are we (the US) headed towards an "idiocratic"society?
why does my judge (films writer/director) choose commercialism specifically as one of the main causes of an all-out idiocracy? is it fair?
Thursday, March 4, 2010
idiocracy
are we (the US) headed towards an "idiocratic"society?
why does my judge (films writer/director) choose commercialism specifically as one of the main causes of an all-out idiocracy? is it fair?
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Question 1: I personally do not think that our society will ever be as bad as it was depicted on the movie. That being said, I can see similarities in our society as they we depicted in the movie. One thing that is happening right now, is the trend to put career before children and even when children do come into the picture it's usually just one. For most families it is fiscally difficult to have children even if it is just one. Many couples are crunching numbers and waiting for the "right time" to have children. But, while all that's going on with career driven couples, the uneducated lazy people of the world are reproducing like they still live in an agrarian based economy and need farm hands. I mean don't get me wrong, I know that not every couple that has kids are pre-determined to be anything. Just because poor uneducated people are reproducing like crazy does not mean that all their offspring will be poor lazy and uneducated. My father is one of the laziest uneducated bastards alive and it has had no effect on me. I saw what was going on around me and I knew I wanted better. So who is to say that children born to lower educated people will follow in the same footsteps. I think that there are many positive role-models outside of the home and that anyone can succeed. Moreover, I know a few people from good households with educated parents that are lazy pieces of shit. So it can go either way. I think that as long as there are positive role-models in society and children want to succeed then they will find a way to do so. One thing that needs to be abolished is tenure within grade school and high school. Education at those levels should be merit based and nothing more.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: I think that he chose to use commercialism to highlight that because that is what we see daily. Today, everything we see or eat or hear or whatever is "brought" to us by someone or somebody. People sell their bodies for companies to advertise on for pete's sake. So is it that far fetched that in the "future" people won't have a conversation with you and finish every sentence with "brought to you by Carl's Jr." Maybe not Carl's Jr. but maybe Walmart! James
1. I do believe and can already see how technology makes people lazy and uses their minds less and les to think. Even when I was younger, we were made to play outside and not sit in front of the tv. We had to use our imaginations to make up games to keep us occupied. Nowadays, kids sit in front of a tv, play video games, or use the computer for entertainment. They get bored easily if these aren't available.
ReplyDelete2. I feel idiocracy is funny because it's stupid, and commercialism gets more and more stupid which equals funny, and makes it an easy target.
First off, I thought the movie was hilarious. I caught some it on comedy central over the weekend and was literally laughing out loud. Secondly, I don't think the U.S will ever have the ability to to dumb down that much. We are far too technologically advanced for that to be our ending result. Plants needing electrolytes?? really?? I thought it brought up some interesting concepts none the less. Everything was based around entertainment, money and materialism. I feel Mike Judge choose commercialism as the main cause because watching T.V is becoming America's favorite past time. Commercials definitely dumb us down momentarily but it doesn't stay with us throughout the day. How many of you have been caught up in an infomercial practically drooling over what they serving? I sure have :o) Thank god I don't own a credit card..
ReplyDeleteThem film was a little extreme, but i think the message about the way society consumes is somewhat accurate. I dont think we are becoming "stupid" people for being consumers in the things we buy, because its the way we have been socialized. Our society is still very consistent when it comes to recognizing the importance of education. Our Country's youth is what will dictate the future outcomes for our Nation. Therefore, we need to continue with that to fit whats best for society as a whole. I think the commercialization aspect of them film just puts emphasis on how much we have become branded to the things we consume. With satire, i think the writter pokes fun at being so overly dependent on the mass production of consumer goods, that unless we get "smart" about it we will use up all our natural resources like they did in the film during thier "drought". So at some point their needs to be a line drawn with the way we Educate and the way we educate consumer behavior.
ReplyDeleteOur society as a whole is getting dumber, but there's no way things will ever get as bad as they were in Idiocracy. They couldn't, we would die. Eventually we will be forced by some event to get smarter, or face extinction.
ReplyDeleteJudge chooses comercialism because it IS dumbing us down. The corperations selling products don't want us to think, they want us to support their products blindly, because if we think, then we might think about buying something else, or nothing at all.
Is anyone else sick of Luke Wilson and his stupid AT&T commercials? He's killin me! NOT FUNNY LUKE!
-Shaun
I thought the Idiocracy film was pretty sweet!! The characters were hilarious. They did take it a little over the top, but they had fun with it. However, I do not think human society would ever become that dysfunctional or stupid. I am pretty sure that we all know the importance of water in irrigation.I personally think the director chose commercialism as one of the main causes for an all-out idiocracy because it is something that we come into counter with, we get suckered into advertisements on the tube daily.
ReplyDelete-Katie R.
Are we heading for idiocracy?
ReplyDeleteNo I don’t think our country is heading towards idiocracy because there is a wide variety of a person that’s enjoying reading/ making movies. Today society is all about becoming wealthy and making money. So of the major ways to accomplish this is by becoming a actor, writing novels, and inventing new thing by using science. I feel our society will never forget about the greed they have and will constantly keep striving toward success. To be something important in today times is to be unique, and I feel no one will ever give up there uniqueness.
Why does judge specially target commercialism as a sure of idiocracy?
Judge targets this because most people today will believe anything. They will look at a commercial and just believe it right away. There are commercials about having a disease and half the people that watch it end up going to there doctor and saying that they think they have it. That’s why if people keep on believing, these commercials it might end up leading to idiocracy.
Wednesday after class, I was driving to work in my hometown, which is a 45 minute drive and was thinking about the movie. I was remembering back to the PowerPoint of the flowers, plants, and trees as well as the alphabet from advertisements. About every two to five minutes on my journey to work, I was being brainwashed my advertisements on billboards and on the radio. On the other hand, I saw trees and plants the whole way home and could not identify just about any of them. What I am trying to get at is we are ignoring the most important things in our lives, the environment!!! I really feel that what was happening in the movie can someday become true. Maybe not that extreme but pretty close to where resources are limited.
