Culture Jammin’: 2019
I watched two movies this weekend, Blade Runner and The Running Man, which were both made in the 1980s and both set in the year 2019.
Neither 2019 reality appears entirely likely to happen, but I’ve made this helpful chart to sort the two out. Hat tip to Eric Simon at Amazin’ Avenue for the HTML tablemaker gadget.
Here is what the end of this decade will look like, according to Blade Runner and The Running Man:
| Blade Runner | The Running Man | |
|---|---|---|
| What we should fear | The government, corporate greed | The government, sensationalist reality television |
| Thing it seems like we should fear but that doesn’t turn out so bad after all | Replicants (“more human than human” automatons) | Jesse Ventura |
| Flying cars | Yes | No |
| Cell phones | No | No |
| Jet packs | No | Yes (on Fireball) |
| Edward James Olmos | Yes | No |
| Manipulative, untrustworthy media | Not specified | Yes |
| Video pay phones | Yes | No |
| Computers | No | Yes |
| Advanced digital enhancement technology | Yes, on a hilariously crappy TV | Yes |
| Rebel leader | Roy (a replicant) | Mick Fleetwood |
I’ve made no secrets of my dissatisfaction with the future here, but it’s probably best that things don’t appear to be going down either of these paths.
Still, nine years is a long time, and I wouldn’t put anything past sensationalist reality TV producers.
