Science fiction book/movie that best describes our times?

[niallmac]

After my annual reading of 1984 I am freaked for a week or two how spot on it is.
I recall ages ago thinking Clockwork Orange was the absolute frightening future of society.
Roller Ball, Blade Runner seemed to have the idea also.
Unfortunately I haven't read or seen any cheery Unicorn movies that seem to
foretell a plausible happy ending future.

Was wondering if anyone can name a similar movie/book that
seems to nail it.

[bryant69]

1. Brave New World

People who say the present day America resembles 1984 are morons. There are a few similarities, very tiny ones - but Brave New World is far closer to how we are controlled.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[niallmac]

9. I see some pretty bell ringing similarities in 1984...

and some have suggested I am a moron too but I still
think Corp News tends to send certain aspects of history
down the memory hole. Yesterday in the news psychologist pondered
if they should be helping our torture department understand
peoples 'phobias' to work on their weaknesses...Room 101 comes to mind.

I think if you do not try to see literal and equal analogies in the
present day but rather patterns of government behavior that
are leading in the same direction then it may only be a matter
of time.

I have not read Brave New World for a long time though.
I'll give it a read.

[Richard Steele]

2. Can't forget Fahrenheit 451!

[Sequoia]

73. Those little pillow things they put in their ears: now pillows are phones.

[megatherium]

3. Soylent Green, but give it a decade or so. nt

[sweetheart]

14. yep, corrupt cops, rote poverty and women as 'furniture'

its pretty much the repuke utopia.

[megatherium]

36. I was thinking of the unending heat wave and (ahem)

processed food.

[TAPat]

4. Blade Runner was the first one that popped

into my head...

[slackmaster]

56. Same here

Los Angeles looks more and more like it every time I go there.

[Sequoia]

74. Animals die out,(heat), birds are first to fall (West Nile)

People buy electric animals. In Japan they have robot cats these days. I just read the book based on Blade Runner. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep". In the book it's radioactive dust.

[goondogger]

5. A few more recent examples,

to go with those above: V for Vendetta (DVD 8/1!), Revenge of the Sith

[Finder]

6. Handmaid's Tale. n/t

[stanwyck]

38. Rick Santorum's blueprint for his society

women as chattel. It's not science fiction to ole "no abortion even if mom could die" and "no birth control" Ricky.

[Tesha]

45. Seconded! (NT)

[yurbud]

46. Handmaid is close, but doesn't cover enough foreign policy

I can imagine Bush in that world: 'See, we gotta bomb 'em cuz they make their women wear BLACK burkhas, not our festive color coded ones.'

[ovidsen]

7. "Dune" - Frank Herbert

It's not as literal as 1984 or Brave New World, but it portrays the pitfalls of greed, self-serving politics, greed, militarization, greed, territorial ambitions, greed, betrayals of convenience and greed quite nicely.

But in the real world, it's not "the Spice must flow"... it's "the oil must flow".

No movie has ever done "Dune" justice (not for lack of effort) and I wonder if any could?

[dipsydoodle]

33. Very good choice.

I read the whole series years ago. Have you read The White Plague too ?. It's a terrifying portrayal of that could happen if a genetically engineered virus got loose for reasons of vengeance. It's out of print but there are usually copies about on Amazon.

Frank Herbert was an environmentalist - hence the structure of the Dune series.

[ChickMagic]

51. You're the only person I know

besides me, who read that book. White Plague was an interesting contrast
to Handmaid's Tale.

[dipsydoodle]

60. Bought it back in the '80s

Read it two or three times, lost the book and then bought a another copy just after a few years back. Frightening tale !

[ChickMagic]

63. Yeah, me too!

The author's idea of women in a post-epidemic world was
vastly different than Atwood's idea. It is very frightening!

[Sequoia]

75. No water there. We're running out of water on this planet.

I read Dune some years back. I liked it very much. I got thirsty just reading it and thought it was quite scary.

[gate of the sun]

92. I read it too!

YOur not alone as you thought!

[CatholicEdHead]

90. Yep, that what I was thinking

Dune all the way.

