One aspect of futures thinking can be quite negative and dark. This kind of futures thinking is lonely, isolated, barren, dystopic and loveless. This kind of future has been thought by some and has been explored through mediums such as film. Two films which propose similar future scenarios of a dystopic and un loving future; is the movie ‘I Am Legend’ (2007) and ‘Wall-E’ (2008). Both of these films explore a solo traveller who navigates themselves in a world that has been damaged by different causes but both seek to find love and a sense of fulfilment in there lives.
Image of Will Smith in ‘I Am Legend’ (The Imaginative Conservative 2014)
The movie ‘I Am Legend’ (2007) directed by Francis Lawrence, is a movie about the world being struck by a plague and everyone has turned into monsters and abandoned earth. Everyone bar one person, that is a character played by Will Smith. This movie represents a future world where there is no society, no economy, no government, a rugged and damaged environment and a lonely man. This is quite a dystopic future scenario but it showcases the loneliness and lack of fulfilment this man has in life showing the importance of society, environment and other elements of our current world, which bring love, meaning and purpose to ones life. It is only in this world we discover that without love and compassion for the society around us, the world is a very lonely and dark place.
Image of Wall-E (Pixar Wiki 2016)
The second movie ‘Wall-E’ (2008) directed by Andrew Stanton, is a movie set hundreds of years from now about a robot who has the responsibility to clean up the planet left destroyed by mankind. The planet has been left in environmental ruin and there is no sign of life. Wall-E is a small robot trying to do his part to help the planet. The robot Wall-E seeks love and compassion in his life but is unable to find any as there is no other forms of life on earth, even plants are inexistent. When Wall-E finally comes across life in the form of a plant and another robot, he sees the importance and love for them. He then does whatever is possible to prevent losing these things.
Both ‘I am Legend’ and ‘Wall-E’ are great movies showing a bad alternative for future scenarios. Both movies explore the lifeless and loveless lives that would be experienced in the future if current generations do not look after both their health and the planet. Both these movies have strong connections to love for humanity, connection to society and love for environment. Future scenarios like this are great to explore, as they allow us to prevent dark futures from ever happening. Sometimes the darkest futures often spark the most motivation to find a way to break out of the dark cycle.
– Tom
References
IMDB 2016, Wall-E (2008), viewed 27 October 2016, <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910970/>.
IMDB 2016, I Am Legend (2007), viewed 27 October 2016, <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/>.
The Imaginative Conservative 2014, A Legend of Redemption: Supernatural Signs in “I Am Legend”, viewed 27 October 2016, <http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2014/11/i-am-legend-redemption-supernatural-signs-legend.html>.
Pixar Wiki 2016, WALL – E, viewed 27 October 2016, <http://pixar.wikia.com/wiki/WALL•E>.
WordPress 2016, Thought Catalogue, Sitting with loneliness, March 3 2014, viewed 27 October 2016, <http://thoughtcatalog.com/niki-fritz/2014/03/sitting-with-loneliness/>.
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