# What's the name of the film set in a future where everyone's dumb? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508 "2008-10-11T20:19:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/41 "2008-10-12T20:50:16Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I don’t know about the others but, I see the bit at the start where the intelligent career couple keep putting off having kids, while the redneck family is popping them out as at least a _little_ reperesentative of what seems to happen in society. I see it in Britain as the low income family with fourteen kids and the professional family has two, one, none. Further to this… I do notice, and have noticed for years, a very deliberate ‘dumbing down’ of the general public - for example anything that might be difficult to understand for ‘the masses’ is often taken out of films. or drastically over-simplified in the media. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/42 "2008-10-12T21:09:49Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Further to this… I do notice, and have noticed for years, a very deliberate ‘dumbing down’ of the general public - for example anything that might be difficult to understand for ‘the masses’ is often taken out of films. or drastically over-simplified in the media. That’s just selection bias. You may believe that the seventies in film were all about ‘Clockwork Orange’ and ‘The Godfather’ because you don’t want to remember ‘Death Race 2000’. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/43 "2008-10-12T21:27:35Z")
When I saw it I thought it would be one of those stories where there was an elite group secretly running things. Because I couldn’t understand how the populace could keep everything running. I seem to remember a scene at a hospital admitting desk where the clerk had a keyboard with buttons for each possible complaint. Someone had to design that system. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/44 "2008-10-12T21:33:43Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > When I saw it I thought it would be one of those stories where there was an elite group secretly running things. Because I couldn’t understand how the populace could keep everything running. I seem to remember a scene at a hospital admitting desk where the clerk had a keyboard with buttons for each possible complaint. Someone had to design that system. I was thinking it was a system left over from when the world still had a few clever people. You’ll also notice in the film that Buildings have fallen over, trash is piling up. Suggesting a world finally given over to the dumb people who can’t run it. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/45 "2008-10-12T21:43:40Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > When I saw it I thought it would be one of those stories where there was an elite group secretly running things. Because I couldn’t understand how the populace could keep everything running. I seem to remember a scene at a hospital admitting desk where the clerk had a keyboard with buttons for each possible complaint. Someone had to design that system. When I was young I worked as a cashier. I started at 14 at a local supermarket. They had regular cash registers with numbers on the keys. They also didn’t make change. By the time I was in High School, it was a fast food. There were no numbers, only the word ‘french fries’ and a cute little symbolic representation of a french fry and such on the keys. There was a number pad. But it only had denominations. $1, $5, $20, 1c, 5c. . . and we didn’t make change. We keyed the money handed to us in and the machine slid the change out to the customer. Someone designed that too. But it was for us High Schoolers who were the idiots. When whoever designed that machine dies, they’ll only be the dolts left to run it. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/46 "2008-10-12T22:06:02Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > When I saw it I thought it would be one of those stories where there was an elite group secretly running things. Because I couldn’t understand how the populace could keep everything running. I seem to remember a scene at a hospital admitting desk where the clerk had a keyboard with buttons for each possible complaint. Someone had to design that system. I thought about that too, but it seemed even the scientists had gotten dumbed down. For instance, the people who make Brawndo seemed to still be fairly intelligent in ways, but mostly motivated by profit. You don’t want to get beaten up for being a fag, and I notice even today you don’t see many scientists getting elected president or anything, much less secretly running things. Are scientists and engineers really all that smart, or just scientists and engineers? Check out the “hit” show The Big Bang Theory. Those people are supposedly geniuses but primarily interested in Star Trek and boobies. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/47 "2008-10-12T22:15:54Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > When I saw it I thought it would be one of those stories where there was an elite group secretly running things. Because I couldn’t understand how the populace could keep everything running. I seem to remember a scene at a hospital admitting desk where the clerk had a keyboard with buttons for each possible complaint. Someone had to design that system. That’s a direct steal from C.M. Kornbluth’s story “The Little Black Bag” and the movie as a whole is a steal from Kornbluth’s story “The Marching Morons.” I’m not saying they violated copyright, just that if you’d set out to make a film using the society predicted by Kornbluth’s stories, it would look one hell of a lot like Idiocracy, in all likelihood. Now I’m off to watch _Ass._ Now, THERE’S a funny movie! ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/48 "2008-10-13T00:14:25Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > I have to buy some [Brawndo](http://www.brawndo.com/) one of these days. It’s got what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes. I’ve had some. Hell, I had a can in my cube during my last job. It had an origami crown and a Post-It Note exclaiming that it was, in fact, King Brawndo III. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/49 "2008-10-13T01:41:58Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > That’s a direct steal from C.M. Kornbluth’s story “The Little Black Bag” and the movie as a whole is a steal from Kornbluth’s story “The Marching Morons.” I’m not saying they violated copyright, just that if you’d set out to make a film using the society predicted by Kornbluth’s stories, it would look one hell of a lot like Idiocracy, in all likelihood. The fact that they did not give Kornbluth any credit was the one major flaw of the movie. The influence of “The Marching Morons” is absolutely clear and the parallels are so close that it’s unlikely in the extreme that Mike Judge was unaware of the story. He should have acknowledged it at some point. Otherwise, the movie is a great one. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/50 "2008-10-13T01:49:02Z")
Not a great movie. A fun movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/51 "2008-10-13T02:40:31Z")
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. …and being pretentious ass or not, evidence is delivered every day on a silver platter that I’m getting smarter and smarter and smarter. me: \ cashier: \ I can’t give this to her for 25% off. She’ll get it for free! me: \ ---
**Author:** ![DarRRva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/53a042/32.png) [@DarRRva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarRRva)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/52 "2008-10-13T06:54:58Z")
I just liked the line about going “family style” on the hooker. That line made the movie for me. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/53 "2008-10-13T15:24:07Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s a funny movie, but I do get sick of people who make statements like “we are living it” or “it’s a documentary”. You don’t sound clever, you sound like a pretentous dork. On average people are actually better educated and more informed, not less. I mean what? You think people were smarter and more tolerant in the 70s or 80s? I’m the one who said “we are living it” so I guess I’ve been called a “pretentous dork”…thanks. We should hang out sometime! It was just, you know, humor and all that, not a serious fact-based statement about the current state of education in our country. Doctor - “Don’t worry scrote. There are plenty of 'tards out there living really kick ass lives. My first wife was 'tarded. She’s a pilot now.” “The years passed, mankind became stupider at a frightening rate. Some had high hopes the genetic engineering would correct this trend in evolution, but sadly the greatest minds and resources where focused on conquering hair loss and prolonging erections.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/54 "2008-10-14T02:23:06Z")
So, apparently I’m the only one who first thought of the final segment from **The Time Machine**? (The '60’s original starring Rod Taylor, not the crappy remake from a few years ago.) [Idiocracy-worthy hijack] You know what’d make a great gore film? Morlocks vs. zombies, that’s what. Since the morlocks are intelligent (not like those dumb blond eloi), just to even things up I’d make the zombies fast runners, a la the _Dawn_ remake, but not smart-ish, as in the _Land_ remake. [/Iwh] ---
**Author:** ![petew83](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@petew83](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petew83)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/55 "2008-10-14T04:26:28Z")
It seemed like Wall-e took quite a bit from Idiocracy ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/56 "2008-10-14T04:37:58Z")
Another vote for not that good. It was fun, but the dialect stuff was pretty :rolleyes:. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/57 "2008-10-14T05:02:07Z")
I’d vote for homo sapiens definitely sliding backwards on the developmental scale. My 15 year old stepson is enrolled in various “honors” classes in school. Over the course of the last 3 years incredible ignorance has been revealed. Examples: He had no idea what Astronomy is. He didn’t know what “weld” means. Holocaust? What’s that? Incredible. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508/58 "2008-10-14T05:07:07Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > So, apparently I’m the only one who first thought of the final segment from **The Time Machine**? Not to be confused, of course, with the Time Masheen. (And then came the UN to unnazify the world…) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-the-film-set-in-a-future-where-everyones-dumb/467508.md?page=2)