[MorningGlow]

8. We're perilously close to The Handmaid's Tale

There's a great quote that I can't seem to find online--about how the citizens gave up their freedom willingly, a little bit at a time, until it was too late when they realized there was nothing left. We're already doing that.

Recently I almost dug out my copy to read again, but I decided against it, because now it's just too close to the truth. It'd give me major insomnia.

:scared:

On edit: Jinx, Finder! :hi:

[htuttle]

10. 1984 is very close, but only 'Brazil' captures the absurdity

[niallmac]

16. Oh yeah! I forgot 'Brazil'. Love that movie.n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

77. Brazil, for sure. n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

78. Yup. That's be my choice. Soon to be "The Minority Report" n/t

[hatrack]

11. "The Sheep Look Up" - John Brunner

nt

[raccoon]

17. Great book. John Brunner was a great writer. nt

[hatrack]

24. Ever read "The Shockwave Rider"?

Brilliant - pegging the Internet 25 years ahead of time.

[raccoon]

31. I read it, but I'll have to read it again. nt

[Bridget Burke]

41. Or his "Stand on Zanzibar"....

Set in 2010, it's not as grim as "The Sheep Look Up." But it's not exactly cheerful...

[PCIntern]

12. Forbidden Planet n/t

[mainegreen]

13. "The Mother of Storms" by John Barnes.

When a tactical nuclear strike releases massive amounts of methane from the North Pacific's ocean beds, global weather patterns transform the entire ocean surface into a massive spawning ground for hurricanes. As perpetual storms threaten to decimate Earth's population, politicians, scientists, and visionaries grope for solutions while ordinary people struggle to stay alive.

Two or three more years and the weather should be like this.

[raccoon]

15. Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler, isn't far into the future

if present trends continue.

Great book, I highly recommend it.

[uppityperson]

55. I was going to post that also.

I threw my copy away a couple yrs ago, was too close to reality. This stuff is written as a warning of how things can be, NOT as a guide to getting them there. RIP Octavia

[niallmac]

18. Thanks all for the input.

I have to rush off to my desk at the Ministry of Truth.
Now I have my next six months reading list.

Lots of books I forgot about and some I have never read. Cool!

Glad I posted.

[Crayson]

19. "The Fortress"

Women not alloed to get pregnant and control over their own body taken away.
Thought crimes/police.

[Crayson]

22. "Half Life" video game series

The all controling "Combine" governing the remaining of humanity with an iron fist.
Controling all the ressources and reproduction of mankind "for their own good".

[TexasProgresive]

20. Revolt in 2100

Robert Heinlein-

[Arkham House]

34. Seconded

Heinlein's "Future History" is unique among SF predictions in that it's come true, not just in broad outlines, but even as to details. He foresaw the American Taliban with a dismaying degree of accuracy...and they're taking power in front of our eyes. The only missing element is who will be Nehemiah Scudder...but he's lurking just around the corner...

[HeeBGBz]

21. Hoping for an intervention...

The Day the Earth Stood Still

[Gabi Hayes]

23. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, clearly

fifty million, plus, pod people

[Mnemosyne]

25. They want "The Giver"

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/giver/summary.html

Plot Overview
The giver is written from the point of view of Jonas, an eleven-year-old boy living in a futuristic society that has eliminated all pain, fear, war, and hatred. There is no prejudice, since everyone looks and acts basically the same, and there is very little competition. Everyone is unfailingly polite. The society has also eliminated choice: at age twelve every member of the community is assigned a job based on his or her abilities and interests. Citizens can apply for and be assigned compatible spouses, and each couple is assigned exactly two children each. The children are born to Birthmothers, who never see them, and spend their first year in a Nurturing Center with other babies, or “newchildren,” born that year. When their children are grown, family units dissolve and adults live together with Childless Adults until they are too old to function in the society. Then they spend their last years being cared for in the House of the Old until they are finally “released” from the society. In the community, release is death, but it is never described that way; most people think that after release, flawed newchildren and joyful elderly people are welcomed into the vast expanse of Elsewhere that surrounds the communities. Citizens who break rules or fail to adapt properly to the society’s codes of behavior are also released, though in their cases it is an occasion of great shame. Everything is planned and organized so that life is as convenient and pleasant as possible.

