Elysium hits all the themes of a cyberpunk movie. It has high-tech low-lifes, it has corporations in total control, it has a massive inequality gap, it has technology leading to dehumanization. But what it doesn’t have, is neon-lit rainy streets at night.
Cyberpunk as a genre has themes that don’t rely on visuals and yet so many cyberpunk stories use the 80s aesthetic as a short-hand for “cyberpunk”. I think this makes the cyberpunk “look” feel dated even though its themes aren’t actually stuck in the 80s.
This video does a great job of breaking down where cyberpunk came from. It was a product of the 1980s. Specifically (in America), the cultural fears of rising crime rates, removing regulations on corporations, and the rising influence of Japan. These were things people worried about in the 1980s and cyberpunk was able to tap into those fears by taking them to the extreme. And while some of those fears were well-founded (removing regulations on corporations), not all aspects of them remained timeless.
Elysium replaces the cultural fears of the 1980s with the cultural fears of the 2010s. Climate change, access to health care, increasing wealth gap. These things are now taken to the extreme while still following the cyberpunk template. I wish more stories were able to separate the 1980s aesthetic from the themes of cyberpunk. The themes of the genre are still relevant today even if the “look” has become dated.
If you haven’t seen it, here’s a trailer. And it’s currently streaming on Netflix.
Upload from Greg Daniels on Prime has been great with this too, and manages to maintain the humor despite the storyline becoming more and more grim and dystopic.
Also the Total Recall remake with Colin Farrell, Peripheral, based on a Willam Gibson novel, and Westworld all fit this as well.
I mentioned this recently, but I’m very pleasantly surprised by how Upload has been leaning more and more into cyberpunk and away from romantic comedy. I enjoyed season 3 more than I was expecting.
Have you seen any of the new The Peripheral series? It’s a great adaptation of the Gibson novel and again, not at all 80’s.
Yes, I’m still disappointed they cancelled it after one season. Apparently it got renewed for a second season but then they changed their mind and cancelled it before it started filming.
I agree though, the updated take on cyberpunk with ubiquitous 3d printing set in a rural area was a great idea. Also, I liked how the “apocalypse” in the future was no single event but just a slow march of bad things one after another. Gibson always has great ideas.
Peripheral got canceled? Motherfuckers, what the fuck is it with streaming services pulling this with every single show that isn’t a huge pile of shit?
I only started watching it because s2 was confirmed. Then, when I was nearly finished with it, they lol jk’d everyone and cancelled it.
I literally cancelled my prime over it, they had the gall the end it on a cliffhanger.
I think that’s the worst thing about the modern cancel a show after one or two good seasons trend; that it’s accompanied by the inability for writers to tell a complete story. Always gotta leave it on a cliffhanger.
I’ve canceled all my streaming services except Apple TV (so far…) Nearly everything I actually liked got pulled after at best 2 seasons, and they’ve all hiked prices because apparently executives felt they weren’t getting paid enough. HBO was the last to go after they axed Our Flag Means Death.
Apple’s still getting my money because For All Mankind has had a great run, Ted Lasso was great, Foundation has been decent although different from the books, Silo hasn’t gotten canceled yet, and now there’s that new WW II bomber series that’s seemed pretty good based on a couple of episodes. They did axe Hello Tomorrow! which I liked although apparently people mostly didn’t, and so far that’s the only show I’ve liked that they’ve killed off prematurely.
Join us in Homelab. Jellyfin + the *darrs.
I’ll never pay a subscription ever again for streaming, they had their chance… things are worse than cable was
I really didn’t like this movie. I usually have a really good suspension of disbelief, but this one violated reality far too much for me to keep caring about the story and not wonder things like:
- how do you intercept data wirelessly when it’s transmitted over cable?
- what were they doing with all the robots? They were making so many, but they weren’t being used for manual labor at all?
- why didn’t they use the robots for manual labor when it’s gotta be cheaper than human labor, it doesn’t make sense. Even if you abuse the humans and don’t pay them, they need food and shelter to not just die.
I watched this movie in theaters and still remember how much I disliked it.
I won’t argue whether it’s a good movie, I only wanted to say that it was cyberpunk. For example, having his parole officer be a robot I think represented how the robots had more rights than the people (technology leading to dehumanization) even if it didn’t make logical sense for a robot to do that job. Also, magical healing booths that can cure literally every ailment within seconds through non-invasive shiny light. I can see how suspension of disbelief could get stretched thin.
I felt that way too, also there was no reason for Elysium to not have healing pods in hospitals/ambulances on earth, as the tech was shown to be EXTREMELY easy to deploy. Even if they were being greedy jerks, rich people clearly still have to go to planetside. The CEO guy wouldn’t have died if there was a local flying magic fix-all that zipped in to revive him, which the station later shows that it can do! They have to make them on earth already since the station doesn’t have factories. Whole thing was just plot holes on top of plot holes.
We have the technology to feed and house everyone, and yet… Reality is full of plot holes I guess
That’s my point entirely. Matt Damon’s entire reason for going into space was because the med pods don’t exist on earth at all, even though they’re cheap enough that every Elysium house has one, and they’re easy to deploy rapidly in large numbers as shown in the end. That means not a single aid organization exists in the world, no planetside governments exist anymore, hospital ships are gone, etc. It’s literally just soulless corporations (which would in reality have med pods on earth to keep key workers operational), and police/paramilitary organizations (which would also have med pods onsite for combat injuries). Matt Damon should have a wide variety of planetside sites to heist/break into, just in LA, without going to space.
I just watched it and totally agree. Not only the right aesthetic, but the central topics of the 21st century. Although I felt the political message was somewhat subdued in favor of the action. Really enjoyed it! Thanks for the recommendation.
Never seen it OP, but thanks for the post! I have it on the RAID array, guess I’ll spin it up.
It’s wild how so much cyberpunk came true, and continues to do so. For young people, it’s just how it is. For us GenXers, it was a prophecy.
where cyberpunk came from. It was a product of the 1980s. Specifically (in America), the cultural fears of rising crime rates, removing regulations on corporations, and the rising influence of Japan.
Robocop! It strange that it’s never hailed as cyberpunk because it hits all those notes.
Matt Damon died to give the world health care.
Watched the trailer
Being set in 2153 kinda breaks teh trope of cyberpunk being “near future”.
I’m also not seeeign too much of a hi-tech lo-life, but I’ll trust you on that.
The themes of the genre are still relevant today even if the “look” has become dated. Why do you think the look is dated? Look at any major east asian city (which the aesthetic was originally based on). It matches pretty well.
That said, a different look could be interesting. I might watch it
I’ve not seen it for a few years but I remember it being an alright film but a pretty cool example of cyberpunk “during the day”. Don’t go in expecting it to be as good as District 9 and you should enjoy!
You’ll see hi tech, low life for sure.
Thanks for the hint. For an action movie made to appeal to the masses, I found it to be pretty solid cyberpunk-sci-fi. Sure the universe is not super deeply thought through but that was obviously not the main point of the movie anyway. The message is anti capitalist enough, so I won´t complain.
![[Movie] I think Elysium is the best example of a cyberpunk movie that doesn't rely on the 80s aesthetic](https://lemmy.zip/pictrs/image/767dc54e-c53c-4874-b4e9-2634e1ce87fe.webp){kind=link}