Hacker News Reader

Comment by sourcecodeplz | Hacker News Reader

Definitely on my re-watch list, together with Idiocracy.

Mike Judge with his Idiocracy and Office Space is almost like someone had a crystal ball for early 21st century.

I've seen Office Space twice, once before and once after a job I got laid off from where my job description was quite literally to take the requirements from the clients to the engineers. It really hit different after that.

Office Space is pure genius and I was flabbergasted not to see it more popular. I am glad Judge got much bigger break with Silicon Valley.

Maybe I am dating myself but Office Space was always popular.

“Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?”

I am more of a "Dave Grohl was in band before Foo Fighters?" kind of generation but I see what you mean.

Office Space is a documentary.

How did he get away with Idiocracy? I thought it was a good movie and somewhat prescient, but if you peel back the layers it is basically advocating some kind of population control or eugenics policy. Or it is just a comedy, but I hear it frequently cited as a dramatized version of a plausible future.

I see it more like advocating for quality public education, easy access to contraception, and accountability of the elites in guiding our civilization. And as an observation that we're still just monkeys with transistors.

Yeah I like this. It also showed a future where capitalism had driven us all the way to dumbed down and instantly gratifying everything.

..and if you have been away from America for a while, the absurdity of greeters will be apparent. Reality is not too far off from "Welcome to Costco, I love you"

It isn't advocating for anything rather it is akin to the band playing as the Titanic is sinking.

while wearing Crocs

> it is basically advocating some kind of population control or eugenics policy

I think this says more about the viewer than the film.

The problem it raises is: only idiots are having kids so in the future everyone is an idiot.

The opening scene is literally a generic portrayal of trailer trash having 8 kids and you didn’t get that implication at all? Wow your a real saint.

What did you think the implications of the film were?

That is indeed the "problem" that forms the premise of the film. It doesn't however go on to either propose or advocate a solution, instead exploring one projection to absurdity from it's premise.

If you watched it and came away with a feeling it was pro-eugenics, you are absolutely projecting your own details onto the film.

I guess you just consume media with no thoughts or responses to it.

You could also view it as a satire of that very idea - here's this absurd future that people are afraid of, it'd suck, but anyone who believes in this being a realistic possibility is likely a fool. No society could actually run if humans devolved to that level and very, very few people are as unintelligent as the characters in that film.

Didn’t get away with it, company tried to bury the film.

I don't really get the love for Idiocracy. You know the amusement ride with the really obviously bad history? The whole movie is basically that. They know their audience doesn't know much history so they need to make mistakes dumb enough so everyone will get it.

It's a cynical movie that knows its audience isn't so smart, so they need to make sure the idiots watching know who the real idiots are. That way the audience can enjoy watching a lot of really dumb stuff while feeling above it instead of targeted.

>You know the amusement ride with the really obviously bad history?

It feels like everyone is expected to know this but what are you referencing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntAR0IT5pl4

Reply on news.ycombinator.com