Dystopian

Brazil (1985)

It’s not just a philosophy teacher’s fever dream. Brazil, directed and co-written by Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam, has a lot to say about technology, bureaucracy, and loss of individual freedom between scenes of intestinal air ducts and suits full of sewage. There’s stuff we did and didn’t like, but I think we can all appreciate seeing Jonathan Pryce in one of his few leading roles. Grab your annotated copy of 1984 and settle in for this light sci-fi, absurdist criticism of society.

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Gattaca (1997)

What are the answers to the challenging questioned raised by the possibility of genetic selection? Who should decide whether it’s legal and to what ends it’s employed? What is Jude Law hiding by not showing full frontal on screen? These are just some of the questions we attempt to answer as we consider Andrew Niccol’s 1997 genetic dystopia movie, Gattaca.

A big thank you to Josh H for commissioning this podcast!

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Children of Men (2006)

Children of Men is a fondly-remembered, dystopian, science fiction thriller about the end of humanity, from Alfonso Cuarón’s mid-2000’s filmography. A.Ron has never seen it. Jim saw it once many years ago and enjoyed it but wasn’t blown away. What do we think of it over a decade later? Check out the podcast to find out.

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