By Chane

Minority Report (2002), I, Robot (2004), and Idiocracy (2006) are three movies I watched semi-recently about the future. Obviously, they were made in the past, and take place at some point in the future, specifically 2054, 2035, and 2505, respectively. Despite us only being ten years out from the timeframe of I, Robot, it was probably the least prescient of the three. I don’t see common people having robot friends like that for a pretty good while, if ever. But I could be wrong. Perhaps it is because of I, Robot that people have strayed away from developing such robots. The movie, incidentally, is incredible, thanks largely to Will Smith’s unparalleled star power.

Minority Report had an interesting portrayal of the future, taking place a few decades out from now. This one was pretty accurate in some ways. It is already difficult to imagine a time when personalized ads didn’t exist. Clearly, a lot of what was portrayed as crazy screens all over the place is just happening on our phones. The cars seemed way crazier than they’ll actually be, but we still have 19 years to catch up. The psychic children of drug addicts thing was a reach that I don’t think will happen. Besides this though, honestly, I could see the world being like Minority Report pretty soon. The use of the desaturated tones really underscores how creepy it is to live in a surveillance state.

Idiocracy felt like the most prescient film of the three to me, and I think this is due to its comedic nature. It is also the third chronologically, both in the movie’s timeline and in the time of release, so that gives it a big advantage. I don’t know how realistic the world in it literally will be to the year 2505, but I also don’t think it is intended to be realistic. The way it depicts human nature shifting as we submit ourselves to the agendas of corporations is already all too real. The USA becomes a republic run by spectacle, public health declines, and everybody is addicted to screens. So damn true, in 2025, already.