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Have I mentioned how much I like the film "Idiocracy"? - One person's lack of compassion does not equal another's comfort.
One person's lack of comprehension does not equal another's consent.
This morning I looked it up on IMDB for the first time ever and found a review (quoted behind the cut) which at first I felt was rather harsh. Then I realized that it explains why not everyone seems to appreciate it as much as I do. I think the reason I like it, is that I'm not really a big "movie person". I like light hearted romantic comedies.. which this one could be described as, actually, or films which explore some aspect of our culture and civilization, or as in the case of this film, a profound question such as what is likely to be the result of our failure to consciously examine our culture culture is likely to bring us to.

I have no doubt in my mind that just as animals can be bred for endurance, speed, agility, intelligence, or obedience, that the outcome of generations of humans breeding the most from the dumbest we have to offer could very well lead to a world a great deal dumber than the one depicted here. I feel this film is positively optimistic, and it has to be, because if it were totally realistic it would just be too depressing. This film raises a very good point, and I sincerely hope that some of the more intelligent people in our culture see this film and choose not to postpone having children.

19 out of 26 people found the following comment useful:-
Not so bad, 1 September 2006 7/10
Author: C4Lukin from United States

There is a lot wrong with this film. I will not lie. I will say that most of the problems feel like they stem from a budget that was chopped out from underneath the flick, and some bad hack job editing.

This is not Office Space. Do not go in expecting Office Space levels of comedy. It is very funny though. It is a mess, but very funny at the same time. A funny mess of a film. In the way that Caddyshack is funny. A mess of unrelated funny scenes filled with some very annoying unfunny scenes.

It works as a whole though, and it certainly deserves a wide release. This is the best commentary on the Wal Mart/ Starbucks/ MTV nation you could hope for. The very fact that a film is exploring the idea that dumb people are breeding at an alarming rate while the intelligent people are not, is great in my book. Not very politically correct but worth at least some debate.


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amazon_42 From: amazon_42 Date: June 5th, 2007 05:19 am (UTC) (Link)
My problem with Idiocracy was that I kept expecting to find out that there was some secret colony of Smart Faggy People. Otherwise, who would the "normal" people be making fun of?

Also, who's making the TV's? Someone has to make the and maintain the automating machines to make electronics, especially that tattooing system. Who's filming, editing, and producing "Ow, My Balls"? Who's running the simulcast big screens, timing the special effects, and building bigass cars for "Rehabilitation Night"?

But, the individual bits were worth it. Especially that intro.

I LOVED the Pavlovian hand motion to "electrolytes" in the circular "Brondo/what plants crave" argument. OMG I was dying. Every time we see, Gatorade, we do that hand thing and say "It's got electrolytes! It's got what plants crave!"
fixx From: fixx Date: June 5th, 2007 08:59 am (UTC) (Link)
Such questions as who was making and maintaining the technology weren't an issue for me because in every generation there have been a few more and a few less intelligent people, an even then the hero of our story only had to be the most intelligent man on earth, (or at least in the US), but maybe not that much more intelligent than the people who were building the televisions or repairing the vending machines.

It also stands to reason that just as today, the cultural practices in some countries would result in breeding a lower percentage of really stupid people. It also stands to reason that if you lived in a country where the your the GNP were devices like televisions, cameras, broadcast equipment etc., you'd do whatever it took to ensure that your country continued to produce people intelligent enough to continue to make that product, even if that were accomplished by euthanizing those not intelligent enough to do so.

It also stands to reason that if your country's people were among the few in the world capable of operating said equipment you'd train a few in foreign languages to ship around the world to operate said equipment. Such people might actually be more intelligent than our hero, but being citizens of a third world nation they might not be in a position to affect American political and agricultural issues.

Come to think of it, that's not very different from what we have now. America does an amazing amount of stupid, insensitive and generally "politically incorrect" things which citizens of other nations as well as their political representatives recognize but are unable to do anything about.

As for the tattooing system it is pretty clear that it didn't work so well. For example, it failed to execute any such qualifiers as to whether the person being tattooed needed to be tattooed, hence the recorded name "Sure, Not".

The smart faggy people probably never made it to adulthood. Look at the gay-bashing culture we have right now and multiply it by five. As was recently pointed out there are countries today where family members sentence their daughter's to being kicked and stoned death for as much as talking to a member of the wrong religion.

The big-ass cars are not that much more amazing than the little electric cars that automatically laser scan their passengers UPC codes for identity. I don't think this movie is really about such incredibly stupid people as much as it is about what happens when you have a culture predominantly made up of people whose IQ isn't all that high combined with a culture which does not value applying the IQ we actually do have.

Thanks for pointing out the Pavlovian hand motion. I'll have to practice that. Maybe I can promote it mumsfs member handshake or something.
amazon_42 From: amazon_42 Date: June 6th, 2007 02:43 am (UTC) (Link)
Hmm. Try putting it with a jingle. Unless there's some way you can always be there with candy to back it up.
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