Top 10 movies that tried to predict the future - and succeeded!
Finding the topic
Lately I was thinking about how realistic are the movies nowadays and should we draw any lessons from any of these films, or not.
Thinking about this, one of my favourite films, The Day After Tomorrow (yep, favourite, although I know it is not very realistic, but still) came into my mind and the moral lesson that we could probably draw from it: the fact that global warming is a real thing and can very much affect our future. Anyway, I guess this is one my favourite films, because after I've seen this movie in a cinema alone with my sister, right after we left the place a huge storm caught us (the sky was very close to the deepest black colour) and we kinda felt that the 'day after tomorrow' is already there. We were still under the spur of those minutes the next day...
Soooo back to the beginnings, I have decided to make a list about films that tried to predict or at least depict the possible future - and they succeeded! Don't think that everything in these films became reality - this will not be the case -, but all of them were right in certain things that now have a great impact on our life.
Stay tuned for the whole Top 10 list, here's our first movie:
No.1. - The Matrix-franchise
Although we are not yet even close to the date when this film takes place (in 2199), we can clearly seen that real, life-like simulations are not that far from us anymore.
Since the film was released in 1999, we are already able to use several of these simulations in our home; for example Xbox 360, its Kinectwith the wireless technology and playing with our gestures or the massively multiplayer games all over the internet are already signs that the future depicted by the film is very close to us.
No.2. - 2001: A Space Odyssey
Apparently, people are still not living on the Moon on a giant base and we are still not travelling in space like we travel on a simple bus in any city. Sad, isn’t it?
Additionally, Pan Am is non-existent since 1991.
On the other hand, we are on the good track to have super-computers which are able to think and are extremely intelligent and we are also able to communicate with our family via different videophones, like Skype.
No.3. - Total Recall
Although we are not yet in 2084, so I can’t really say whether the film was wrong all in all, or not; now I can already tell you, that the special body scanning which we can already see in the film from 1990 is real and can be seen at the airports.
No.4. - Gattaca
This film from 1997 already predicted that there will be special methods with which scientists can genetically manipulate oocytes in the near future.
This is real now and parents with enough money can already decide the sex and choose the best hereditary traits of their future children, meanwhile excluding the ones that can cause baldness, obesity, etc.
No.5. - Minority Report
Although we are not yet ready/able to use special psychics who are able to predict criminal deeds, this film born in 2002 was really able to predict a few things.
These things are: our multi-touch interfaces, 3D holograms (at least as long as we call CNN’s fake holograms real) and flexible displays. Additionally, although our cars are not yet able to drive themselves instead of us, but some models are already able to park themselves. And we are not even close to 2054 yet (that’s when the film takes place).
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No.6. - The Terminator-franchise
The second Terminator film, Judgement Day predicted that machines will bring the Apocalypse of the world on 08/29/1997 and will stalk and kill all human beings.
Apparently, this did not happen, therefore in Terminator the judgement day was kinda re-set to 07/24/2004. As you could already realize, we are still alive.
Although, the film was right in the sense that humanity is building more and more clever and self-conscious robots nowadays – not to mention the unmanned robotic planes that are able to perform different actions, like today’s UAVs for example.
No.7. - Back To The Future 2
This film is also one of my favourites – aww, why don’t we have those hover boards and the special sneakers Marty had? Ohh, my bad: will have, as the film is set in 2015.
Although I am in the group on Facebook which is waiting for Marty to come on 10/21/2015, I am afraid, we are going to miss him there too, just like now we miss the upper mentioned stuff.
On the other hand, the film was right that in the future there will be plenty of videogames that we can play by physical gestures and wireless controllers and the good old joystick is really outdated and is only available in antique shops nowadays.
No.8. - Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Although the film was born in 1979 and we are not yet in the 23rd century (that is when the film is set), I guess we can confidently agree that it was right with the rise of intelligent communication devices, like smartphones and tablets.
So far so good, who knows what will happen till 2387?
No.9. - Face/Off
Even if this movie is not a real future-predicting one: I guess we can all agree that we are happy because we don’t have to worry about convicts changing identities with cops.
But we also have to know that the technology to perform face implants is real and can be done since 2010.
No.10. - The Truman Show
This film was born in 1998, when reality shows were still considered young. After this film, reality TV shows really became very popular in the US and in fact, all over the world.
After the first Big Brother series several other, similar shows were born, some of them placing people in a similar house, but some others even tried how is that like to put random people together into a jungle somewhere in South-America.
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