Joy to the Joyless Trivia Quiz

Answer: People

"Soylent Green is... people!" is the last and most famous line from the 1973 thriller "Soylent Green". The film starred Charlton Heston as a New York City police officer in the far distant future of 2022. Heston's cop polices a New York transformed into an over-populated and under-nourished nightmare. Except for the ultra-elite, food is scarce and consists mostly of processed "red" and "yellow" plankton wafers manufactured by a shadowy powerful company called the Soylent Corporation. A new Soylent color, green, hits the market at the start of the movie.

Heston's cop is called to investigate the murder of a lawyer and seeks the assistance of his room-mate, an aged university professor. The professor is played by Edward G. Robinson in his last film role. Slowly, Heston and Robinson figure out that the oceans are also running out of plankton and that Soylent Green is made from cannibalized human remains. Heston learns that the government is aware of and supports the deception. Robinson elects to enter a voluntary euthanasia clinic and Heston dies screaming the secret in a blaze of gunfire.

"Soylent Green" paints a bleak future for the US and the human population as over population and resource misuse turn the planet into a barren and slowly dying wasteland. During the filming of the movie, Edward G. Robinson was almost deaf, in ill-health, and in constant pain yet still gives a masterful performance. Robinson died just 12 days after filming his death scene in the movie. "Soylent Green is people" was ranked as the 77th greatest movie quote by the American Film Institute in its 2005 "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes" list.

Answer: Blade Runner

"Blade Runner" was an initially unsuccessful 1982 movie, but is now viewed as a cult classic. "Blade Runner" is about the hunt for rogue "replicants", mechanical recreations of human beings with fixed lifespans. Harrison Ford plays Deckard a police officer, a "blade runner", whose specialty is to hunt and kill replicants who have either committed crimes or escaped the limited areas they are permitted. The movie follows Deckard as he seeks and finds a series of rogue replicants. In the process, Deckard falls in love with a woman who is both a replicant and unaware of her condition, played by Sean Young. Ford's Deckard eventually kills the rogue replicants, who are led by Rutger Hauer. The movie ends in ambiguity as Deckard flees the ever depressing task of killing almost humans while questioning his own humanity.

Philip K. Dick is a legendary science fiction writer, whose cautionary tales of the dark side of technology and genetic advancement are the basis for several popular dystopian movies. In addition to writing the source material for "Blade Runner", Dick authored the novel "We Can Remember it for You Wholesale", upon which the 1990 and 2012 movies "Total Recall" are based. Dick's chilling short story "The Minority Report" about the development of precognition as a skill that is used by the government and police is the basis for the 2002 Steven Spielberg directed film "Minority Report". Director Richard Linklater adapted one of Dick's most personal stories into the 2006's "A Scanner Darkly".

Answer: Houston

Norman Jewison directed "Rollerball" and James Caan starred as the star athlete coming to the end of a long and successful career as a rollerball player. Rollerball is a cross between roller skating, rugby, American football and a street brawl. Jonathan plays for the Houston team in a future where corporations aligned with geographic locales rule the world as a form of oligarchy. Houston is the "Energy City" due to its long connection to oil and fuel development. Pittsburg is another city that is part of this oligarchy and is known as the "Steel City" logically connecting to the city's history.

In "Rollerball", the head of the Houston corporation, played by the great John Houseman, wants Jonathan to retire. Ostensibly, Jonathon's popularity as an individual is undermining the oligarchy's desire for elimination of dissent thought. The company offers him a worry-free life and the return of his wife, who left him some years ago to serve the wife of an executive. Jonathon risks his protected status by defying the corporation to try and win another championship. With more and more obstacles placed in his path, Jonathon wins the game and faces an uncertain future.

"Rollerball" paints a bleak picture of all-seeing corporate overlords dividing the worlds into profit centers, where all aspects of life are controlled to produce the profits the executive's desire. "Rollerball" discusses such classic dystopian themes as the value of individual, the role of sport and entertainment in social control, and the effects from the depletion of natural resources. "Rollerball" did mildly well at the box office when it was released, but gained greater fame as a cult film amongst fans of dystopian adventure. "Rollerball" was the victim of a truly horrible remake in 2002.

