Films set in the "future" which is now our past

[malatesta32]

no hoverboards yet

its only a matter of time. some of us have been working on a new design!

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

30 years ago. Amazing really. I was thinking today that some time in the not too distant future people are going to think it was incredible that someone still alive was actually born in the 20th century. Much like we used to think about somebody born in the 19th century.

And Space 1999, although that was a TV show.

When we were young, we always considered it freaky that '1984' was approaching.

Now, here it is.

 

[malatesta32]

Dr Who from the 70s?

 

[malatesta32]

yeah but 1984 really was fucken horrible. Thatch, miners, pop music ... clothes even!

 

[Belushi]

yeah but 1984 really was fucken horrible. Thatch, miners, pop music ... clothes even!

and Prince was singing about partying like it's 1999, which seemed an awfully long way away.

 

[alsoknownas]

This recalls the (fairly pointless) meme in which people change a jpeg of the clock inside the DeLorean and convince everybody that today is the day that Marty jumped to. In fact I see there are websites generating the stuff, if you would like to join in:
http://martymcflyinthefuture.tumblr.com/

 

[alsoknownas]

And this handy guide:

 

[laptop]

nah it was 25th century

Whoops!

 

[DexterTCN]

Bladerunner

No. Still a couple of years.

 

[Fez909]

Death Race 2000 is set in, funnily enough, the year 2000. It was made in 1975 and it has America in a dystopian nightmare with a single, totalitarian party in charge after a merger between the Republicans and the Democrats.

We're not quite at that level of political homogeneity yet, but it's not far off. When does the deadly bread and circuses stuff kick in?

Speaking of national bloodsports, when was The Running Man set?

 

[DotCommunist]

there was a awful remake of death race

 

[muscovyduck]

That Dr Who episode based on the 2012 Olympics?

 

[muscovyduck]

Ooooh and there's an episode of The Simpsons where it looks into the future to Lisa's wedding, which was set in 2013?

 

[maomao]

When does the deadly bread and circuses stuff kick in?

It would be a deadly circus not 'deadly bread and circuses'. The phrase 'bread and circuses' refers to the idea that a regime needs to take care of basic needs (bread) and provide entertainment of some sort (circuses).

Nothing personal, the misuse of this phrase has been winding me up constantly since the 2012 Olympics.

 

[DotCommunist]

just 8 yearws to go till Soylent Green

 

[agricola]

What's that one set in Glasgow (they filmed it in Glasgow coz it was the most futuristic looking city in the uk)? A 70's effort. And they end up in a bothy near a beach for a bit. Fuck knows.

Cloud Atlas? (edit: sorry misread you totally)

Also does the Wrath of Khan count? Werent the Eugenics Wars meant to be in the 90s?

 

[Garek]

Not a film but deserves a mention...

SPACE: 1999

 

[Garek]

What Rollerball, Robocop and any other dystopian film about corporate supremacy get wrong is the abolishment of "democratically elected governments" to lend a veneer of legitimacy and a shroud for their activities.

 

[ska invita]

1984 then?

i think the thing with 1984 was that it was written in 1948, so it was more about turning 48 upside down then a prediction of that particular year...maybe

 

[Frances Lengel]

yeah but 1984 really was fucken horrible. Thatch, miners, pop music ... clothes even!

The 80's were the pinnacle of everything. It's been downhill since.

 

[xenon]

Robocop, the original was set in 1994.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

 

[dilute micro]

Maybe not a 'film' but I love the 1950s videos of the future about a life of ease with creepy massive butler robots.

 

[Jon-of-arc]

grr, most of mine have been done. Uhh, Strange Days. 12 monkeys. 1984. 2001 & 2010 odysseys. The novel of "A scanner darkly" was apparently supposed to be set in 1984.

 

[Epona]

I absolutely love 12 Monkeys, but that was deliberately set (at least the "past" bit of it) in the very near when it was released, so it's not just something where we've exceeded the date where some of it was set by a long way.

Brazil is one of my all-time favourite films, I don't think the year it was set in is ever specified, but it was made in 1985 and I think was intended to look like the near future, I don't think it was supposed to be a long way ahead - and certainly all the talk about plastic surgery seems quite prescient! Ah, my favourite Christmas movie

 

[butchersapron]

12 monkeys is an expansion of La jetee isn't it? And the future in that was post ww3. Do future pasts that didn't happen count?

 

[Epona]

12 monkeys is an expansion of La jetee isn't it? And the future in that was post ww3. Do future pasts that didn't happen count?

It was inspired by La Jetée which is an early '60s French short, have you seen it? It's not an "expansion" of it. It's not a reworking of it. It's loosely inspired by the premise of the short, very loosely inspired.

 

[butchersapron]

Of course I've seen it. And it's not just very loosely inspired by it, it lifts the story and concept from it entire.

 

[Epona]

Of course I've seen it. And it's not just very loosely inspired by it, it lifts the story and concept from it entire.

Oh god almighty. OK, in that case pretty much every film that has ever featured someone jumping briefly in time to have a romance with someone has lifted the concept entirely from La Jetée (a 10 minute long obscure French early '60s short). Discuss.

 

[butchersapron]

No not every one. But 12 monkeys is. As gilliam himself had said many times. And there's a whole lot more going on in la jetee than some time travel and romance and that's taken over to 12 monkeys.