Dystopian Surrealism at the Movies...

Societal Paranoia, dehumanizing politics & industrialism, subverted utopian ideals & the widely viewed death of the American dream combine to give rise to a surreal dystopia when staring into our popular culture mirror...

After an afternoon watching my second grade grandson battle with medieval war machines followed by a great home cooked Mexican dinner and a late evening of DVD viewing at my daughter's home I returned to geek headquarters. While brushing my teeth and staring aimlessly into the mirror my mind flashed on an image from the wonderful Tobe Hooper directed "Poltergeist." You know the scene. The one where the investigator looking in the bathroom mirror starts tearing large chunks of flesh from his face. I don't know why that happened. I haven't seen the flick in a couple of years. Nothing we saw at Dannie's house suggested it, at least overtly.

This morning I gave it some more thought. This article is the result. "Dystopian Surrealism at the Movies"

Its been a recurring theme in pop culture entertainment for over 100 years, but now with the meaningless violence of Gaza, Iraq and other hot spots; widespread failed home loans; health care gloom & doom; a massive dehumanization in the workplace; annnnd the 24 hour a day droning of bad news stories on our hi-def large screen surround sound TV's real life appears to be becoming a non-fictional Dystopian nightmare; the very antithesis of the Utopia our life was supposed to be in the 21st century. A Dystopian world is just really undesirable, with man-made environmental problems, massive social disorder, dehumanizing concepts, rampant crime, plague, famine, etc...

To underline that, I offer up this list of suggested Dystopic entertainment for home viewing that exams the far reaching shadows cast by our present future:

Children of Men

Alfonso Cuaron's masterful 2006 film of a chaotic, childless world held under a thumb of fear and oppression.

Fahrenheit 451

A 1966 Francois Truffaut film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's story of a totalitarian society that fears informed free thought.

Metropolis

The silent 1926 German feature by the husband/wife director-writer team of Fritz Lang & Thea von Harbou dealing with an oppressive corporate city-state and the social unrest among its ant-like worker class.

Escape from New York

John Carpenter's great 1981 flick that drops tough guy Kurt Russell into the middle of a decayed, crumbling world of anarchy.

A Clockwork Orange

The 1971 masterpiece of an ultra violent future by Stanley Kubrick featuring Malcolm McDowell's charismatic, crazed gang leader Alex.

Wings of Desire

Wim Wenders' multi-award winning 1988 German film of trench coat wearing angels struggling to understand, and help out a ruined city's lonely, depressed mortals.

City of Lost Children

An artfully shot 1995 French motion picture by Jean-Pierre Jeunet set in a bizarre, surrealistic society where dreamless adults kidnap children to steal their dreams only to discover they're nightmares.

Fight Club

David Fincher's 1999 movie of an anti-capitalist underground anarchy led(?) by soap maker Brad Pitt.

1984

The 1984 released version of George Orwell's original oppressive view of a totalitarian government that knows all. John Hurt & Richard Burton are in a world of constant propaganda and neverending surveillance.

The Children's Hour

William Wyler and Lillian Hellman gave us this study in paranoia, rumor and false accusations that destroys the lives of Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine and James Garner back in 1961.

Brazil

This is the 1985 Terry Gilliam masterwork of an undetermined future bureaucratic nightmare world starring Robert DeNiro, Bob Hoskins and Ian Holm.

A Scanner Darkly

Richard Linklater's 2006 interpretation of Phillip K. Dick's story of a drug obsessed totalitarian society, told thru animation with Robert Downey Jr, Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves and Woody Harrellson.

Sleeper

In 1973 Woody Allen directed, wrote and starred with Diane Keaton in this satire of an overly oppressive future government and the underground movement to overthrow it.

THX 1138

Expanded to feature length in 1971 by George Lucas from his student short, Robert Duval starred in this tale of an underground society where
all life's aspects are controlled by government, even the emotions.

V for Vendetta

2005 saw the Wachowski's anti-Fascist underground fighter (Hugo Weaving) take on John Hurt as the leader of the totalitarian government, Natalie Portman co-starred.

Zardoz

Most of mankind lives outside of society in total anarchy while a very few live in protected, civilized catatonia in this 1974 John Boorman film, Sean Connery is the outlander that disrupts Charlotte Rampling's world.

Mad Max

This 1979 George Miller movie of a dystopic future full of speed, chaos and anarchy started the ball rolling for star Mel Gibson.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes

From the original Pierre Bolle tale this 2nd in the series deals with the confrontation between the surface ruling apes and a small group of civilized humans living underground with their machines.

12 Monkeys

A 1995 Terry Gilliam motion picture where 5 billion die, the world is left in chaos annnnnd Bruce Willis is our last hope.

Soylent Green

In 1973 Richard Fleischer (son of those who gave us Betty Boop & Popeye) presented us with massive unemployment, global warming and pollution, runaway crime, huge over population and starvation, buuut...