Answer: Idiocracy

"Idiocracy" is a chilling vision into a future America where Darwinism has been turned on its head. Instead of a world where future generations increase human intelligence in the population, subsequent generations are the offspring of the lower intelligent portion of the population. Each generation offers fewer intelligent children and more children from the world's "idiots". Into this world comes Luke Wilson's Joe Bauers, an "average Joe" suspended in hibernation for 500 years as part of a disbanded military experiment. Joe wakes to find that his once average intelligence now makes him the genius of the society. Joe goes on to save the future of the society, at least temporarily, and is elected President.

"Idiocracy" did not perform well at the box office, but was positively reviewed by critics. Since its release, the film has gained a cult following. The movie portrays many classic dystopian themes such as the danger of commercialism and media control, anti-intellectualism and dysgenics (success of negative genetic traits in breeding).

Answer: Logan's Run

The premise of 1976's "Logan's Run" is simple: in a world of limited resources that prizes youth above all else, the only solution for turning 30 is death. Citizens of the "City" live in a domed utopia with unlimited resources and little care for the outside world. Each citizen has a "life clock" implanted into their body that tells them when they turn 30 and must present themselves for ritual suicide called "renewal". Citizens who "run" and attempt to avoid the 30 and out requirement are hunted by specialized police called "sandmen". Michael York plays Logan V, a sandman, who reevaluates his priorities when he is "aged" so that he is fast approaching 30. Along with a pretty "runner" played by Jenny Agutter, Logan breaks the containment of the dome and seeks the elusive haven of "Sanctuary". A notable scene is when York's Logan meets an old man played by Peter Ustinov. York's interaction with the first senior citizen he has ever seen is one of the film's highlights.

"Logan's Run" also starred Farrah Fawcett and Richard Jordan and was generally successful at the box office. "Logan's Run" won a Special Achievement Oscar at the 1977 Academy Awards and was nominated for two other awards. The film was based on the book by William Nolan and George Johnson. Interestingly, the book requires citizens to "renew" (die) at 21 years old. The movie spawned a poorly received and short lived US television show in 1977.

Answer: New York

John Carpenter directed and Kurt Russell starred in 1981's successful thriller "Escape from New York". Russell plays Snake Plissken, a former Special Forces soldier who has turned criminal. In the "far" future of 1997, the US is overrun by crime and Manhattan Island has been abandoned and remade as a penal colony. When Air Force One carrying the US President is hijacked, the President is taken hostage by a ruthless criminal boss and held inside Manhattan. Russell's Plissken is offered the chance to earn amnesty by braving the mean streets of New York to save the President. At the same time, Snake is injected with a "nanobomb" that will kill him if he does not succeed in 24 hours. Despite his antagonism with authority and the threat of imminent death, Russell saves the day.

Carpenter and Russell teamed up 15 years later for the 1996 sequel "Escape from LA", where once again Snake Plissken has to save the world. In this movie Los Angels is an autonomously governed outpost where social "undesirables" are deported. In the end, Snake decides that society needs a reboot and allows a "doomsday" device to plunge the world back to the Dark Ages. The tone of "Escape from New York" is gritty and often raw, reflecting the New York scenery and attitude. "Escape from LA" is a brighter, more colorful film with an even darker message. Where "Escape from New York" is skeptical about the ability of the society to correct itself, "Escape from LA" concludes there is no hope.

Answer: Statue of Liberty

In 1968's "Planet of the Apes" Charlton Heston plays George Taylor, a US astronaut who is placed in deep hibernation for a space flight. Awaking in the year 3978, Heston and his fellow astronauts find a habitable planet. Soon Heston realizes that the world is populated by brutish humans and intelligent apes who rule the world as the top predator. Heston's astronaut is captured and placed in a cage with a local human female in a zoo. Ape curators discover Heston can speak and is intelligent. Slowly, both Heston and the Ape scientists come to realize that the current society was built on the ruins of an older human society. Heston escapes captivity with his new friend, steals a horse and heads into the "Forbidden Zone", a vast ancient nuclear wasteland, to be free. However, as he is riding in the Forbidden Zone, Heston sees the remnants of the Statue of Liberty, corroborating his fear that the planet is really a post-apocalyptic future Earth. The movie ends with a dejected Heston on his knees screaming how man had destroyed himself.

