WARNING: This article may contain spoilers
I think this is something we all dread, a future that isn’t all bright and cheery. A lot of the films I’ve covered for this article I’m sure will touch home with a lot of the fears that are affecting us now, let alone the fears they had for the future when these were made. So let’s delve in and find out what many believed could be in store for us.
The Terminator
I remember when I used to run the self-scan in my local supermarket and so many people refused to use them because they felt machines were taking over the world. Well, if James Cameron’s right, in about 9 years, that’s exactly what could happen. I know the majority of the film is set in the 80’s before anyone starts questioning me but the opening scene is literally dated 2029 AD. To think, if people in our society are worried about it now, post-Y2K – I don’t want to imagine the fear that was instilled before that. Hey, on a lighter note – at least it looks like time travel could be possible.
Wall-E
Now for something a little closer to home. We are already being told that it is us that’s destroying our planet, but do any of us really think it’s going to happen? Well, the people at Disney are obviously concerned and trying to send us a message with the help of possibly the most adorable droid we’ve ever seen. We’re already hearing about it being made possible for trips to Mars if it can be made habitable for human life – so is Elon Musk not our very own Shelby Forthright? I can’t imagine it ever being so bad that we have to live in space so that robots like Wall-E can clean up our mess but does anyone really know what the future holds? Just remember, rubbish is for the bin, people, not the street! Unfortunately, it also remarks on our dangerous spending, social media and eating habits, so really on earth or in space – the future isn’t looking too bright for us humans. It’s amazing to think that our only saving grace could be the discovery of a single plant.
The Matrix
So this is a film that will genuinely make you question reality as we know it. In a weird way it’s like an alternate universe dystopia because we are being led to believe that the world we live in is real when really it isn’t and who knows, this could genuinely be happening. No, I don’t believe that to be true before you start staring at your screens thinking this girl is crazy. The real world is the dystopia and for some people that may hit home pretty hard. Yes, I know the real world is actually set in the future so it is also a dystopian future – but really, how long have they been inside the Matrix? This film slightly goes along the same lines as The Terminator, it’s us that creates the destructive machines that inevitably takes us down.
When I think about in a little more depth, do we not already have our own Matrix? Does social media not produce that world that we want to believe is real but actually isn’t? Morpheus describes Neo’s look in the Matrix as his ‘residual self’ – can this not be seen as the side of us that we show on the internet because the real people that we are are completely different?
Ready Player One
2045. We’ll be fighting over band-width, and of course messing up our planet in the process, but then we’ll also be hiding inside a video game. Wait, don’t loads of us do that already? Especially now we have augmented and virtual reality – are we not the verge of our own ‘Oasis’? There are even drones dropping off pizza to the residents of the Stacks, an idea that I’m sure you’ve all heard floated around by Jeff Bezos and the people at Amazon. I think again, Ready Player One follows the same idea as The Matrix, reality isn’t good enough, who we are to ourselves – isn’t good enough. So we feel we have to choose to be someone else, hide inside games and behind social media. Wade says it himself, “people stay in the Oasis not just because of what they can do but because they can be anyone they want”.
The Hunger Games
It would be so easy to talk about this and include all four films, but I really think the first one sets out the clear division between the Districts and The Capitol. It is also the first film that lights the fire for possibly the key moment in any dystopian story – The Uprising. OK, so we know that this is exactly the idea that places the Districts in the desolate life they have, and why they must compete in the The Hunger Games each year, but is this not just another way for the Capitol to keep them down, keep the people afraid of them? I am sure a of lot people view their governments in the same way that the Districts view the Capitol but we’re actually lucky that we aren’t subjected to such a dangerous and, I’m sure, heart-breaking trial. But, if this is what life has in store for us if we ever rise up against those who have the power, may the odds be ever in our favour.
To make it stranger, it isn’t just their skills that will keep them alive – they have to gain sponsors, they need to be liked by those that are watching. I’m not sure about anyone else, but again I feel this is another remark on society as we know it – everyone wants to be liked, whether it’s for who they are – or who they pretend to be. Which is why I love the idea that Cinna dresses Katniss in a way that everyone sees her bravery and strength – the see who she is.
Blade Runner
And look, we’re back to robots again, just these aren’t taking over the way they do in The Terminator or The Matrix. They don’t even have plans too, they just want to live. If I’m honest, a future like what is shown to us in Blade Runner possibly isn’t that far away – especially if you look at Japan and even some of the style of advertising in the streets we already have both in London and New York.
Once again, a big corporation is at that heart of all that has gone wrong, but when aren’t they? Similar to Terminators, Replicants look just the same as you and me but this time they are not the hunters. They are the hunted. So in a weird way, the dystopia we are seeing in this film isn’t ours, it’s theirs. If they hadn’t decided to rise up against the humans that controlled them – namely Tyrell Corporation – the Nexus 6 replicants wouldn’t have been made illegal on Earth. I think we are supposed to believe the Nexus 6 are the bad guys in all of this, they rebelled, did the wrong thing and are now killing people – but if I’m honest, I can’t help but feel sorry for them, especially at the end.
Equilibrium
Originally I was going to cover 1984 but Equilibrium is practically the same story, just instead of ‘thought crime’, you are arrested for ‘sense offense’ – the crime of feeling any sort of emotion. Of course there is also the added arse-kickery of the Grammaton Clerics. Honestly, out of all the futures I have discussed in this article, this is the one I would dread the most. In order to produce this non-emotional society – there are no books, no films, no music and no art. I don’t think I would survive and definitely wouldn’t be able to bring you all this wonderful blog. In a weird way though it’s also possibly the future we are all striving for – a world without war. OK, so the cause of it all and the creation of this new life is a third World War but is this really a way to get peace? They really have gone about it in a way that actually wouldn’t be overly feasible. Also, no emotion – I think someone needs to tell that to Father. Especially as he, and it seems a few of the people of Libria are feeling…
Mad Max
I don’t know about anyone else but I don’t see the post-apocalyptic side to this film, apart from the way the bad guys are dressed. Other than that it just comes across as life in a small town. So maybe there’s a different way to look at it, maybe as more of an emotional dystopia. Max loses his best friend, son and almost his wife to the crazed biker gang that are trying to take revenge for the death of The Nightrider. So in a way the future ahead of Max is dystopian as he is looking a life without the people that mean the most to him, and I am sure that is something we can all relate too.