:shrug:

Great book anyway.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

26. Closet Land

http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=10041 (Trailer at link)

Alan Rickman and Madeline Stowe.

A rare but absolutely unforgettable movie. Well worth tracking down.

[ThomWV]

27. A Clockwork Orange

We have become mindless and barbaric. What more similarity could you want?

[obreaslan]

28. Star Wars Saga....

Our Republic is now an Empire!!!


So this is how democracy dies, to thunderous applause....

[Javaman]

29. Plan 9 from outter space...

That movie was rated as the worse picture ever made. Need I say more?

[Gabi Hayes]

30. ha....it was the first movie I ever saw to make me realize that stuff

on TV could really REALLY stink!

the innocence of youth....

[lumberjack_jeff]

81. It is certainly illustrative of people's ability to suspend disbelief. n/t

[MaineYooper]

32. Bug Jack Barron

The hippie culture references seem very dated now, but Norman Spinrad was spot on when it came to how media could be manipulated.

It's been a few years since I read it, but as I recall, this book really anticipated (1) the talking head culture, and (2) the lengths to which the ruling class will go to get what they want.

[izzybeans]

35. Carebears: The Movie will give you that unicorny happiness

that Laura Bush seems to walk around with. I'm banking on it being the movie that "does it" for her in that "it all makes sense now" kind of way.

I think 1984 is spot on myself. Other suggestions above are pretty good too.

[niallmac]

76. Laura Bush; "Care Bears 'The Movie'. Oh Absolutely! LOL.

[sweetheart]

37. esoterically, "twelve monkeys"

Prior to the date in the film, it was most compelling, yet the abstract
journey of the character, and what he discovers travelling back from the
prison world of the future, presciently aware of his death and the journey in to light,
and that everything he's seeing is already dead by the fell hand of fate.

[stanwyck]

39. "Wicked" by Gregory McGuire has

some eerily dark undertones which are reminiscent of our Bushian times.
The "Wizard" and his fascist regime are very, well, "W". I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

[Beelzebud]

40. Terry Gilliam's real version of Brazil.

The one in the Criterion Collection set. Not the studio-raped version.

[porphyrian]

59. Definitely! - n/t

[semillama]

42. maybe not our times, but our future?

The Canticle of Leibowitz. Gave me chills to read it, it rang of prophecy.

I got similar chills the first time I played Half-Life 2.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

43. Road Warrior.

A bunch of barbarians fighting in the desert for petroleum.

[Strelnikov_]

84. Yep

“My life fades, the vision dims, all that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos. Ruined dreams, this wasted land. But most of all, I remember the Road Warrior. The man we called Max.

To understand who he was you have to go back to another time. When the world was powered by the black fuel, and the deserts sprouted great cities of pipe and steel.

Gone now, swept away. For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war, and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel they were nothing. They had built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered, and stopped. Their leaders talked, and talked, and talked. But nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled. The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear.

Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage, would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice.

And in this maelstrom of decay, ordinary men were battered and smashed, men like Max, the warrior Max. In the roar of an engine he lost everything. He became a shell of a man, a burnt-out desolate man. A man haunted by the demons in his past. A man who wandered out into the wasteland. And it was here, in this blighted place, that he learned to live again.”

Opening Dialogue, “The Road Warrior”, 1981

[sevenleagueboots]

44. Firefly is the most politically correct and appropriate reflection of.....

Made for TV - Firefly is the most politically correct and appropriate reflection of just how fucked by the corporates'
the individual is: by the third episode i can just see Fox exec's squirming at the unpleasantness of a run-away bombshell
whose storyline speaks truth to power, and incorporates (no pun) universal values of humanity. Truth is stranger than
fiction as Firefly was all but shelved its' 1st season by Fox over the moans of an ever growing cult following.

[yurbud]

47. the plotline in the Firefly movie, Serenity, fits the corporate MO

[newyawker99]

71. Hi sevenleagueboots!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[jobycom]

48. Waterworld has a shot. Or else The Postman. Costner may turn out

to be our greatest prophet.

[Tesha]

49. Any number of books by Sheri S. Tepper

Any number of books by Sheri S. Tepper have something to
do with our times although they're often set in a speculative
future.

