Is it just me, or does anyone else feel that since this disaster-of-an-election “race” began, way too long ago, that what has transpired since January 15th, 2024 (Trump’s winning of the Iowa primary), was written expressly for a futuristic and dystopian movie, or multi-episode docudrama? That is exactly how I was feeling exactly eight months later, when on the evening of September 15th, I opened my phone and was greeted with the news of a second, unsuccessful assassination attempt of Trump. As soon as I read the news snippet, what popped into my head were Joe (Luke Wilson) and Rita (Maya Rudolph), pictured above, from Mike Judge’s 2006 film, Idiocracy. Joe, an army librarian and Rita, a prostitute, are chosen to undergo a government hibernation experiment. They are chosen because Joe was considered to be the “most average individual in the armed forces,” and lacking a suitable female companion, the military pays off a pimp for Rita’s services. During the 500 years they are in “hibernation,” average intelligence “decreases due to societal expectations, discouraging well-educated individuals from having children as the less-educated reproduce indiscriminately; genetic engineering is forgone in favor of hair loss and erectile disfunction treatments. As a result, infrastructure deteriorates, low comedy and vulgarity defines culture, and consumerism is left unfettered.” They are woken up 500 years later, because of a “garbage avalanche,” in a dystopian and anti-intellectual society. Hmm. Does any of this sound vaguely familiar? I feel this last sentence also works without the vaguely!
The reason it has taken me over a month since that evening to put pen to paper is directly related to a “garbage avalanche” of a different sort: social media garbage, written garbage, advertising garbage, and direct email garbage, just to name a few. Consider, if you will, what has transpired since January 15th: Trump challengers dropping out of the “race,” defamation lawsuits, hush money trial, fraud trial, Mitch McConnell steps down, Musk’s first brain reading device is implanted into a person (no not Trump, although the fact that what has been read by the device cannot be deciphered does make one wonder!) . . . Hey, we are still in February. Supreme Court rulings, State of the Union address (Biden: “I’m not old”), Pence refuses to endorse Trump, fraud trial conviction, Hunter Biden trial and conviction, first debate (Trump vs Biden), Biden interview about his cognitive abilities, 1st Trump assassination attempt, J.D Vance chosen as Trump’s V.P. candidate, Trump accepts the Republican nomination, Biden drops out and endorses Kamala Harris, Harris chooses Tim Waltz as V.P. candidate, Harris accepts the Democratic nomination, 2nd debate (Trump vs. Harris), cats and dogs are being eaten by immigrants, 2nd assassination attempt. This is an abbreviated tally: otherwise, this would end up being 30 pages long! I am not suggesting that any of these “happenings” are garbage, however much of what is out there for mass consumption about any of the above could certainly be considered garbage. But all of this is really a moot point, as everyone has by now made up their minds, and the final push to convert the so-called “undecideds” is, as far as I am concerned, all smoke and mirrors. Undecided! I’m sorry, but that is literally impossible. And so here “we” are with one week to go… tick, tick, tick.
Enough of that. Let’s get back to the movie, either the one mentioned above, or the one “we” are in. The main theme of Idiocracy is that of a dystopian society based on dysgenics, which refers to “any decrease in the prevalence of traits deemed to be either socially desirable or generally adaptive to their environment due to selective pressure (concerning reproductive success) disfavoring their reproduction.” In other words, it is “the tendency for traits that are not considered socially desirable or beneficial to the environment to be passed on more often. This can happen when selective pressure favors the reproduction of less well-adapted individuals, such as those who are weak or diseased,” the exact opposite of eugenics. The topic of dysgenics has been dealt with before, most famously in H.G. Wells’ 1895 novel, Time Machine, that postulates a “society of humans which has devolved due to lack of challenges.” It is also broached in Aldus Huxley’s 1932 novel, Brave New World, where the “Epsilon-minus Semi-morons” “have been intentionally bred to provide a low-grade workforce.”
There was a great deal of controversy surrounding the film because of its content and the picture it was painting of this country. There was also flak from the corporations that gave their permission to be used in the film for the usual reasons, until they realized they were being negatively portrayed, but by then it was too late. For example, Starbucks employees were giving customers hand jobs, and Costco greeters were depicted using a very monotone voice saying: “Welcome to Costco, we love you.” Ten years after its release, the film’s legacy is front and center. During the 2016 Republican Party Presidential Primaries, the film’s co-writer, Ethan Cohen, and others commented that the film’s “predictions were converging on accuracy.” Mike Judge not only agreed with this but went on to compare the Republican Party nominee, Donald Trump, to the film’s pro-wrestler turned president, Camacho (played by Terry Crews). When Judge was asked about predicting the future, he quipped: “I’m no prophet, I was off by 490 years.” In September of 2016, Dave Trombore, writing for Collider, an entertainment website, published: “Is Donald Trump the Herald of ‘Idiocracy?’” He used the following photos:
Well, it’s 2024 and here we go again. Judging from what we’ve seen thus far leading up to Election Day, Judge’s pro-wrestler analogy appears to be spot on. We had Hulk Hogan’s appearance at the RNC, and the recent “rally” at MSG, and Trump’s appearance on “The Undertakers” podcast. Could one say that this is a perfect example of life imitating art? Most definitely, but perhaps a more poignant question is: Does any of this really matter? If your response to this is: “Hell yes,” then you are in one of the two “camps,” because it should be painfully evident by now that those in the other camp don’t give a flying fuck about any of the attacks, negativity, hundreds and hundreds of articles, countless minutes of air and screen time that have devoted themselves to telling us how deranged, unhinged, cognitively impaired, dangerous, narcissistic, racist, etc., etc., etc., all telling us what will happen if Trump is elected yet again. They don’t care. This is their guy, period. One only needs to look at some of the comments on any of the numerous posts about the racist comic who opened the proceedings at MSG the other night, especially regarding his “joke” about Puerto Rico. Yes, many people were appalled, but others sloughed it off as just a joke and don’t understand why everyone is so upset about it.
So, who do you think I should cast for “Idiocracy: The WTFquel?” As much as I shudder at the thought, it may be coming to a theater near you soon!
Los Angeles 2024