I have always been a fan of science-fiction movies, some of my favorites in recent times are The Martian and that excellent sort-of-fiction documentary of National Geographic with that unassuming title: Mars. Then perhaps more fictional and more dystopian, the two Blade Runners, both the original and the one that was made 25 years later.
There are obvious many more movies and series out there, but these are the ones that are the best ones by far. Partly because of the story, the acting, the special effects and the overall idea. I like the speculation in both The Martian and Mars of what it would be like on that first manned mission to the red planet, because as it seems now, either of those scenarios might play out: a man going solo, or a group of folks establishing a base. Then there’s always that unsaid notion that a trip to Mars might very well be a one-way trip, which always makes it feel even more claustrophobic and heroic in some warped way.
Blade Runner hits closer to home with a future Los Angeles where few people live, and where the land outside the city has become a desert wasteland because of some big thing gone wrong. This one is so powerful on atmosphere and the tech in this movie is so plausible, in fact it’s too plausible, with robots gone rogue and the story centering around this underdog who lives his lonely life in this big old town.
In a way I wish there was some sort of bridge between those two vastly distinct, but also vastly interesting universes. The thing is just that neither of those universes in the Mars-movies or the Blade Runner-movies are places where you would want to live. They are more like the kind of places where you would want to spend some time, as some place in some far of future, or just to spend time with that notion that one dystopia might just be that everything turns into one big Chinatown, a place that’s so alien to most of us, and that leans so overly heavy on tech, that it’s a place that you might contemplate or consider, but it’s ultimately not a place where you might actually want to live.
What if it actually turns out to be a mix
Overly crowded, overly expensive, overly everything. Just considering the fact that a root problem for a lot of folks is that they feel entitled to this-or-that, and because of that people get into debt to start living above their means. This is kind of the overly that I’m getting at here, and a very simple fix would be to start living a simpler life, more than just one notch below overly.
Then the next question is how that will dodge a dystopian future, because all those futures will have become ‘unlivable’ because of the big problems that are caused by all of us. This is where it relates to that ‘disaster’ that turned the land outside of Los Angelos into a wasteland desert. We all know this, we all see this, but it’s very few of us who are actually able and willing to small initial sacrifices that might end up not just dodging the wasteland, but it might also end up dodging our own demise.
The apocalyptic as a social dilemma
Of course these movies are fictions of what the future might actually be like, but at the same time they are metaphors of our lives as we live them right now. We’re all aware of the big dilemmas of our time: one is the decay of democracy and the rise of social inequalities (1% vs. 99%), with expensive housing, healthcare and education.
If we look beyond that then we reach the social dilemmas that are in some ways more obvious: to minimize the impact of climate change we should all use less fossil fuels. To solve the waste-problem we should all buy items that produce less plastic waste and that can be repaired and safely dismantled once no longer of use.
The thing is just that, and I stated this before, when it comes down to it, most people aren’t all that noble in that they should care about the Big Issues, but at the end of the day we’re more motivated by Me and Mine, and by extension we don’t think that far ahead. And of course, this is an understandable mechanism, I mean, how else can you go on living? Most of us have enough problems to deal with ourselves. Right?
Maybe then it’s more about ideas
I personally refuse to leave things like this where they are at, because that just means caving in and giving up. That’s not the kind of attitude that I want to have when it comes to anything, and at the same time I realize that a lot of this comes down to government policy.
Now most of us are not politicians, but what we can all do is to put ideas ‘out there’. This means most of all to be in the now. That was more or less my reasoning behind writing the second installment of Gaze wide, aim far: to do anything and to realize any ambition, you need to know what’s going on in the world around us.
At the same time, there are the obvious things that we can do, and what a lot of us are already doing: lean towards smaller houses, driving electric, composting and all such things. It may be a small start, but it might just pave the way towards a better tomorrow.
In summary
- The Martian, Mars and Blade Runner are great because they give a very visceral idea of our future
- The big problems of dystopian movies are ultimately caused by all of us
- The big problems are social dilemmas that can be solved with powerful government policies (to a large extent)
- To contribute to the solution, you need to be in the know
Continue reading
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