Dystopian America

I'm a huge fan of dystopian literature and film, so much so that I once took a graduate level course dealing with utopian and dystopian literature. Because of the past seven years of Bush World, dystopian literature and film are even more important. Naturally I was pretty excited to see a list of the top ten Dystopian films of all time and as a result, I thought I would weigh in with a list of my own.

1. Blade Runner- A visual treat that simply overwhelms the viewer, Blade Runner perfectly portrays a world that we are doing our best to create. Environmental destruction, segregation to the extreme, genetic engineering and artificial intelligence. So much of what we see happening today, if taken to it's logical extension, could very well end up happening.



2. Brazil- This dark tale of government bureaucracy gone terribly wrong is an indictment of the Bush Regime. Terry Gilliam is a genius and this is his best film by far. Added bonus is Robert DeNiro's over the top performance.



3. A Clockwork Orange- One either loves Stanley Kubrick or they hate Stanley Kubrick. There is no in between and save for his last movie, Eyes Wide Shut, I fall solidly in the love category. That's not to say that A Clockwork Orange is one of my favorite movies, I've only been able to get through it once, so violent is the movie. The scene of young Alex and Company raping and murdering the suburban family while Singing in the Rain plays is beyond disturbing. Violence in America is out of control and sadly, this kind of thing is all too common. How long till we start trying to cure people the way Alex gets cured?



4. 1984- The movie is okay, nothing great, but the book it's based on is one of the most horrifying reads around. George Orwell might have been wrong on the date, but he was more than accurate on many other fronts, none more so than his take on using language to control the masses. The book haunted me for many, many months after first reading it.



5. Idiocracy- A direct to DVD movie, Idiocracy is one of the most under appreciated films of all time. It's a biting satire that tells the story of an everyday average Joe who finds himself 500 years in the future, a future full of complete and total morons. Seems that all the smart people quit having babies while the really, really stupid people started popping them out left and right. Brawndo has what plants need.



Rest of the list coming tomorrow...