Dystopia and reality

Canadian Wal-Town and American Idiocracy present a harrowing view of the future

EVAN JOHNSON STAFF

Luke Wilson, ridin’ with president Camacho in Idiocracy PHOTO: COURTESY OF 20TH CENTURY FOX

Shambolic, gentle and likeable, if not entirely engaging, Sergio Kirby’s new documentary Wal- Town follows six student activists on a cross-Canada trek, the immodest goal of which being to raise awareness concerning Wal- Mart’s highly dubious business practices. The group, which leader Ezra Winton characterizes as being “devoted to resisting the commercialization of culture” travels to 36 Canadian Wal-Mart locations where they stand outside, handing out pamphlets and attempting to engage both workers and customers in some kind of ethical dialogue.

Because Winton and his group are so careful to avoid judging individual consumers, the film rarely veers off into the sort of hilarious bickering that one might expect from a muck-raking activist documentary, though there are some entertaining exceptions, particularly a slow-witted and hostile pair of shoppers who accuse the activists of “exploiting” Wal-Mart (the second-largest corporation in the world), which would actually be a witty thing to say if they knew the meaning of the word “exploit.”

But the most entertaining moments come in one-on-one interviews, particularly the one between Winton and the (seemingly) reactionary and condescending mayor of St. John’s, N.L., Andy Wells, who accuses Winton of spouting “the same old left-wing crap” before adding, reductively, “the socialists lost. In 1989 when the Soviet Union collapsed, you guys lost.”

The most dramatically compelling scenes in the film follow two women, Sylvie and Johanne, employees at the Jonquiere, Que. Wal-Mart location which recently closed down shortly after becoming the company’s first unionized store. Though most of the film’s Wal-Mart info comes in the form of pithy statistical inter-titles, Winton does well to illustrate the hypocrisy of the fact that Wal-Mart uses the collective bargaining power of its hundreds of stores when purchasing bulk goods, yet all but forbids similar strategies amongst its own employees.

The photography in Wal-Town is for the most part lacklustre and not particularly pleasing to the eye, but this ends up working in the film’s favour by making the whole enterprise seem even more charmingly home-brewed, and by demonstrating, implicitly, the devastating esthetic effect that Wal-Mart like box-stores (and chains in general) have on any given civic landscape, which, in this film, are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Guelph is Lethbridge is Winnipeg, and none of it is pretty.

In a letter to the Austin Chronicle, my clever friend (and Austin resident) Jesse turned Wal-Mart’s math against them, writing “according to my atlas, the Earth has roughly 57 million square miles of land. If Wal-Mart continues to meet their doughty goal of 8% (yearly) growth, we can look forward to a day in 2194 when all the land on Earth will be covered by their super-duper-centers. Good luck finding parking.”

While Wal-Town expresses concern with the political/economic/consumer climate that would allow such a frightening future, Idiocracy, (Austin resident) Mike Judge’s newest film comedy and the followup to his cult hit Office Space, envisions that future. Though Idiocracy, now out on DVD, was released theatrically last year as per Fox’s contract with Judge, it was done so only in a handful of theatres and with absolutely no marketing campaign; not a single trailer, poster, or television ad accompanied its release. There’s much speculation as to why a studio would deliberately suppress its own film, but it seems clear to me that Idiocracy is simply too hostile for Fox’s tastes, towards both major American corporations, and towards the sort of “everyman” that Fox would assume is the film’s target demographic.

The plot involves average guy Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) and a prostitute named Rita (Maya Rudolph) being cryogenically frozen in an army experiment gone wrong, and waking up 500 years in the future, where they’re now the smartest people on the planet. The film’s cruel and amusing

Wal-Town
♥♥♥½ out of 5
Wall-Town plays at Cinematheque
Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. and 9
p.m. and Jan. 21-24 at 7 p.m.
Idiocracy
♥♥♥♥ out of 5
Idiocracy is available on DVD

opening sequence demonstrates the evolutionary logic that compels this dumbing-down: intelligent people are too wary about the economy to have children (“not with the market the way it is”); stupid people are too stupid to avoid it (“I’m gonna fuck all y’all!” says one spirited football player to a host of cheerleaders.) As the years pass and people become stupider, FuddRuckers becomes FuttBuckers becomes ButtRuckers, before it finally settles at ButtFuckers, still a children’s restaurant.

Idiocracy’s plot is simply a catalogue of alarming stupidities and brazen low-brow gags, but it’s so scathing and contemptuous in its depiction of the future of American life that it works as satire, especially since Judge just piles everything he hates about contemporary American culture into his vision of a brainless future. Because Bauers talks in complete sentences and expresses coherent ideas, he’s accused by virtually everyone he meets of talking “like a fag.” Judge’s point seems clear: homophobes are morons.

The plot ambles along charmingly as Bauers becomes secretary of the interior and is charged with the task of fixing “the ecomomy,” and though it stalls here and there and many of the gags fall flat, and it sports a moderately disturbing, potentially pro-eugenics thesis, Idiocracy is run through with enough ill-will and genuine misanthropy that I can’t help but recommend it.





