The Revealing Politics of Dystopian Movies

The Nature and Evolution of Dystopian Cinema

• Conceptual Definition of Dystopia: A dystopia is defined as a fictional society that "got lost on the way to utopia." It differs from traditional science fiction by placing its primary emphasis on political and social systems rather than science or technology, allowing filmmakers to speculate on the political future.
• Reflecting Societal Fears: Over the last century, dystopian films have served as mirrors for diverse cultural anxieties, including:
  • Monopoly capitalism.
  • Totalitarian socialism.
  • Environmental catastrophe.
  • Technology spiraling out of control.
  • Theocracy (seen in more recent films like V for Vendetta and Children of Men).
• Hollywood Leftism vs. Popular Fear: The genre often reflects the specific obsessions of the political left. However, the way these films are constructed often reveals more about the internal biases of Hollywood than the actual cultural fears of the general population.
• Smug Pessimism: Political commentary in film criticism often embraces a "smug pessimism." For example, a $1976$ New York Times review of Soylent Green argued there was "every reason to view the next century with fear."

The Orwellian Foundation of the Genre

• Etymology and Origin: The word "dystopia" was coined by John Stuart Mill in $1868$. While George Orwell did not invent the genre—drawing from Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World—he "owns" the archetypal vision through the cultural status of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
• The Orwellian Archetype: Orwell defined the dystopian society in response to Stalinist communism, characterized by an omnipotent, omnipresent state exerting single-minded control over its citizens.
• Direct Descendants of the Orwellian Vision: Numerous films are derived from Orwell’s vision of a totalitarian police state, including:
  • THX 1138
  • Fahrenheit 451
  • Alphaville
  • Sleeper
  • Brazil
  • The Island
  • Equilibrium
  • Logan’s Run
  • Renaissance
  • The Running Man
• The Typical Plot Trajectory: Traditional dystopias focus on the spectre of an over-bearing state. The narrative usually follows a protagonist who rejects dictatorial controls and uncovers a "horrible truth."
  • Case Study: The Island ($2005$): Starring Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor, the film depicts characters escaping a post-apocalyptic dictatorship run like a "totalitarian fat camp," only to discover their world is entirely artificial.

Environmentalism and "The Population Bomb" in Film

• The Influence of Paul Ehrlich: The early $1970s$ saw a new type of dystopia arising from environmental tragedy, largely inspired by Paul Ehrlich’s $1968$ neo-Malthusian tract, The Population Bomb.
• Failed Predictions: Ehrlich’s calculations suggested hundreds of millions would starve in the $1970s$ and $1980s$ as population outstripped resources. These failed due to agricultural innovation and slowing birth rates in developed nations.
• Ehrlich’s Scenarios: To illustrate his bleak mathematics, Ehrlich devised undisciplined fantasy scenarios:
  • $1979$ Scenario: A virulent strain of bubonic plague kills $65\%$ of the Egyptian population, averting a Soviet-American clash in the Mediterranean.
  • $1980$ Scenario: General thermonuclear war ensues, featuring high-altitude "flash" devices designed to ignite all flammable materials over large areas.
  • Famine Scenario: A prediction of the death and starvation of merely half a billion ($500,000,000$) people.
• Cinematic Manifestations of Environmental Fear:
  • Planet of the Apes: When Charlton Heston curses mankind at the end, he is seen as speaking for Ehrlich’s views on human failure.
  • Star Trek: Within a year of the book, Captain Kirk was abducted by aliens to solve an overpopulation crisis.
  • The Last Child ($1971$): Depicts a society with a one-child policy and the denial of medical treatment to the elderly.
  • Z.P.G. ($1972$): Features a United Nations-esque ban on procreation for a period of $30$ years.
  • Soylent Green ($1973$): Starring Charlton Heston, this film reveals a synthetic food substitute required after total economic and environmental collapse in the United States.