"Planet of the Apes" was hugely successful and spawned four increasingly mediocre sequels, as well as a Tim Burton directed remake in 2001. Today the movie is considered one of the top dystopian films of the late twentieth century. The movie's themes of nuclear annihilation, animal cruelty, xenophobia and intolerance resonated with the late 1960s world view. In the original book by Pierre Boulle Gustav Eiffel's other great monument (The Eiffel Tower) plays a more prominent part.

Answer: Children of Men

I am an unabashed fan of the 2006 movie "Children of Men". The thoughtful combination of cautionary tale and action thriller is anchored by a powerful performance from Clive Owen. In 'Children of Men", director Alfonso Cuaron creates a bleak and depressed society where 18 years have passed since any children have been born into the world. World-wide anarchy has devastated most of the planet, with the UK being the last bastion of organized society. The UK government, in part out of necessity, has turned the island into a police state. Refugees from outside the UK are hunted and detained. Owen plays Theo, a minor government official who agrees to help an immigrant rights group smuggle a young West African woman through the country to the English coast. Theo learns that the woman, Kee, is pregnant, the first in a generation. The movie follows Theo as he tries to guide Kee towards alleged safety. During the course of the journey, Kee gives birth to a girl. In the penultimate scene, Theo holds the baby out to warring immigrants and police who stand mesmerized by the sight, until they resume trying to kill each other. Theo dies after he sets Kee and her baby towards what might be a sanctuary or just another cynical end.

"Children of Men" is purposefully ambiguous as to whether Kee and her baby offer the world any hope for the future. Thrust into a society rife with nihilism and despair, Theo' could give up, but rather he undergoes not only a physical journey, but also a spiritual journey of self-redemption and purpose. The movie, like the book it is based upon, uses Christian religious symbolism as part of its background. Unlike the book, the movie remains ambivalent towards religion as a whole. "Children of Men" was named to numerous best films of the year lists for 2006 and was nominated for three Academy Awards.

Answer: Fritz Lang

"Metropolis" is the 1927 silent film by German director Fritz Lang. The film is credited with being the first feature length science fiction film, and equally the first to offer a dystopian view of the future. The story is one of class struggle in a world divided between the rich, who live in high rise buildings; and, the poor who live below ground and keep the machines that service the wealthy working. Ostensibly a love story, "Metropolis" follows the son of the society's leader, who falls in love with a working class girl. Against a rising tide of worker revolt, the two lovers work to save the city and end the violence.

"Metropolis" when produced was the most expensive movie then made, and would cost in adjusted dollars over 200 million today. Lang's vision of a technologically advanced society beset with class division is hauntingly accurate. "Metropolis is routinely considered one of the top silent films of all time. Director Lang went on to write and direct such talking films as the highly regarded "M" and "The Big Heat".

Answer: On the Beach

No list of dystopian films is complete without at least one entry from the sub-genre of movies about the very real fear of planetary genocide presented by nuclear proliferation. Movies about the effects, both large and small, from the use of nuclear weapons started to dot the cinema ever since the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. Perhaps the most famous of these end of world stories is 1959's "On the Beach". The movie was an adaptation of the 1957 bestselling book of the same name by Nevil Shute. Filmed at the height of the Cold War between nuclear superpowers USSR and USA, "On the Beach" had a simple story. In the future of 1964, World War III erupts and both sides use nuclear weapons. The mutual destruction is so devastating, that that all life on the planet is at risk for destruction. In Australia, survivors gather to await the slow passage of the fallout that will also end their lives.

"On the Beach" stars Gregory Peck as a stoic US submarine commander and Ava Gardener as his lover. The movie was released to mixed critical response and actually lost money. The US government blasted the movie as factually impossible and for spreading fear amongst the population. Ironically, in 1964, "Fail Safe", another classic dystopian film about the possibility of nuclear annihilation was released. Other important works about the effect of nuclear weapons include the documentary "White Light/Black Rain" (The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), 1983's "Testament", 1984's chilling British docudrama "Threads" and the US television mini-series from 1983 "The Day After".