Looking for a specific film review? CLICK BELOW

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z / Trailers / DVD Store


September 23, 2008
Movie Watching Tip: How is the Future Depicted?
When watching a film that takes place in the future keep an eye on how that future is displayed. Are our descendants stuck in a dimly lit dystopia (Blade Runner)? Are they slaves to some faceless bureaucracy (Alien, Brazil)? Are our descendants living in a bright, clean falsely happy dystopia that is run by a faceless bureaucracy (Demolition Man)?

The conditions of the future in a film are used to reflect the filmmaker's opinion on how we're living today. The future is a summation of our actions and can be shown to accuse certain elements of our society. Given that Hollywood rarely shows the future as a happy, lovely place (which is strange since history shows that we humans have been getting better over time) it seems reasonable to assume they don't see us in a positive light.

Consider what the storyteller is saying when they tell you how crappy the future will be. It's not some distant consideration, more times than not, they're trying to condemn us for ruining things going forward.

Labels: ,


posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 12:00 PM




Share






1 Comments:

Anonymous Scott said...

The odd times we see a more Utopian future like Star Trek, the story tellers have to take us off planet so we can have conflict. I'm not so sure that we're getting better over time, just getting better at hiding our ugly stuff. Yes we outlaw slavery in our countries but we have people in foreign countries serve in that role for us. And that's assuming that you don't call the folks working sub-minimum wage jobs in this country to be little more than slaves.

September 23, 2008 at 2:56 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home