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Top 14 Worst Dystopian Futures To Live In

Top 14 Worst Dystopian Futures To Live In

 

Article by: Geek Girl Zelda

Geek Girl Zelda made this list of her 'Top 14 Worst Dystopian Futures To Live In'...
Dystopian and false utopian films, comics, games and books has been one of my favorite genres for a long time. I've always found it fascinating all the different scenarios in which the world may end, and in some cases, begin again. Man-made and natural disasters, zombie outbreaks, gas shortage, nuclear warfare, drought, hunger, disease, government control and politics, drugs, robots and technology, aliens, monsters, cosmic or divine intervention – There is no end to the speculation! With that in mind, I thought about some of the Dystopian futures that I would be least happy to find myself in. This isn't to say that any of these are bad franchises – in fact, I love many of them! Just wouldn't want to live there.

14. I am Legend (2007)

A genetically engineered virus meant as a cure for cancer mutates into a lethal strain, turning all of mankind into a fast, intelligent, zombie-like creature. After watching his wife and daughter die in a helicopter crash during quarantine, Will Smith and the family dog eventually become the only known survivors of the outbreak. He spends months alone sending radio broadcasts in hope of finding any other survivors, foraging for food and protecting himself from the “darkseekers.” I wouldn't want to be the only surviving human against any horde of zombies, let alone fast, intelligent ones – that's a future I'm happy to miss. At least all the infected were voiced by Mike Patton.

Dystopian Futures
He's a lot scarier than he looks.

13. Sliders (1995-2000)

Dystopian Futures

A team of science majors and professors (and one innocent bystander) unlock the code to travel between parallel universes and become stuck “sliding” between them. A vortex opens at a pre-set time on each world, which the team has to make it to in time or risk being stranded in the current universe an arbitrary 29.7 years. The team only just gets to become used to the alternate-history post Vietnam world before being warped into a “Holy shit killer wasp spiders!” universe only to be immediately sent into another universe where dinosaurs still exist. They never have a chance to fully get used to any universe they inhabit and they constantly have to live with fear of the unknown – at least in some of these other dystopian universes you know what to expect! The worst for me would be sliding into a world that I still existed in, and having to have creepy doppelganger experiences with myself. Ok, no, the worst is still the giant robot wasp spiders. At least Gimli is there to protect you (you didn't know he was such a giant, did you?)

Dystopian Futures
Oh god noooo why!

12. Gattaca (1997)

Dystopian Futures

When our DNA can be engineered to create perfect children, natural born humans are now considered to be lower class. Companies have access to your genetic makeup and hiring decisions are made solely based on what they find. And you'll never be an astronaut no matter how much you want to be, little Ethan Hawke! Unless you are willing to go through incredibly painful, expensive and time-consuming procedures to make believe you are someone from better stock. Better make sure you don't so much as lose an eyelash, and to scrub the dead skin cells off your body every day, or you might be found out! Being motivated or talented in this world plays no part in your place in it – so if you are born to parents who can't afford the eugenics, you are pretty much shit out of luck.

Dystopian Futures
At least people in this future are sharply dressed.

11. Judge Dredd (1977-Present)

Dystopian Futures

Whether the universe of the original 2000 AD comics, the 1995 Sylvester Stallone portrayal, or the most recent 2012 movie, the Dredd universe is never one I want to live in. Besides most of the world being an uninhabitable wasteland, the rest of it is all mega City Blocks. Can you imagine living in a small apartment in an essentially neverending, homogenized cityscape? Never being able to see any other terrain, and with hundreds upon thousands of neighbors on every side of you? Extensive automation has rendered humanity to be mostly useless, so the majority of people are unemployed and exist only to clog up the mega-cities. Crime is rampant everywhere, and when you aren't worrying about getting stabbed or robbed or in the middle of gang-war, at least you only have to worry about Judge Dredd.

Dystopian Futures
“Littering in MY city? That's 5 years imprisonment. AYEEEAHMDALAW.”

Dystopian Futures
Also, Rob Schneider was there.

10. Demolition Man (1993)

Dystopian Futures

All restaurants are Taco Bell, meat, smoking, drinking, sex, and swearing are all outlawed, everyone still dresses like the 80's, commercials are the only popular music, and you have to wipe your ass with 3 seashells. This future makes the list because it sounds like one of the most boring futures imaginable and everyone is treated like they need a babysitter and are incapable of making their own decisions – it is essentially like living in a nerd world until Stallone and Snipes come and blow everything to hell.

Dystopian Futures
Rob Schneider and Sylvestor Stallone, unstoppable 90's Dystopian duo.

