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Elysium’s Director Thinks His Hellish Paradise Is Our Future
- dmead 13y agohow long until science fiction set in the slums of south africa gets recognized for being formulaic?
- cobrausn 13y agoThe slums in the movie are supposed to be Los Angeles, circa 2154.
- sp332 13y agoIn case you missed it, like I almost did: there is a little "Page 2" link way at the bottom. http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/07/blomkamp-elysium/2/ http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/07/blomkamp-elysium/2/
- crusso 13y agoThe trailer looks like an OWS supporter took every 1 percenter and anti-immigration trope in the book, added a bunch of explosions and called it a "film". I really hope the actual movie is more nuanced in the politics it looks like it's trying to shove down our throats.
- Zikes 13y agoClass warfare is not so uncommon a plot device. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, just sit back and enjoy the ride.
- cantankerous 13y agoThat's a pretty sweet expression. I may have to borrow it for myself. Do you know who said it originally?
- Zikes 13y agoApparently the origin is somewhat contested, but generally it's attributed to Sigmund Freud.
- MartinCron 13y agoAs a quote, it really only works when attributed to Freud.
- wetmore 13y agoYour comment makes it quite clear you haven't actually _read_ the article. > The director finds it unfortunate that observers are already drawing parallels between Elysium and the Occupy movement, a phenomenon that he says wasn’t even a consideration. Blomkamp identifies as neither liberal nor conservative, which doesn’t stop people from ascribing all sorts of agendas to him and his films. and > But Blomkamp insists Elysium isn’t some sort of filmic Paul Krugman op-ed piece. It’s important for him that his movies grapple with things that matter, in this case economic disparity, immigration, health care, corporate greed. But he disdains prescription-happy “message” movies—that’s what documentaries are for, he says—and intends Elysium to be first and foremost a mass-appeal, summer popcorn flick. Allegory, satire, and dark humor interest him; providing pat answers to society’s woes does not. “Anybody who thinks they can change the world by making films,” he says, “is sorely mistaken.”
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- namespace 13y agoIn a parallel, HG Wells too imagined a society with two diverged class of human species. One serves as the prey and other as predator.
- riggins 13y agoa) District 9 was a great movie both as entertainment and as something to think about b) having grown up in South Africa, Blomkamp may have some unique insights about human nature. it's certainly interesting to contemplate what's going to happen.
- nephronim 13y agoStill looking forward to the movie.
- cryptoz 13y agoThe future as described in 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson I think is more likely, perhaps scarier even, and taken to levels beyond Elysium (though don't get me wrong, I'm very excited for Elysium). 2312 is a future where many generations of people have lived on colonies on Mercury, Venus, Mars, hollowed-out asteroids ("terraria"), the outer moons. The spacers live in a new paradigm, not a rich paradise like Elysium, but a very pleasant, long and happy life, while those who inhabit the Earth live in a warring, diseased, overpopulated and climate-change-disaster struck Earth. I think the crowd here would like this book. You should read it.
- jgh 13y agoI tried getting into it, but found it a little on the slow side. Perhaps it was because I had just read Leviathan Wakes directly before it, which is a lot more fast-paced and similarly covers human colonization of the inner solar system and asteroid belt (aka "Belters")
- cryptoz 13y agoReading the Mars Trilogy first is probably a good idea, because it sets the pace: the hard science fiction nature of these books means you get long technical descriptions and character analysis. It's awesome, I think, but you definitely have to get in the right zone.
- loceng 13y agoIf current systems and economics stayed the way they are, then I imagine that it has a higher probability of being true. I foresee those economic structures shifting / changing though.
- eps 13y agoI don't really care for the story line, but finally somebody worked a high-quality render of a full-scale rotating habitat into a movie! Always wanted to see how that might look since Rendezvous with Rama and Hamilton's books.
- fireflash38 13y agoElysium doesn't sound too different from the book Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. They both do sound like very possible futures for the human race.
- znowi 13y agoPlease, NO SPOILERS! A lot of people haven't seen it yet :)
- untothebreach 13y agoI don't think it's out yet?
- gnosis 13y agoWay back in 1984 (starting with Neuromancer), William Gibson wrote about an orbiting space station owned by the super-rich.[1] (WARNING: Spoilers below) "Tessier-Ashpool is a fictional family appearing in William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy novels. The family owns Freeside, a space station shaped like a spindle Bernal sphere constructed in high orbit. The family resides in the Villa Straylight, which occupies one end of the spindle. The family is organized and run as a corporation, Tessier-Ashpool S.A.. Family members are kept under cryogenic stasis and thawed out periodically so that governance of the family is cycled between members. According to "orbital law" they are legally dead while cryogenically preserved. ... The Tessier-Ashpools were founded with the marriage of scions of two powerful families: Marie-France Tessier, who was Swiss and John Harness Ashpool, an Australian who inherited a Melbourne engineering company. After the two were married, Ashpool began construction of Freeside in high orbit due to the relatively relaxed laws governing construction. The family became extremely successful financially, developing the attached space station, sponsoring human colonization of space, and acquiring a number of other firms which subsequently flourished. ... However, following the death of Marie-France, the family became extremely reclusive. Family members, including Ashpool, tended to place themselves in cryogenic sleep. At any one given time, only one or two of the children would be awake. They are also known for cloning their own assassins, "vat-grown" ninja who follow their orders without question. ... By the time of Neuromancer the family has become extremely degenerate and dysfunctional. The patriarch Ashpool spends almost all of his time in cryogenic stasis. A dissolute alcoholic and heavy drug user, when he is awakened for the final time he has sex with and subsequently murders a clone of his daughter prior to committing suicide." [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessier_Ashpool https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessier_Ashpool
- scotty79 13y agoI highly recomend http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_in_Spain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_in_Spain You can find there rich and poor, genetic modifications only rich can afford, one (lack of the need to sleep) so special that it reshapes world. You can find there universal income as payment for voting. You can find philosophy of exchange through voluntary mutually beneficial contracts promoted by such influential inventor that it raises to the same eminence buddism has. Awesome read.
- vineel 13y agoThe picture in the article is confusing me. What's going on with his hand?