What are the first things that come to mind when you think about the future of America? From the most educated scholars to high school dropouts, the majority of us have the assumption that our futures will involve robots, flying cars, and breathtaking architecture. When contemplating the way things are progressing in the 21st century, how much of these technological advancements can we really count on?
The movie “Idiocracy,” critiques aspects of our society ”such as more intelligent people waiting to have children, the deterioration of the English language, technology making it unnecessary to learn certain skills, and our choices in entertainment,” by exaggerating what American society would be like in 500 years if we follow the same trends. “Idiocracy,” directed by Mike Judge, is an exaggeration of how American society would be in 2505. It is about an army employee named Joe Bauers, who was involved in a military project in which he was frozen in a state of suspended animation and forgotten about for 500 years.
When he finally awakens he is in a dumbed down, dystopian society where he ends up being the smartest individual. In this new society, everyone depends on him to fix all of the domestic problems they are facing. Even though the movie came out in 2006, many of the problems expressed about the future are starting to happen right now. As explained in the movie, it all begins when “unfit”? households had an increase in childbirths while educated, “capable”? households were waiting to be financially stable or “ready for kids. Eventually, this causes those who were known as intellectuals to become “extinct. “? Though this is a dramatic and over exaggerated concept, this is somewhat a problem that is happening in today’s society. One example of this concept in today’s culture is a show like “16 and Pregnant,” where teenage girls get pregnant and drop out of high school. Another example of this is The Jerry Springer Show, where one sees a man who has four babies from four different women. These examples demonstrate some negative implications in which our society could be going in the future if we do not change.
In addition to these illustrations, it seems that today’s working class is too preoccupied to reproduce. Overall this movie satirically presents the members of society as uneducated, dirty, sex fanatics. Another problems portrayed in the movie was the deterioration of the English language. As the narrator put it, “Modern speech had degraded down to a mixture of slang, hillbilly, and grunts. ” In 2505, they no longer had schools, books or authors, which lead to English being extremely dumbed down and primitive. What is keeping us from reaching the same fate?
This effect seems to have already started in that, most of our words and phrases are becoming acronyms. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary has started adding words such as “selfie ? and “twerking ? to its official list of words in the English language. (“BBC News) Another example of this is, as of April 2013, 21% of adults in America read under a fifth grade level. (“Illiteracy Statistics “) On top of the American public’s poor speech, the movie characterizes these people as complete imbeciles. In one case they fail to figure out what “thirty minus twenty? equals to.
In this movie the people did not stoop to this extremely low level of intelligence over night. This was the effect of 500 years combined with the declining use of the English language. All of the technology and machines took a large part in it as well. When Joe goes to the hospital and tells the women what is wrong with him, she presses a picture on a console and it tells him where he needs to go. With a world run by computers there is no need to teach people anything other than the most efficient way to operate them.
We are also coming to a point where machines are taking over basic human careers such as being a cashier or assembly line workers. Due to the data received from IQ and Global Equity the average IQ in America were 98, which is lower than 22 other countries. (Are Americans Stupid? – Statistics, Studies and Research) According to an article called Scientific Savvy? In U. S. , Not Much by Cornelia Dean, it is stated that one in five adult Americans believe the sun revolves around Earth.
This article also states that 10% of Americans do not know what radiation is. This might not prove much, but if we continue like this, how far do we really stray from an “Idiocracy. ? Worst of all, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affair did a study that showed 77% of students did not know who our first president of the United States was and only 2. 8% of them could pass the citizenship test. Although Idiocracy is a science fiction comedy, it really takes things to an extremely exaggerated yet serious level.
Each issue that is presented has at least a glimmer of truth to it. Throughout the whole movie they took modern behavior and the escalated changes in society, and showed viewers that things are not going in the direction we had all imagined. Mike Judge critiques almost every aspect of modern America, beginning with education, and ending with our satisfaction of watching people in pain. Overall this skewed reality that Judge creates, shows a different view of what the future of American society could look like.
Bibliography:
1. “Are Americans Stupid? – Statistics, Studies and Research.”Aby the Liberal. N.p., 9 Jun 2007. Web. 20 Feb 2014. .
2. Dean, Cornelia. “Scientific Savvy? In U.S., Not Much.”New York Times 30 Aug 2005, n. pag. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. .
3. “Statistic Brian.” Illiteracy Statistics. N.p., 28 Apr 2013. Web. 20 Feb 2014. .
