Elysium, The Perfect World ... For Some

Rating: 8/10 (5 December 2013)

Why are writers and other creative types fond of portraying dystopic societies? (Bladerunner; I Robot; The Hunger Games; The Lord of the Rings trilogy; the Terminator series; the Matrix trilogy; The Omega Man and its remake, I am Legend; even the star Wars franchise; Elysium; the list goes on.) Maybe because we live in one.
The dystopia in this movie is Los Angeles. The utopia is the eponymous satellite city. Elysium orbits in plain sight but remains out of reach. Citizens of hell on earth long for and die trying to reach heaven above, a 19-minute spaceship ride away.
Neill Blomkamp, the director, is quoted as saying the movie isn't science fiction, it's today. I agree. The only difference between Elysium the movie set in 2154 and real life in 2013 (besides the cool exoskeletons) is that Elysium – utopia – isn't up in the sky.
Elysiums exist all over the country. We've seen them. Some of us have even been inside them. They're cleverly disguised with normal names like Beverly Hills, The Hamptons, The White House, Trump Tower, Park Avenue. You just need a special key to get inside; it's called seven-figures.
The movie ends with rogue citizens of hell making everybody – not just the privileged – citizens of utopia. Once everybody is a citizen, they are entitled to benefits. They can't be arrested. Medical aid is dispatched to care for everybody in Los Angeles! It's just that simple. The resources existed. Nothing had to be appropriated. No one had to give an order. No one received less because thousands or millions were given some. A few new lines of computer code did the trick.
Again, this isn't science fiction. This is real. This is now. This is today.
We put a man on the moon – a bunch of times. We landed an SUV on mars and the lack of gas stations doesn't appear to be a concern.
We can care and feed for all our populace. We just don't want to. Or rather, the few that hold the keys don't want to.
Sooner or later those few will be forced to turn over the keys to the city. Just like in the movie, the political and social will to do the right thing will be forced upon them. It won't come from the inside, from the body politic, or the establishment. The will, the impetus to provide functional, universal care for everybody will come from below, from hell, from the dystopias that exist next to the Elysiums, from the masses, from those who need it and die from its lack. Sooner or later these raged masses will become fed up and demand what already exists, what they see others enjoying everyday, what the elite take for granted. Warning: the later the demand comes, the uglier, bloodier, deadlier it will be. I think another word for that is revolution.