Communication In The Film Idiocracy

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Idiocracy, released in 2006 (“Idiocracy (2006)”) is a little-known comedy directed by Mike Judge. This film was chosen for the second film analysis because while the movie is quite crude, it is quite evident that the movie is trying to get across to its audience a deeper meaning. This deeper meaning is shown through the opposing methods of using and understanding communication displayed throughout the entire movie. The ability to see the bigger point in Idiocracy allows for good discussion of the methods of communication. The concepts that will be used to analyze Idiocracy are uncritical thinkers, cocultures, and uncertainty avoidance. The first topic that will be analyzed is coculture, coculture is simply how a generation shapes the individual, …show more content…

In Idiocracy there are two obvious cultures/generations, Joe and Rita who are from 2005 and Frito and the rest of the people who were born 500 years in the future. There are also many obvious differences between these two cultures, most specifically in the way that they choose to communicate. The first time that Joe and Frito meet in the future, Frito is so completely mesmerized with his gigantic flashing television that he is unable to acknowledge Joe who has entered Frito’s house through a broken window. The differing generations make it extremely hard for Joe to communicate to the people of the future to find his way home. For example, when Joe decides to visit a doctor to figure out exactly what is wrong him Joe is presented with Dr. Lexus. Dr. Lexus gas a very hard time understanding exactly what Joe is attempting to tell him and at one point Dr. Lexus tells Joe that he “talks like a fag” (Idiocracy). Perhaps the most obvious clash in cultures that I noticed is towards the end of the movie. Joe is sentenced to Monday nights rehabilitation the arena plays the national anthem before the event officially starts, while the national anthem is playing Joe is silent and being respectful of the melody while everyone around him is …show more content…

There is a clear clash between the coculture depicted in the movie as well as a clash between Rita and Joe who are able to critically think and analyze and the citizens of 2505 who are uncritical thinkers. This lack of being able to critically think forces the future American’s to show very high uncertainty towards the norms that Rita and Joe try to impose on the new country. By analyzing the communication concepts present in Idiocracy I was better able to understand the movie as whole and really see the point that the movie is trying to get across. I was also able to make further connections to the differing concepts I used. More specifically, at the beginning of this assignment I was wondering how I would be able to make all three topics connect and intertwine cohesively with one another, however, after deciphering the movie I have a better understanding that while many concepts of communication do not directly relate, communication is a huge bundle of intertwined concepts. For example, some cocultures continuously clash I personally believe that the Baby Boomers and Millennials clash due to their differing abilities to be critical thinkers. The baby boomers were taught to be much more critical thinkers, while the Millennials have the internet to be reliant on causing them to be more uncritical thinkers. In my own life I can one

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