The Conflict Between Environmental Measures and Individual Liberty

• Logan’s Run ($1976$): This film packages multiple dystopian fears together:
  • Environmental Catastrophe: Set in a world decimated by overpopulation.
  • Pleasure Dictatorship: Inhabitants live in a domed city (filmed in a Dallas shopping mall) of free love and relaxation, but must be killed at age $30$.
  • Loss of Individuality: The protagonist is named "Logan $5$."
  • Technology: The dictator is a self-aware computer.
• The Libertarian Reboubt: Despite using environmental collapse as a backdrop, these films ultimately champion the individual against the state. The narrative sympathy lies with those who rebel against population restrictions:
  • The woman who defies the state to have a baby.
  • The security man escaping the dome.
  • The cop investigating a murder against orders.
• Ethical Judgment: The films judge Ehrlich’s suggestions for forced sterilization and government coercion as repugnant. Berg argues that the moral simplicity of Hollywood films ends up being more ethical than the views of environmental groups like the Sierra Club, who were impressed by Ehrlich’s recommendations.

The Historical Transition from Utopia to Dystopia

• The Disappearance of Utopias: Descriptions of ideal societies have nearly vanished. Berg attributes this to the fact that utopias are inherently dull and lack narrative conflict.
  • Example: Gulliver’s Travels: The narrative pace slows when Jonathan Swift describes the Houyhnhnms (intelligent horses); they are bland compared to the Lilliputians.
• Socialism and the Utopian Dream: Historically, utopias like Plato’s or Thomas More’s were used to illustrate crude socialist views. The late $19th$ century featured works like Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward and William Morris’ News From Nowhere.
• The Demise of Socialist Dreams: Once the world experienced actual communist dictatorships, socialism shifted from a utopian fantasy to a dystopian nightmare.
  • Example: We: Published in $1921$, less than five years after the Bolshevik coup, it was the first novel banned by the Soviet censorship bureau.
• Challenge of Alternatives: It is easy to oppose dictatorship, but following the "Khrushchev Thaw," political radicals have struggled to devise a plausible non-market economy as an alternative to the status quo.

Modern Political Commentary and the "Shoehorning" of Relevancy

• Contemporary Shifts: Because an English constitutional monarchy yielding to "IngSoc" is no longer seen as possible, modern filmmakers try to "shoehorn" contemporary messages into dystopias to maintain relevance.
• Incoherent Messaging:
  • THX 1138: Awkwardly combines Stalinist work propaganda ("Work hard… be happy") with consumerist commands ("Buy more now. Buy. And be happy").
  • Logan’s Run: A character tries to blame overpopulation on the desire for "bigger and bigger houses."
  • V for Vendetta ($2005$) and Children of Men ($2006$): Use the Iraq War as a catalyst for female infertility, religious dictatorship, the suppression of classical art, and concentration camps for immigrants.
• Equilibrium ($2002$): Represents the migration of Orwellian themes into the absurd. Humans suppress emotions to prevent conflict, policed by "Clerics" looking for "Sense Offenders." Its cult status is based on the "gun-kata" martial art rather than its political message.

The Reality of Totalitarianism: Efficiency vs. Bureaucratic Decay

• The Efficient State Myth: In films like Equilibrium and THX 1138, the totalitarian state is depicted as efficient, with effective public servants and "trains running on time."
• The Inefficient Reality (Brazil, $1985$): Terry Gilliam’s film depicts the state as a "vast and sluggish bureaucracy" in disrepair.
  • Employees watch old movies when the boss is away.
  • Tyranny is delivered "in triplicate."
  • Workers are likened to Charlie Chaplin rather than the Soviet ideal of Alexey Stakhanov.
• Real-World Parallels: Berg notes that Gilliam’s view accords more closely with memoirs of life in the post-Stalin USSR, where endemic corruption and mismanagement were the norm.
  • Oceania’s "glistening white Ministry of Love" is contrasted with Pyongyang’s incomplete and structurally unsound Ryugyong Hotel.
• A Clockwork Orange ($1971$): Stanley Kubrick’s film is identified as perhaps the most poignant dystopian film because it focuses on social reality rather than a streamlined, idealized totalitarianism.