ReplyDeleteToday, as I was walking the children from their school to the day care. Out of know where, one child starts singing, five dollar foot looonnng! I started to laugh to myself and thought about the movie. Now this is a five year old boy singing an advertisement for Subway! Today’s younger generation is being brainwashed my more advertisements commercials then past generations. I feel that this will case the younger generation as well as older over time, to be less judgmental when consuming products because they will start to believe everything they see and hear.
Boy oh boy...what to add here? Hmmm...First off, in accordance to what James was saying, there is a big issue today with the educated and increasingly more talented people holding out on having children. Though again, in no way is anyone genetically predetermined to be an idiot just because their dad's a smuck and their mom happens to enjoy fucking everyone in the trailer park. CHEERS!!!! However, looking beyond the issue of obvious idiots running the world, I believe the main point that should be focused on from the film is how the corporations came to control the people. Everyone had become so trusting of the corporate entities (Carl Jr, etc) that they no longer contested or questioned the design for which they attuned themselves to. In many ways the same is currently happening today and will likely get worse as resources become more limited. Just think how impossible it is to become the president of the United States without being financial backed by corporations that typically treat people as nothing more than numbers. People have tried, and they were shut down real quick. Then consider the people who, due to a lack of wealth and financial equality, are forced to waste their very existences creating products to make us content with our self images and social shenanigans. CHEERS!!!! Seems real logical doesn't it. It's been going on this way for a long time and in no way does society seem to be in a hurry to change it. EXPLOIT EXPLOIT EXPLOIT...Take the idea of the fun loving pesticide company found in Ad Nauseam--spray your garden with this, eat your glorious bug free vegetables and we'll see you in another 5 years to hook you up with some real cost effective cancer meds in comparison to the competition. WHy don't they just start putting coupons for the meds right on the inside of the pesticide label? CHEERS!!!! SO the film perverted reality slightly, but if you look at the subtle points; if you break the film down into...say, 5 main points that were overly tweaked for the purpose of humor, then one will see an exact replica of modern society. JUST REMEMBER, NO MATTER WHAT, YOU NEVER REALLY OWN ANYTHING!!!!! Spend all you want, convince yourself of ownership, but as soon as you lose your means, it's all gone. The government, controlled by corporations and the deception that is private property, is simply loaning shit to people, waiting for them to slip up so they can snatch it all back and loan it to some other "unwilling to open their eyes" conformist, who will judge themselves and others based on their holiest of holy possessions. As one gets older, one quickly realizes just how un-unique they truly are and always have been. And if the goal is to be unique, then where does societies function come into it all? I'm sure those 2% who own all the wealth in America feel real unique...just about as unique as the trailer park mom as she gets her daily work out. Cheers!!!! Not everyone is in love or seeking it; not everyone likes seeing war films which some asshole profits off of; not all people like cars, boats, skateboards, group sex in swimming pools, female bartenders, mentally retarded fathers seeking custody of their child, stoned security guards, serial killers; commercialism is everywhere, in everything; it's as if it has become intertwined into the very fabric of our souls. A very good way to sell lots of films is to utilize something everybody connects with. In the film world, looking back at some of the classics, they always consist of something that everyone can grasp (typically); give it 20 years and this film will be making people lose their breath. CHEERS????????
ReplyDeleteweston
I don't think we're headed towards a nation of all idiots. Commercials do have a tendency of being dumbed down and made simple, but it isn't the only thing that we get info out of. I think he focused mainly on commercials b/c if you make them a certain way they stick to the viewers mind. I can sing the Empire x-mas song from a couple years back... They're on t.v. too, and the television set is the modern alter were most people go to spend there time and worship dumb shows like jack ass. Also, I doubt scientist would spend all their time on keeping hair and erections... what with 2012 (j/k) on its way. The fact is although some scientist do work for cosmetics there are also those that are actually studying important things.
ReplyDelete-- my profile pic is on the baby electrolite--
Well the movie was great, I had never even heard of it before. But I would have to disagree with his interpretation of where our civilization could be heading. This period in time is considered the "age of information," where the flow of news, current events, idea, etc are now easily obtainable by people across the earth, in large part due to the impact of globalization and technology. I would think that our future would resemble Star Wars more so than the scene in Idiocracy. Although, Mike Judge does a good job illustrtaing a worst case scenario. I can certainly see how commercialism can affect some people in that manner, so I understand why he would concenctrate on capitalism and commercialism as a potential downfall for civilization. However, I think that commercialism has an opposite effect. Commercialism aids in producing and promoting technology that can provide knowledge. Additionally, while society as a whole SLOWLY but surely gives more power to the people, individuals have the right to question demands, theories, and regimes, we now have the power of a well established frame of reference to compare ourselves to. I think comemrcialism contributes to this. Now of course, it also produces clowns like the Paris Hilton, the jerks from the Jersey Shore, and the unfortunate young people who look up to them. but on a whole, I think that we are headed in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteTom K.
why does my judge (films writer/director) choose commercialism specifically as one of the main causes of an all-out idiocracy? is it fair?
ReplyDeleteI believe we are heading towards an idiocracy but not in an extreme a sense as the movie portrays. The media portrays things in ways that people will remember. These images show people doing dumb things because they dont have a certain product or they have a catchy line that people remember. Remember when 5 dollar foot longs came out? people were singing the song and doing the motions, this is the effect the media has on people now i doubt the effects of the media will turn us into slang talking idiots but it does effect how we act. I also believe that they focused on consumption because they wanted the audience to leave the film and think of the media in a different light.