Lambie: Future Warnings In Films

In this article, Lambie explores what the future warnings in movies like Elysium, Transcendence, and RoboCop tell us about our present fears. He starts off by explaining how science fiction movies have changed from stories about “technological utopia[s]” to “bleak and cynical dystopias.” He explains that “[g]rim visions of the future are far from new in science fiction, and their ideas often contrast starkly with reality…they’re extrapolations of where we are in the present, and where our current position might lead us in the coming years.” He then summarizes Elysium. Elysium is about a world in which society is divided into two classes, the “ultrarich” live above earth in a spaceship called the Elysium and the rest live in Earth’s ruins. The main character, Max, embarks on a mission that could bring equality to the population but Secretary Delacourt, the Secretary of Defense on the Elysium works against Max to preserve the lifestyle of those aboard the Elysium. He includes quotes from Neill Blomkamp, John Harris, Thomas Piketty who discuss “the dire warning” of the film. Lambie also includes movies that share this topic: The Purge and The Hunger
He explains that within all three movies, the underlying thinking is the same in how they all “allow the gap between the rich and poor to grow too wide, and the results could be grim for all but the wealthiest.” He continues to discuss Transcendence, about artificial intelligence gone wrong, and then Robocop, about a robot who turns on his master, providing a summary and “the dire warning”