Volume 94 Issue 18	The Official University of Manitoba Students' Newspaper Website	January 17, 2007

Home About Us Advertise Contact Staff Current Issue PDF Employment Letters to the Editor Meet the Staff Online Archives Personals Volunteer	Font Size Respond Email Print-Friendly Dystopia and reality Canadian Wal-Town and American Idiocracy present a harrowing view of the future EVAN JOHNSON STAFF Luke Wilson, ridin’ with president Camacho in Idiocracy PHOTO: COURTESY OF 20TH CENTURY FOX Shambolic, gentle and likeable, if not entirely engaging, Sergio Kirby’s new documentary Wal- Town follows six student activists on a cross-Canada trek, the immodest goal of which being to raise awareness concerning Wal- Mart’s highly dubious business practices. The group, which leader Ezra Winton characterizes as being “devoted to resisting the commercialization of culture” travels to 36 Canadian Wal-Mart locations where they stand outside, handing out pamphlets and attempting to engage both workers and customers in some kind of ethical dialogue. Because Winton and his group are so careful to avoid judging individual consumers, the film rarely veers off into the sort of hilarious bickering that one might expect from a muck-raking activist documentary, though there are some entertaining exceptions, particularly a slow-witted and hostile pair of shoppers who accuse the activists of “exploiting” Wal-Mart (the second-largest corporation in the world), which would actually be a witty thing to say if they knew the meaning of the word “exploit.” But the most entertaining moments come in one-on-one interviews, particularly the one between Winton and the (seemingly) reactionary and condescending mayor of St. John’s, N.L., Andy Wells, who accuses Winton of spouting “the same old left-wing crap” before adding, reductively, “the socialists lost. In 1989 when the Soviet Union collapsed, you guys lost.” The most dramatically compelling scenes in the film follow two women, Sylvie and Johanne, employees at the Jonquiere, Que. Wal-Mart location which recently closed down shortly after becoming the company’s first unionized store. Though most of the film’s Wal-Mart info comes in the form of pithy statistical inter-titles, Winton does well to illustrate the hypocrisy of the fact that Wal-Mart uses the collective bargaining power of its hundreds of stores when purchasing bulk goods, yet all but forbids similar strategies amongst its own employees. The photography in Wal-Town is for the most part lacklustre and not particularly pleasing to the eye, but this ends up working in the film’s favour by making the whole enterprise seem even more charmingly home-brewed, and by demonstrating, implicitly, the devastating esthetic effect that Wal-Mart like box-stores (and chains in general) have on any given civic landscape, which, in this film, are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Guelph is Lethbridge is Winnipeg, and none of it is pretty. In a letter to the Austin Chronicle, my clever friend (and Austin resident) Jesse turned Wal-Mart’s math against them, writing “according to my atlas, the Earth has roughly 57 million square miles of land. If Wal-Mart continues to meet their doughty goal of 8% (yearly) growth, we can look forward to a day in 2194 when all the land on Earth will be covered by their super-duper-centers. Good luck finding parking.” While Wal-Town expresses concern with the political/economic/consumer climate that would allow such a frightening future, Idiocracy, (Austin resident) Mike Judge’s newest film comedy and the followup to his cult hit Office Space, envisions that future. Though Idiocracy, now out on DVD, was released theatrically last year as per Fox’s contract with Judge, it was done so only in a handful of theatres and with absolutely no marketing campaign; not a single trailer, poster, or television ad accompanied its release. There’s much speculation as to why a studio would deliberately suppress its own film, but it seems clear to me that Idiocracy is simply too hostile for Fox’s tastes, towards both major American corporations, and towards the sort of “everyman” that Fox would assume is the film’s target demographic. The plot involves average guy Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) and a prostitute named Rita (Maya Rudolph) being cryogenically frozen in an army experiment gone wrong, and waking up 500 years in the future, where they’re now the smartest people on the planet. The film’s cruel and amusing Wal-Town ♥♥♥½ out of 5 Wall-Town plays at Cinematheque Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. and Jan. 21-24 at 7 p.m. Idiocracy ♥♥♥♥ out of 5 Idiocracy is available on DVD opening sequence demonstrates the evolutionary logic that compels this dumbing-down: intelligent people are too wary about the economy to have children (“not with the market the way it is”); stupid people are too stupid to avoid it (“I’m gonna fuck all y’all!” says one spirited football player to a host of cheerleaders.) As the years pass and people become stupider, FuddRuckers becomes FuttBuckers becomes ButtRuckers, before it finally settles at ButtFuckers, still a children’s restaurant. Idiocracy’s plot is simply a catalogue of alarming stupidities and brazen low-brow gags, but it’s so scathing and contemptuous in its depiction of the future of American life that it works as satire, especially since Judge just piles everything he hates about contemporary American culture into his vision of a brainless future. Because Bauers talks in complete sentences and expresses coherent ideas, he’s accused by virtually everyone he meets of talking “like a fag.” Judge’s point seems clear: homophobes are morons. The plot ambles along charmingly as Bauers becomes secretary of the interior and is charged with the task of fixing “the ecomomy,” and though it stalls here and there and many of the gags fall flat, and it sports a moderately disturbing, potentially pro-eugenics thesis, Idiocracy is run through with enough ill-will and genuine misanthropy that I can’t help but recommend it.


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