“Next on the Violence Channel, an all-new Ow! My Balls!”
Forget Nostradamus, because this movie told the real prophecy…
Idiocracy tells the story of a soldier (Luke Wilson) who was supposed to be frozen for a year in a new type of technology, but actually ends up waking up 500 years later.
In the year 2505, America has become a barren wasteland, with the population increasingly unhealthy, the television filled with mindless reality TV and violence, the IQ has taken a nose-dive and the President is a reality TV star who is more concerned with entertaining value than, y’know, keeping the country running.
Clip via Solomon Sloan
Released in cinemas in 2006, Idiocracy died a death at the box office, as the tiny $4 million budget made less than a half-a-million return worldwide.
Despite coming from director Mike Judge (Office Space, Silicon Valley, Beavis & Butthead, King Of The Hill) and the movie getting generally very good reviews, the company behind the comedy had no idea how to sell it – ironically, they thought the movie about people getting stupid was too smart for general audiences – but thankfully it picked up a cult following after a few years.
And then President Trump arrived.
Writer Etan Cohen (Men In Black 3, Get Hard, Tropic Thunder) was as surprised as anyone when it turned out his screenplay had more in common with a fortune cookie than could have imagined…
I never expected #idiocracy to become a documentary.
— Etan Cohen (@etanjc) February 24, 2016
Later adding “I thought the worst thing that would come true was everyone wearing Crocs.”
The folks at both Collider and the National Post put together a fantastic long-read on the several predictions the movie had accurately made, which we fully recommend you read right, as they go into just how accurate the depictions of everything from police brutality to news reporters have actually become.
Writer and director Mike Judge told The Daily Beast: “I didn’t want Idiocracy to get popular by the world getting stupider faster. I guess I was 450 years off! But yeah, it’s a tad bit scary!”
Same goes for President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho himself, as actor Terry Crews told Time: “I look now, and I go, ‘Holy cow, these people are actually talking about each other’s wives.’ It’s not politics. It’s like ‘Yo mama,'” he said. “The cult of masculinity has gone amok. What he is saying is, ‘I will beat you down and take your women.'”
See if you can spot any similarities yourself when Idiocracy airs on Film 4 on Friday 19 January at 9pm.
And just remember that Trump once took part in a Wrestlemania for “Battle Of The Billionaires”. Keep that in mind the next time you’re discussing the pros and cons of the leader of the free world…
Clip via WWE
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
