...and at alarming speed! Idiocracy is a movie by Mike Judge that barely anyone knows about, because it was dumped by FOX in very few theaters with virtually no promotion. It's a shame because the movie is absolutely hilarious and, just, classic. Go see it- rent it, find it online, whatever- if you haven't already. You can watch the whole movie here whenever you have time. Highly recommended! The situation is just like Judge's earlier movie, Office Space. That was a box office flop as well and now it's one of the greatest cult classics.
Idiocracy is a prediction of the future. However, instead of flying cars and space suits, people according to Mike Judge's brain become very very stupid- they're all just a bunch of fat slobs, basically. The movie's premise is that the smart people reproduce slowly and thoughtfully while the dumb ones breed huge, dumb families. Over time, the dumb dumbs monopolize the population and voila- a future of idiots. Which, if you think about it, is a credible scenario, however crude. Everything is controlled by a select few corporations. Water is replaced by a Gatorade-like drink called "Brawndo"- it waters the plants (obviously unsuccessfully) and comes out of all the drinking fountains. Fuddruckers hamburgers has turned into Buttfuckers hamburgers, and Costco is the location of a law school. It's all a bit scary.
Well, I was watching TV yesterday, and came across this commercial for a new ABC TV show, "Wipeout". Watch:
This show is disturbingly reminiscent of a show in Idiocracy's demented future, cleverly called "Ow My Balls." The name says it all- it's a guy who constantly gets hit in the balls. And that will supposedly the most popular show on television. Now I know Jackass was a lot like that already, but there are some important differences:
1. It was on MTV, on cable. It was not in a prime time spot on ABC on Tuesdays.
2. Jackass was more of a show about disturbing other people in public and generally, well, acting like jackasses. It was rebellious from the get-go, it wasn't meant to entertain the masses. However, this "Wipeout" show appears to feature normal people and simply has them go through obstacle courses to get hurt. There's no rebellion, no clever tricks, not even any variety. And the commercial actually tries to highlight the fact that this is all about watching people get hurt!
Just so you know what I'm babbling on about, here is "Ow My Balls" from Idiocracy:
(if you have no patience, skip to 0:20)
[oh, and just so you're not totally confused- Luke Wilson plays a very average guy that was preserved from the past (our present) for an army experiment, but it didn't work out and they forgot about him and now he finds himself in the "future" after a trash avalanche. Apparently, in the future, the trash is piled high. In this scene his preservation box lands in a random guy's (played by Dax Shepherd) house. And the guy happens to be watching "Ow My Balls." Oh, notice the advertisements around the screen- remind you of the internet by any chance? Ah yes.]
ANYWAY. Watch:
See what I'm saying? Oh, my...
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