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Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

theguardian.com

11–20 of 302 posts

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#11
post #4

First time I had a revelation that we are close to Idiocracy was when I saw the movie Crank which came out the same year. It a had vibe so close to "Ow my b*lls" movie featured in Idiocracy. And I was entertained.

Shortly after Idiocracy, someone bade an ow my balls mobile game and spread like wildfire. The thing is... we were already in Idiocracy when the movie came out. Good sci-fi isn't prophetic, it just describes the world as it already is.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#12
post #3

I'm not convinced that the author's favored political positions are above satire. >A blunt-smoking doctor at the hospital (Justin Long) is shocked that Joe doesn’t have a barcode on his arm, like everybody else, and asks, “Why come you no have a tattoo?” Yet, the author seems to be a fan of the bio-security state rationalized by the covid emergency. >...climate deniers... Is this not also a bastardization of language…

don't be surprised -- it's just your typical moronic media propaganda used to label and denigrate anyone who questions an established narrative, shutting down any discourse in the process. Much easier to call someone a "conspiracy theorist" in a pointless article with zero value creation to the world than to actually peel back some of the layers.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#13
post #5
post #3

I'm not convinced that the author's favored political positions are above satire. >A blunt-smoking doctor at the hospital (Justin Long) is shocked that Joe doesn’t have a barcode on his arm, like everybody else, and asks, “Why come you no have a tattoo?” Yet, the author seems to be a fan of the bio-security state rationalized by the covid emergency. >...climate deniers... Is this not also a bastardization of language…

> Is this not also a bastardization of language? Is anyone denying that the earth has a climate? To be fair to the author, it seems like a deliberate trashing of nuance. Do you actually not understand what the author means by “climate deniers”? The intended meaning seems quite clear to me.

The bigger issue for those who object might be ceding control over personal energy consumption to authoritarian central planners. It fits with a pattern of usurpation of individual liberties under the pretense of emergency.

Whether or not the Earth has a warming climate is largely irrelevant to this point.

The next question would be what the optimal climate is and how do these experts know what it is? We've gone from weather forecasters being wrong about rain over the weekend, to politicians and their pet technocrats asserting that the current climatic trajectory is somehow "wrong". The solution as always, is to give politicians more power.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#14
ow alert alert, too many spoilers

> is a single unbroken shot of a naked butt

No, it was a butt that was farting, but we didn't know whose ass it was and why it was farting.

I must have watched that movie 50 times. It explains the world so well and brings back the sanity.

While the premise of the movie was demographics, the real world idiocracy is brought about by societies moving away from liberal ideals and turning democracy to a pure popularity/likes/retweets contest. And this is happening across the spectrum, from reactionary right to woke left.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#15

"The underlying message of course is that humans ought to take such things as science, research and knowledge seriously, lest we create our own Idiocracy." Rather, I felt the underlying message of the film is that the film is a critique of the consumerism and corporatism of the US. The 'idiocracy' with how the government runs, the downward trend of education in the US, and the pessimistic views of our future.

I felt the underlying message was "Intelligent people, stop focusing on career and start having more kids (we really are in a race to the bottom)!"

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#16
post #12
post #3

I'm not convinced that the author's favored political positions are above satire. >A blunt-smoking doctor at the hospital (Justin Long) is shocked that Joe doesn’t have a barcode on his arm, like everybody else, and asks, “Why come you no have a tattoo?” Yet, the author seems to be a fan of the bio-security state rationalized by the covid emergency. >...climate deniers... Is this not also a bastardization of language…

don't be surprised -- it's just your typical moronic media propaganda used to label and denigrate anyone who questions an established narrative, shutting down any discourse in the process. Much easier to call someone a "conspiracy theorist" in a pointless article with zero value creation to the world than to actually peel back some of the layers.

There's some irony here though. It isn't entirely without value. The author points the finger while assuming his ideology is beyond mockery. Yet, for some of us the article is hilarious.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#17
post #5
post #3

I'm not convinced that the author's favored political positions are above satire. >A blunt-smoking doctor at the hospital (Justin Long) is shocked that Joe doesn’t have a barcode on his arm, like everybody else, and asks, “Why come you no have a tattoo?” Yet, the author seems to be a fan of the bio-security state rationalized by the covid emergency. >...climate deniers... Is this not also a bastardization of language…

> Is this not also a bastardization of language? Is anyone denying that the earth has a climate? To be fair to the author, it seems like a deliberate trashing of nuance. Do you actually not understand what the author means by “climate deniers”? The intended meaning seems quite clear to me.

No post body was provided.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#18
It's funny to see how 'one side' will completely miss the satirization of themselves in the work, and just laugh at the jokes targeted towards them.

(And FYI I'm not 'taking a side' I can only imagine what 'some other' publication would make of the film)

Judge was also mocking lack of education, slouching cultural standards, lack of competency, lack of moral fibre, conscientiousness etc.. In pretty much every scene.

Though the most memorable for me is: "Welcome to Costco, I love you" as the ultimate derision of cynical 'Happy Face' corporatism.

Think of a brand that you like in part because of the 'Things They Seem to Support' - and be assured that that's the point the joke right there.

But it's full of absurdist goodies: the Fast Food machine that takes your children away, the Costco Law School, Starbucks Rub & Tug etc.

Edit: it maybe a kind of IQ test or maybe 'personality type' test because I saw it with a friend and she didn't grasp any of the satire at all, to her it was 'stupid' and she literally fell asleep. I didn't know what to make of that.

Edit 2: 'Ow My Balls' will be huge on TikTok and it's not going to be long before it's nary exactly that.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#19
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure everyone knows what the author means. Yet you can still say that it's inaccurate and only used for effect: the framing is that it's adjacent to holocaust deniers. If you're not a fan of that kind of use of language, you can criticize it while still understanding what the author wanted to convey ("those people").

The specific complaint was that it “trashes nuance.” But if everyone knows what the author means, in what sense is nuance being trashed?

Everyone knows who you mean when you call one US party "fascists" and the other "communists", but you've lost pretty much all nuance. And all you've won is a bit of impact, for a while, because the tool will blunt with constant use. You'll have to reach for "super fascists" and "mega communists" next time and that will barely move the needle and you'll be far away from the effect you got when you tried that hack the first time.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#20
post #3

I'm not convinced that the author's favored political positions are above satire. >A blunt-smoking doctor at the hospital (Justin Long) is shocked that Joe doesn’t have a barcode on his arm, like everybody else, and asks, “Why come you no have a tattoo?” Yet, the author seems to be a fan of the bio-security state rationalized by the covid emergency. >...climate deniers... Is this not also a bastardization of language…

This movie is ripe for a remake where the world is stupid-Left instead of stupid-Right.

Starbucks offers gender reassignment surgeries and Costco employees say “Welcome to Costco, I apologise”, and the world-ending crisis is that nobody can actually reproduce any more.

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