City of Ember

A 2008 film from Jeanne Duprau's novel with Tim Robbins, Martin Landau and Bill Murray; Ember is a decaying 250 year old underground city with a rapidly failing power system, strange mutant creatures, a corrupt leadership and no apparent exit.

Alphaville

Legendary filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard's great 1965 science fiction motion picture set in a city were love and self-expression have been outlawed by its scientist controlled leadership.

Blade Runner

The 1982 noir-este Ridley Scott visionary film has been labeled too utopian by some for this list, I disagree. The weather's horrible, parts of the city are decaying, its an overcrowded, polluted police-state that people can't wait to escape "off planet" from, not a very nice place to live.

Dark City

The 1998 Alex Proyas phantasmagorical nightmare with Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly and William Hurt trapped in a shape shifting city controlled by soul sucking telekinetic creatures.

Battle Royale

Fukasaku's 2000 visionary film where totalitarian government pits school children against each other in a chaotic to the death struggle.

No Blade of Grass (not on DVD or VHS)

Former swashbuckling actor Cornel Wilde's grim 1970 environmental doom flick was one of the 1st to seriously look at a creeping worldwide plague of death brought on by man himself, eye opening film.

Rollerball

This 1975 film predicts that in a not too distant future of wall sized Hi-def surround sound 24 hour TV, James Caan's "Jonathon" will dominate the corporate ruled society's extreme sports programming, annnd there will be NO crime... NO war... No freedom!

A Boy and his Dog

Taken from a Harlen Ellison story, Jason Robards and Don Johnson star in this post- apocalyptic world released 4 years before "Mad Max" that features an underground survivors world where man can no longer breed.

They Live

John Carpenter's 1988 movie where; you see them on the street, you watch them on TV... you may even vote for one... they're just like you... but you're wrong... dead wrong!

The Trial

Orsen Welles directed this film he adapted from Franz Kafka's novel of a society run by a nightmare bureaucracy, self-important, complex , labyrinthine, face-less, life-threatening.

District B13

2004 Luc Besson pinned film set in the dead end, walled ghettos of Paris' immediate future; cutoff, ruled by crime, a danger even to those outside.

Omega Man

The 1971 film loosely based on Richard Matheson's seminal novel; a lone survivor of worldwide biological warfare, caught in a place he cannot stir from in the dark, alone, nothing to live for, but his gadgets.

Logan's Run

A 1976 Science Fiction epic; an idyllic future world that has only one drawback... at age 30 you die, and there's nothing you can do about it.

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil (Not on DVD or VHS)

The groundbreaking 1959 motion picture inspired inpart by M.P. Shiel's "The Purple Cloud"; starring Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens and Mel Ferrer alone with their fears in a dead New YorkCity.

The Road Warrior

George Miller's 1981 followup to his cult classic "Mad Max"; the dying society has finally flat lined, Max wanders aimlessly the post-apocalyptic landscape, fuel is all important, he's bitter & lonely, but not alone.

I, Robot

Alex Proyas' 2004 film freely adapted from Isaac Asimov's novel, freely adapted from Eando Binder's early 1950's pulp stories and EC comic series, deals freely with the concept of "robotophobia."

The Last Days of Man on Earth

The thought provoking 1973 adaption of the Michael Moorcock novel also released as "The Final Programme"... the future is cancelled, I think I'll go home and watch it on TV.

Matrix

The Wachowski's 1999 view of a world that is not as it seems, what people see and feel is not real, life is a lie, there is a small underground that fights for truth and freedom at great cost.

Aeon Flux

The seemingly perfect world is in reality perfectly fucked, first off 99% of the world's population is dead, step outside the city and you die; inside paranoia, conformity and unquestionable obedience are the rule.

I am Legend

Adapted for the screen in 2007 by Mark Protosevich from Matheson's book and the earlier "Omega Man"very much the same except stylistically.

28 Days Later

Danny Boyle's 2002 movie where his fear began when he awoke alone and his terror began when discovered he wasn't; could be thought of as a sort of prequel to the various "I am Legend" films.

Modern Times

The great Charles Chaplin's 1936 turn at industrial dehumanization as the Tramp is struggling to survive in a workplace that doesn't care about the workers, machines are all important and are rapidly taking over.

For those of you who prefer the printed page try Ayn Rand's masterwork "Atlas Shrugged", Ursula LeGuin's phantastical "The Dispossessed", Samuel Butler's "Erehwon" (that's no where backwards), Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" where illiteracy is the law of the land, Anthony Burgess' urban nightmare "Clockwork Orange", Phillip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"(the film adaption may be about utopia, this is not) , H. G. Wells' "The Time Machine" and "Things to Come"(did he really have the machine?), or any number of the original novels the above motion pictures were based on.