The Gate to Women's Country describes one possible approach
to fixing the violence that seems endemic in our society.

The Fresco describes the corrosive effects that ancient
religions can have on modern societies, and in the process,
analyzes a number of glaring problems evident on Earth.

Gibbon's Decline and Fall describes Republicans misusing
minor political office to gain further power while trampling on
individual rights.

Raising the Stones from the Grass trilogy offers
insights into Earth's fanatic religions and offers an interesting
(if alien) approach to solving the problem of how humans relate
to each other.

Many others...

Tesha

[kestrel91316]

64. I LOVE The Gate to Women's Country!

[Tesha]

50. Stephen King's "The Stand" always resonates with me.

While I can do without the God vs. the Debil stuff,
Stephen King's The Stand always resonates with me.
It did not surprise me one whit that King has most of
"techies" heading for the dark side; I've known far too
many amoral techie Libertarians to ever suspect that
society could depend upon them in a pinch; they'd be
far too busy looking out for Number One!

I think a Stand-like scenario has an excellent chance
of playing out sometime in the not-too-distant future.
Hell, if I were holding a vial of Captain Trips right
now, and were considering what would really be best
for the planet in the long run...

Tesha

[faithnotgreed]

52. as someone who hasnt read science fiction since high school

this is a great thread

any recommendations for an inexperienced but interested science fiction reader?
not anything too bogged down in technical language but a book that really flies (so to speak)

[EstimatedProphet]

53. Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said

I think it sums up the mood very well

[Swamp Rat]

54. The Book of Revelations

[Paulie]

57. "Jennifer Goverment" by Max Barry

Inside Flap Copy

Taxation has been abolished, the government has been privatized, and employees take the surname of the company they work for. It's a brave new corporate world, but you don't want to be caught without a platinum credit card--as lowly Merchandising Officer Hack Nike is about to find out. Trapped into building street cred for a new line of $2500 sneakers by shooting customers, Hack attracts the barcode-tattooed eye of the legendary Jennifer Government. A stressed-out single mom, corporate watchdog, and government agent who has to rustle up funding before she's allowed to fight crime, Jennifer Government is holding a closing down sale--and everything must go.

A wickedly satirical and outrageous thriller about globalization and marketing hype, Jennifer Government is the best novel in the world ever.

[MisterP]

58. Fritz Leiber's "A Specter is Haunting Texas"

these threads are always good for finding good SF/Fantasy--Lem-type, not bad SF

[datasuspect]

61. planet of the apes?

soylent green maybe?

[Skidmore]

62. The "Dune" trilogy.

Empirical facists against an historic religious movement headed by a prophet whose followers splinter into a heretical sect.b

[negativenihil]

65. 1984 n/t

[Lindacooks]

66. "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish"

Douglas Adams

[marmar]

67. V for Vendetta...

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security, the familiar, the tranquility, repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.
There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the annunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance, and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, think, and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillence coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence.
Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.

[Protagoras]

82. V seems to wrap up the best elements from

many other works. Especially the use of the media and moralism and how openly corrupt and dirty it all becomes.

[Uncle Joe]

68. The Matrix

The American People have been living in a false reality created by the Mass Corporate Media to be used as fodder to feed their agenda. The vast majority of the people are not aware of this illusion and many will resist being exposed to the truth.

For example the endless lies and slander regarding Al Gore inventing the internet, Love Canal, working on the farm in Tennessee as a youth, overriding their own reporting and focus groups over night in determining who won the 2000 debates, etc. while Bush was enabled to the Presidency, his mistakes and lies overlooked and unreported. Spin is just a nice warm fuzzy word when done by a partisan but when the news media do this, it's brain washing, not spin just lies.


Last night on The News hour, one of the guests stated that the American People are living in an information ghetto, he said in Cairo Egypt they could get Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, CNN, CBS, MSNBC, The BBC and FOX. He went on to say our coverage of war is highly sanitized, mostly showing blown up buildings and turning the reporters in to celebrities. The mideast sees it all, they do not hold back on the effects of war, they show the blown up and burned bodies as part of their news. As the vast majority of the American People do not see the actual effects; the blood and the gore, they do not understand why the Middle Eastern People are so angry with them. In the Middle East, they become frustrated because they know the American People are being brain washed by what passes for our free press.

