Well last we went negative and this week we will go also negative, but with a spark of hope at the end. Last week we talked about post apocalyptic so this week we will dial it back a little and look at dystopian futures in movies. The world wasn’t destroyed, but other dark forces have seized control and are ruling with iron fists/boots/whichever.
I think one of the things I like most about dystopian futures is that while often bleak it does offer up a wide range of possibilities for the story. Often the government(s) are controlled by some dark sinister entity, and often they overexert control on the masses in ways that allow the story to make a point about our current society. This can include controlling pretty much literally everything in 1984 or Equilibrium to the control and distribution of a great new food source with Soylent Green. There is a lot of great storytelling and innovative stories that can come from dystopia.
Possibly the only thing I like better than the possibilities for storytelling is the glimmer of hope contained within most dystopian movies. Often the hero/heroes are working to overcome some grand evil that is in control and help people be free, get better health care, stop eating people, or policing pre-crimes with way too heavy of a hand… I mean in many movies the bad guys still win and the controls the water supplies or something to that effect, but I still love to believe that no matter how strong the oppression, no matter how much control is placed down on a population in the end we can rise up as a society and stop watching game shows where over the top gladiator’s kill regular folk for fun and ratings.
For my pick I would have to go with Robocop. Aside from the spectacular design on Robocop himself which in and of itself is worthy of an answer to this prompt it also has everything a great sci-fi movie needs. It tackles serious issues like capitalism taking over important government services and using them as a vehicle to drive profits and protect and serve only themselves, it uses gratuitous violence to talk about our society, and pretty much every decision in this movie makes it a better movie. The weirdest thing about Robocop to me is how many people consider it to be a cheesy 80s movie (although it does get cheesy in parts I consider that part of the point/charm/good decision making on behalf of the film-makers). But at the end of the movie Murphy manages to overcome and regain a large part of his identity and self, which is what I want from my dystopian sci-fi, hope that the world can get better and self correct. Also it has great dialogue/quotes and one of my favourite 80s villains. Look I am starting to ramble here and I am barely scratching the surface and generalizing so I dont type a giant wall of text for this movie but at any time I am willing to go deeper in conversation about movies like this and my other favourites.
So with all that being said, this week’s prompt: What is your favourite dystopian movie(s)? And feel free to talk about it/them.