Idiocracy is a 2006 satirical comedy movie, directed by Mike Judge and starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph. We have to talk about it not just because this year it reached its 20th anniversary but also because of how relevant it has become. I wish, given the month we are in, that this last statement was an April Fool’s joke kind of thing, but it’s not.
The premise is very simple: the most average of Joes (awkwardly fitting considering last month’s movie) is placed under cryo-sleep for a military experiment. Because of an accident, instead of being awoken within the following year, he travels five hundred years into the future (another five hundred and the protagonist would have met Fry from Futurama). The dystopian world he encounters is one in which the general population, as the title suggests, is entirely comprised of dead-brained humans.
Now let me be very clear, the movie at the time was meant to be satirical, ironizing many of the problems the world was facing; it was not meant (I hope) as a challenge to try and make things even worse than as depicted. Idiocracy has gained somewhat of a cult following, being humorously referred to as prophetical. I would argue that one of the most important things it problematizes is the ability of any human being of not only thinking for themselves, but even the inability of thinking itself. We are seeing this today, more so than ever, through the general use of A.I. software and interfaces such as chatGPT. It is much simpler to follow than to lead and it is even simpler to let someone else do your thinking for you, but that obviously creates a concentricity of serious problems within the fabric of any society.
I don’t want to go on discussing too much the general socio-political implications and current day affairs, since that would ultimately warrant an easy hundred page essay (and I would just be malding for half of them). So let me get back to the movie: in the year 2505, as depicted, people are dangerously dumb, most of the planet is covered in trash and everything is computerized and monitored (as well as stacked to the brim with product advertisements). Just take as an example the fact that crops are not growing because irrigation is done with a sports drink surrogate (because it contains electrolytes) instead of water. Soo…except a few minor distinctions, it’s pretty much what we are facing as a society.
As previously stated, Idiocracy touches on several important concerns, hinting even towards some serious environmental and ecological issues (some of which will turn up later on in movies such as Wall-E, for instance). Regardless, the root cause for all of these problems remains the human being, specifically the abandonment of his own ratio (or even the will to reason itself). I would argue that this was the most important warning Idiocracy, although in an obviously comical and hyperbolized way, posed.
P.S.: heck it, with the world as it is today, someone like president Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Comacho would have my vote. We love you Terry Crews.
I would give this movie a 7 out of 10 ‘dumbing-downs’.
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