[jayfish]

69. As Bad As I Remember It Being...

, although I might check it out again, I would have to say Freejack. Especially along the lines of class stratification (or lack thereof) the use of private armies and unbridled corporate power.

Jay

[Beacho]

70. Harry Harrisons' Make Room! Make Room!

or the movie called Soylent Green. I think a lot of the disasters we're seeing today are cuased by overpopulation.

[Strelnikov_]

86. Highly Recommended. Much Deeper Than The Movie

Although the movie was a good adaptation, it presented a more optimistic view of the future than the book.

In Harrison's New York, there is probably not enough central authority left to operate a Soylent plant.

[Lisa]

72. "A Scientific Romance" -- Ronald Wright

The author, an anthropologist, has also written nonfiction commentary on our society, politics, and the environment. He is definitely critical of Bush.

[pitohui]

79. the gold coast by kim stanley robinson

hole. in. one.

the other books you named are good books and movies but this one as far as accuracy blows them all away

[lumberjack_jeff]

80. Gattaca

[Throd]

83. Fahrenheit 451

[steely]

85. Ya gotta think "Silent Running"

from IMDb:
"The loner crew member of a spaceship harbouring Earth's last nature reserves goes renegade when he is instructed to jettison his beloved forests and return home."

edit: some aspects anyway

[Strelnikov_]

87. Ready For The Buzz Kill Of The Day . . .

"On The Beach" by Nevil Shute

On edit: The unwritten prequel, of course.

[niallmac]

96. Saw that when I was a kid. Gave me a solid foundation

for all my subsequent A Bomb night terrors.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

88. Maybe it doesn't qualify

as "science fiction" and it's never been made into a movie (although I think it should) but I think "It Can't Happen Here" comes very close.

And thanks for posting!! I've written down 10 books to check into at the library.

[readmoreoften]

89. Goddamned Stepford Wives /nt

[Dragonfly]

91. "They Live" with

it's only flaw, IMO, the long-drawn-out fight scene between the two main protagonists. It's the movie with "the sunglasses" that can see thru the societal brainwashing to the evil aliens posing as "humans" pushing us all to "consume" and "obey." The musical score throughout was kinda funky jazz, too.

[gate of the sun]

93. radio free albemoth

by Phillip K Dick

[Liberal_Dog]

94. Logan's Run

Both the book and the movie.

The Government was a dictatorship(run by a computer-- ours is run by Dick Cheney). Pretty close.

The population was provided with all the sex and drugs they desired in order to keep them passive and compliant.(our population is controlled by infotainment and reality TV).

All citizens were executed at age 21(book) or age 30(movie). Our young people are going to be sent to die in these insane corporate wars.

[everythingsxen]

95. No one mentioned the #1 show in the whole wide world?

THE RUNNING MAN!!!

Who loves you and who do you love?

http://www.horrorlair.com/scripts/runningman.txt


By 2017 the world economy has collapsed. Food, natural resources and
oil are in short supply. A police state, divided into paramilitary
zones, rules with an iron hand. Television is controlled by the state
and a sadistic game show called "The Running Man" has become the most
popular program in history. All art, music and communications are
censored. No dissent is tolerated and yet a small resistance movement
has managed to survive underground. When high-tech gladiators are not
enough to suppress the people's yearning for freedom......more direct
methods become necessary.

[SkyIsGrey]

97. Equilibrium.

Synopsis from Wikpedia.

Following an apocalyptic Third World War, the strict government of the dystopian city-state Libria has eliminated war by suppressing all human emotion. In the monochromatic and sedate society, artifacts from the old world (works of art and music that may evoke some emotion) are destroyed and the population is required to take sedatives. Grammaton Cleric Preston, a man trained to locate and arrest those guilty of feeling emotions, finds himself abandoning the drug and experiencing outlawed feelings. As he struggles to conceal his feelings from his superiors, colleagues, and family, Preston finds himself drawn into a sinister world of double-crossings and lies, and becomes an unwitting pawn in a sophisticated plot which ultimately changes the repressed society forever.

[TrogL]

98. Kafka - the trial