The current films depicting the possible future of mankind tend to be focused on dystopian depictions of dire or desperate conditions for the common person, with elitist capitalists or ruthless tyrants running the show, or we’re in a constant state of war with other people, aliens, robots, or zombies. This constant push of the inevitable dire and foreboding future is so prevalent in our entertainment media that it is not surprising that most people have such a negative view of the direction mankind is heading. People have resigned themselves to not only accept an apocalyptic future as inevitable but even desirable.
The results of this constant reminder of our worst human tendencies have not had the desired results of getting us to wake up and change our ways before it is too late. The real results have been more like the child who is only told how bad they are and never given any positive encouragement to be better, they ultimately just give up on even trying to be good at all and totally own their title of badness. In turn, over praising can also lead the child to believe that they can never be wrong and then become obnoxious adults and terrible workers who can never be corrected. Somewhere in between there must be a harmonious balance. So how can we teach the lessons of harmonious compromise and the rainbow of choices that fall between the black or white of absolutism?
Without a positive example of how we can create a better, more favorable future world? For without any positive reinforcement of our better societal qualities, we will only be conditioned to except the very worst of possible worlds without question or resistance. For that matter, we may even adamantly reject any notion of being a good person at all and, without any reservations, totally embrace the ruthless is right rule over having any compassion or the consideration of anyone else other than oneself. The overly promoted notion that only the ruthless and selfish are rewarded and the empathetic are constantly being punished will inevitably create more ruthless and selfish people. That’s simply how repetitive example and reward programing work.
If we are constantly entertained with fallacies of the reluctant nonconformist hero saving the day (but only because he loves the rich princess), as if their narcissist personality is superior to the common freedom fighters fighting for an inclusive ideology, don’t be surprised that selfishness, not self-sacrifice, is the new norm.
When the lifestyle of the bad guys is far more favorable than the good guys don’t be surprised when the petulant child chooses the sweet life of being ruthless. The truth becomes seen as a lie and the lies become seen as the truth; mountains become demoted to mole hills, and the mole hills become inflated to mountains. This is how the power of ‘just entertainment’ influences our many malleable minds into believing in fairy tales and embracing the dark side.
The way we absorb entertainment is unconsciously enhanced by the way our cultural characterizes it all as “just entertainment”. Projecting the notion that it is all innocent and unharmful in and of itself and therefore doesn’t have to be taken seriously. However, this simply is not true, for we love to believe in fairytales and, like the heroes in our favorite fantasies, we convince ourselves that we too will never die and can fly if we just believe it hard enough.
How can we find a reasonable resistance to the medium of hate and mayhem without creating an unreasonable outrage and throw the baby out with the bath water? There needs to be a counterbalance of favorable future films to at least propose another possibility of a future that we will want to strive for; a future other than the total destruction promised in the doom and gloom reality that we are presently propagating.
The need for favorable future films is needed now more than ever, and the lack thereof will only contribute to the downward spiraling of society into a great abyss of self-destruction and dystopian despair.
Can we at least try to envision another future more favorable than the same old apocalyptic mess we have been promoting for far too many years? Can we at least try to counter the effects of misdirection, and divisive disinformation, with good direction and true information? Or are we just going to let people continue to hide behind our freedom of speech shield as they propagate bold face lies and further their long con of misdirection and social deception.
Their con-games are seductively luring people into their own self-destruction with the same sugar-logic used to sell either a sour patch sarcasm, ridiculous outrage of righteous indignation, or a syrupy sweet philosophy of naive positivity that’s devoid of reality.
We can’t simply standby and wait for some Superman or a ridiculously rich superhero to come save us from ourselves and do the right thing. These ideas of mankind be ruled by a superior race of genius people, or a benevolent elite class of nobles, have simply never proved to be reliable or truly good for the commoner. That said, all politicians and rich people are not necessarily flawed, although some of them are clearly corrupt, they are not all evil simply because they are privileged.
We need another approach to creating a more favorable future for mankind that doesn’t rely on these ridiculous fantasies that have been regurgitated, over and over again, for generations now. To create a favorable future film, we really don’t have to imagine a world where everyone is always happy, serene or super smart. A favorable future doesn’t mean that life and love somehow has to magically exist without any sadness or pain. There would be no love without the sadness of lose or the contrast of hatred.
These films can still have a conflict in need of resolution, they can still have flaws that need to be fixed, and they can still have imperfect or even evil people trying to do harm to others that need to be overcome. People will always have their shortcomings and disagreement; just as nature will aways have its’ outburst of volcanos, hurricanes, fires and such. Afterall, life without an adversity or any challenges would get pretty boring rather quickly and that wouldn’t be a very favorable future either.
How can we better handle these inevitable challenges presented to man and nature a little better than we have so far? Can we at least try to think outside these prepackaged boxes of post-apocalyptic future scenarios, grand conspiracies, running away to space, or the return of some imaginary God King who miraculously brings peace on earth. Let’s try a new approach to envisioning our future, instead of these same old worn-out tropes. We can consider it an artistic exercise, a study in new possibilities, and let’s actually try to think outside of our prepackaged programing.
Good inventions, motivated by necessity, start in our imagination but are only made real with hard work and determination. We obviously need more favorable future films; for we have far too many unfavorable ones already. So, who’s willing to break out of these old, battered boxes of bully behaviors, and create some new packages for us to embrace as a possible future? Who’s willing put in the hard work to write these futuristic stories? And who’s willing to put up the funds to finance these favorable future films? Who’s willing to make films that can inspire us to create a better life for our children, grandchildren, and the many generations to come?