystopian cause: war.
Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games” (Lionsgate photo)
“The Hunger Games” – The winner of a 13-district war subjugates the rest of the districts by culling two young people from each yearly to fight to the death in a reality show that is too real. They get more than they bargained for when Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to take the place of her little sister. Dystopian cause: political machinations of terrible people.
“The Running Man” – In the not too distant future, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a contestant in America’s most popular game show, where convicted criminals enter a gladiator-style arena to battle against mercenaries and other bloodthirsty killers to attempt to win their freedom. This film, made in 1987, takes place in 2019. Dystopian cause: economic collapse.
“Idiocracy” – In this cult classic Mike Judge comedy, the military places an “Average Joe” and a duped prostitute in suspended animation, and they are accidentally abandoned until they wake up 500 years later in a seriously dumbed down future where they appear to be the smartest people on the planet. Dystopian cause: anti-intellectualism run amok.
“Never Let Me Go” – A romantic tragedy based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel, three friends from boarding school navigate love and the future knowing that they are clones, alive only to be harvested for their organs. Dystopian cause: medical tinkering.
“Minority Report” – In this futuristic society, intentions can be crimes, reported to the PreCrime division by sentient mutants who sense a crime before it happens. But is it still a crime if, once you know the future, you change it? Dystopian cause: overzealous mutant technology.
© 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.
You must be logged in to post a comment.