Man, we'd be so much better off if we lived in Idiocracy. Can you imagine living in a world where the people in charge were actually concerned about the well being of the people and actively sought out the smartest people they could find to try to solve the biggest problems society was facing, and then actually listened to what they said and followed their advice? That's basically a utopia compared to what we got.
this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
82 points (100.0% liked)
Chat
7579 readers
28 users here now
Relaxed section for discussion and debate that doesn't fit anywhere else. Whether it's advice, how your week is going, a link that's at the back of your mind, or something like that, it can likely go here.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
But it's got what plants crave!
1984
If you think that's crazy, try books!
Not a movie, but the start of the Handmaid's Tale is quickly joining the documentary category.
Robocop. Corps owning everything, with slums for the rest, and enforcement by unthinking machines. Except, there will be no Murphy
Rollerball (1975) has similar corporate city themes
its a common trope in the cyberpunk genre
Its a book and its called:
Parable of the Sower, By Octavia E. Butler.
It was scary how real it felt lol.
The Parable of the Talents was a difficult read. I think of it often. It's a damn shame there aren't more in the series
This book hits so close to home its traumatic to read.
spoiler
The shitbag evil president in the book literally campaigns using the motto "Make America Great Again".
You know it's serious when an Octavia gets involved. I'll take a look.
On a lighter note, try her book 'Wild Seed.' A shape shifting witch encounters a body thief demon. He wants her powers, but the body dies soon after he inhabits it, so he has to 'persuade' her.
Not a movie but The Handmaid's Tale.
Soylent Green. You should really give it a watch some time, it's about much more than it's titular product.
Soylent Green is like a lengthy German sentence. You only find out what's going on at the end.
Almost all dystopic sci-fi movies and books (including Blade Runner) are documentaries once you move past the visuals.
Literally nobody mentioned Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"?
We've already got the chemically suppressed culture of distraction and the strictly stratified social hierarchy.
Must be the shortage of orgy porgy and the high price of decent soma.
It has some great sociological observations but the parts about family and births is still ways away so I wouldn’t count it in here.
Given that most kids see their phones more than their parents, the only thing we're missing is growing fetuses in bottles.
I remember the kids participating more like in group brainwashing sessions, not being in isolation with some device in hand
Say, blindly reciting the Pledge of Allegiance that brings some god into the equation?
That’s a better analogy, no phones involved
Catch-22 is creeping up on us.
Andor.
Isn’t andor ww2? Obviously history echoes through to today, but my reading is nazism spreading in Europe.
Season 1 is, yes. Season 2 is very much targeting today.
I’m on,y half way through, but season 2 has Gorman people speaking with French accents and forming a resistance movement. The empire is performing audits of farming and crops. messaging is by radio signal and bugs are hidden in offices with nearby people monitoring over earpieces. It still seems to be nazism from last century, but of course there are echoes in any authoritarian situation, including today.
Furthering the discussion more generally, battlestar galactica had a great season on new caprica where the humans were terrorists undermining the cyclon rulers. This was aired during gulf 2, so was very topical.
I wouldn't focus too much on the anachronistic technology, that's more to keep with the vibe of the original trilogy.
The farming audits, IMO, are pretty directly an analog to what ICE is doing in the US.
There's definitely some WW2 influence and stylistic choices, if anything that's to keep the execs willing to fund the thing, but later on you'll see some more blatant comparisons to our modern situation.
Given the timeline between writing and release for any modern television show, it's highly unlikely that was the intent. That it now dovetails is coincidence.
It reminds me more of Nazis as they were more methodical with data and purpose. I'd be surprised if this was written or acted after trumps inauguration. Funny, not funny, how it can echo both.
I've seen references to the senators speech, so I'm looking forward to that.
Yeah the disinfo theme is quite heavy handed
I was thinking Mon Mothma's speech, in particular.
ITT: people who've given up the fight against tyranny and have resolved to allow the warnings from media become reality.
Man if only they new christ was making fun of the fascists pig Legionnaires in year 27 or so. This is the fight.
Depending how this orange madman phase turns out: Fight Club or The Purge
Rick and Morty had a purge episode
Brave new world just needs the baby machine and we're off to the races
New question: what movie do you want to happen next?
I could live with Annihilation or Interstellar. Not brave enough for a World War Z or 28...Later scenario.
Natural Born Killers is next.
Yes. But instead of prison population revolting they’re just getting pardoned instead.
Clockwork orange.
Bit of the ol' in-out-in-out (tariffs) and ultraviolence (extraordinary rendition of civilians)? Sounds about right. We should as least get the oversized penis sculpture out of it, but we can't have nice things.
"Her"
Canadian bacon
4400, we are reaching that future, but minus the advanced technology of time traveling and gifting humans powers to try and change the past, the premise is that the rich selfishly squander the resources and built themselves a pristine enclave while everything outside is a total slum( funny thing it's also a premise of the 3rd CNC games too. I think judge dress is another where the humans are living in just 5 super cities.