9. In Time (2011)

Dystopian Futures

In the year 2169, time itself is used as a currency. The people in the poor districts literally live day by day, constantly struggling to find enough time to make it to the next day. The cost of living is raised often in order to kill the lower class and give more time to the upper class, essentially making them immortal. Of course, they can still be killed accidentally, so the upper class is just a bunch of people standing around being boring and trying their hardest to avoid death, so it sounds crappy no matter what side of the coin you are on.

8. Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

Dystopian Futures

In the not-too-distant-future, organ failure is at an all time high. A genetic research company discovers a way to create artificial organs for patients. Can't pay? No problem. They have an affordable payment plan! Everything is cool until you can't pay your bill, when Repo-Men are sent to literally repossess the organs from you while you are still alive. Elective surgery and painkiller addiction is an epidemic. A cheap version of the painkiller can be stolen from the bodies of the dead (for some unexplained reason) so graveyards are constantly being ransacked by graverobbers. At least you'll be serenaded by some talented opera vocalists while they eviscerate you.

Dystopian Futures
I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a small intestine today!

7. Bioshock's Rapture (2007)

Dystopian Futures

The only thing scarier than being stuck with a bunch of mutated, drugged out monsters, robots, and children is being stuck with them under hundreds of feet of water with only a layer of glass to protect you. Just about everything in Rapture wants to kill you and almost nobody is on your side. As if navigating the terrifying landscape wasn't enough, you are constantly mocked and berated through a loudspeaker that seems to reach every corner of Rapture. While Columbia is also a terrifying Dystopian Future, there is something about the ambiance of the original underwater city that chills me to my bones.

Dystopian Futures
I have no idea what it might be.

6. Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron (1961)

In the year 2081, due to a new amendment to the Constitution, nobody is smarter, faster, stronger, or prettier than anyone else. Any who is above average in any of these aspects is handicapped - a mask if you are too beautiful, weighted bags if you are too strong, or earphones that play deafening noises if you are too intelligent. In this short story, the characters are watching a ballet take place. The dancers are weighed down to counteract their gracefulness and masked to cover up their good looks. They have been handicapped so that TV viewers will not feel bad about their own appearance and hence will feel equally as talented and good-looking. The story is short, so I won't ruin the ending, you can read the full text here: http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html – Although if I'm being honest, I wouldn't particularly want to live in any Kurt Vonnegut story.

Dystopian Futures
I don't know who gave Sean Astin this gig.

5. Equilibrium (2002)

Dystopian Futures

In this Dystopian future, human emotion is determined to be the cause of all conflict and war. As a result, feeling is eradicated worldwide – everyone is required to take a daily dose of medications so they they cannot feel things. All works of art, literature, music, religion and other things that may cause someone to feel is located and destroyed. “Sense offenders” - those people found feeling, are put to death. Everything is homogenized and pre-destined. In case watching thousands of years of human history and artwork set ablaze isn't enough to make you hate this future, how about when all the puppies are executed?

Dystopian Futures
If you think watching thousands of years of our history, culture and art being burned is terrible to watch, try watching a kennel of puppies getting slaughtered.

4. A Boy and His Dog (1975)

Dystopian Futures

In this alternate-timeline story, advancements were made in robotics, animal intelligence and telepathy instead of space travel. World War III decimates most of humanity, and mutates many others. It is mostly men who survive the bombings as most women were in the cities where the bombs were dropped. The story focuses on Vic and his misanthrophic telepathic dog Blood, who helps him smell out and locate women in exchange for food. As a woman in this future, rape is a constant fear, on top of the fear of mutated screamers, hunger and irradiation. Society continues to exist underground, but the underdwellers are unable to reproduce naturally, so they steal men from the surface to impregnate their women. The whole future society is based on forced sexual scenarios, and it seems both men and women constantly have to be in fear of rape. Despite that, the movie has one of my favorite endings of all time...

Dystopian Futures
“We just want you to impregnate our daughters.”

3. 28 Days Later (2002)

Dystopian Futures

2. Idiocracy (2006)

Dystopian Futures

The most popular show on TV is Ow My Balls, humanity becomes so stupid they are unable to solve the most basic of problems, every business is thinly veiled prostitution, clothing is entirely covered in advertisements, the legal system consists of American-gladiator style fights to the death, there are mountains of trash everywhere and everyone is...well, an idiot. I hope that this is a future we never have to experience, but it does seem to be one of the most likely of the Dystopian futures, and that is the scariest thing of all.

1. THX 1138 (1971)

In this Dystopian future, mind-altering drugs are mandatory and sex is prohibited, and everyone is named like a license plate number. As for what would make living in this Dystopian future so terrible, it's twofold – one would be that I was stuck living in a George Lucas universe and it wasn't even Star Wars. And the world consists of nothing but disorienting white seamless backdrops as far as the eye can see.

Dystopian Futures
White backgrounds...foreverrrrrr


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November 27 2013



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