Let’s face facts – it’s almost 2015 and we still don’t have hoverboards. We may
never have them.
Now that we’ve got that depressing thought out of the way, it’s time to focus on the fact that movies don’t always lie. Occasionally they’re so on the money it’s a little scary.
So, stock up on canned goods and put the kids in the minivan, here is the Lifelounge guide to movies that have predicted the future.
Digital cityscapes – Blade Runner
In 1982 Ripley Scott’s vision of the future included smoggy cities that were lit up by artificial, flashing billboards, with every inch of the city saturated by advertisements. “LOL! Weird!” said the audience. Today Ridley could set up a camcorder in Tokyo / New York / London and get a pretty similar result.
HAL – 2001: Space Odyssey
Kubrik wanted HAL (the computer who controls the Discovery One mission to Jupiter) to have intelligence and emotional responses similar to humans, and to help them with everyday tasks. Um, SIRI anyone? She’s like a baby HAL!
Reality TV – The Truman Show
In 1998 Reality TV was a concept in its infancy, and was nowhere near as prolific / mind-fuckingly awesome as it is today. Even though everyone agreed that watching Truman’s life play out on screen was kinda gross, Big Brother debuted a year later and the world ate it up with a fork and spoon. Huh.
CCTV – 1984
If you live in a city like London, you can be pretty sure that when you’re in a public place Big Brother is watching you. It’s more about crime prevention than catching out thoughtcrime, but still.
Skype – Back to the Future II
Well, this film promised a whole lot about the future that hasn’t come to fruition. (We forgive you, Marty McFly!) One thing it did predict however is the video-phone, which in 1989 seemed like the zaniest invention ever.
Genetic selection – Gattaca
Even though Andrew Nicchol made
Gattaca as a reaction to the ‘do now, ask questions later’ nature of genetic technology, it seems that these issues are even more relevant now than in 1997. Another topical issue: Ethan Hawke, douche or non-douche?
Wikileaks – The Matrix
This may be a tenuous one, but go with us for a second: Neo is searching for classified information on the internet, advertises ‘secrets’ and ‘mysteries’ that a higher power doesn’t want him to reveal, and gets pursued by the authorities for it... does that sound a little Assange to anyone else? No?
3D Holograms – Star Wars
Remember all those times that characters would chat to each other in a hologram beam, like some sort of 3D phone call? Now remember during the US Presidential elections when CNN beamed a hologram of will.i.am? For some reason?
Icecaps melting – Waterwold
“Wow, the sea levels are rising! The polar ice caps are melting! Everyone is fucked!” – viewers of
Waterwold in 1995 / viewers of the news in 2011.
The fall of Wall Street and American debt, the rise of China as a financial superpower, the US running out of oil and the collapse of the USSR – Americathon
THIS FILM WAS MADE IN 1979. WTF.