Rev up your engines, boys and girls, today we get to see what the future looks like according to science fiction movies!
The self-proclaimed "digital outlaws" at Eclectic Method have spliced together clips from all your favorite sci-fi films and set the mashup to "high-energy dance music" so you can get a tiny glimpse of what we'll call "movie future" -- the future according to what Hollywood has said it would be.
We aren't surprised that "movie future" looks more dystopian than utopian, but some of what we saw in Eclectic Method's mega-futuristic mashup was less predictable. Here, The Huffington Post explores five predictions gleaned from Eclectic Mashup's "Future".
Cities Are Super Dense:
This is immediately noticeable, and seems to be a background feature of practically all the futures from the clips. Good thing too, as more and more urban planners have begun proclaiming that densification is the future of cities. Don't worry, though: Big-time academics like Richard Florida and Edward Glaeser have already started praising the virtues of these "megacities", claiming they'll make us "richer, smarter, greener, healthier and happier."
Man's Relationship With Nature Is, At Best, Strained:
Scan all this footage, and what you won't notice is the wilderness. That's because there's practically none of it. The green space in movie future exists in tiny patches, in neutered form, as colorful decoration … until we hit the global warming and disaster-based movies, where nature strikes back with a vengeance. As holographic villain Doctor Totenkopf says at 0:27, "We have taken what used to be a paradise and failed in our responsibility as stewards." Science fiction movies seem to agree: Either we'll kill nature or it'll kill us.
Transportation Is Awesome:
A lot of these filmmakers seem obsessed with how awesome future transportation might be. There are flying cars, flying saucers, flying skateboards -- even post-apocalyptic movies are getting in on the action, with duct-taped jalopies and flying sailboats.
There Are Robots Everywhere:
Get ready for lots and lots of androids, human-like holograms and generally freaky humanoid creations. A glimpse of the R2-D2 bot from "Star War" reminds us that there's potential for friendly robots onscreen, but clearly that's not the theme of movie future. There are robotic women with split-screen faces, grimacing robotic terminator men and an anthropormorphic teddy bear that growls,"I am not a toy." Maybe we should fear a robot apocalypse?
We're Not Sure If We Want To Go To Space:
There's footage of space travel peppered throughout the mashup, but a good portion of the clips take place on terra firma. Apparently space travel isn't necessary for an awesome sci-fi future. Will we ever be ready to leave the home planet and live in space?