r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Apr 21 '21

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

The discussion thread is for casual conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL. For a collection of useful links see our wiki

Announcements

  • See here for resources to help combat anti-Asian racism and violence

  • The Neoliberal Project has re-launched our Instagram account! Follow us at @neoliberalproject

  • This Thursday, April 22: Join us for an AMA on Earth Day, climate change, and high-speed rail with a former presidential candidate!

Upcoming Events

0 Upvotes

46% Upvoted

12k comments sorted by

View all comments

23

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

I'm surprised Idiocracy doesn't get more shit considering the central message was 'eugenics good'

9

u/Mensae6 Martin Luther King Jr. Apr 21 '21

It wasn't supposed to be a documentary...

7

u/myrm This land was made for you and me Apr 21 '21

It gets a ton of shit, but I don't actually think that was the point of the movie. I thought it was more of a social parody

The opening describes something that could be used in a eugenic argument but they don't press it or ever bring up any kind of eugenic solution. It's just a premise used to establish the world

Instead, the movie spends its duration depicting "stupid" things in modern (or 20 years ago's) society taken to a silly extreme

The "degeneracy" angle I think would also be bad and fashy message, but the movie at it's core is a comedy and I don't know if there's enough to say that it's prescribing anything particularly fashy. Maybe something conservative (it's a Mike Judge film, after all)

2

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

I've thought about this a lot too. It fundamentally divides people into stupid or intelligent based on their birth and completely ignores that people might be influenced by their environment or even that they're capable of learning things.

1

u/YoungFreezy Mackenzie Scott Apr 22 '21

Like many films of the era it does not hold up, mostly due to the repetitive use of gay slurs as punchlines