The future...and expectations.

Some future we got…

To think Robert Zemeckis’s film franchise “Back to the Future” missed the mark on so much! And yet, the Chicago Cubs actually managed to win a world series just as the movie predicted! But, I still think Zemeckis has to be a little disappointed being that there are no flying cars, hoverboards, and well time travel is still just a myth. Unless our government is hiding something from us…but, why would they do that?

**They did not sweep so look who's wrong again**

 Published in 2002, Feed by M.T Anderson also takes place in a futuristic setting. By the time this book was written, travel to the moon had already happened. Still 15 years later, your everyday teenager could only dream of outer space. A lifetime of trials and perseverance and there is still nearly next to no chance you get to leave the planet.Even in the movie Gattaca the 1997 futuristic flick based on perfection, it shows just how much a man is willing to endure to travel outside of his planet. From body modifications to mental abuse it really draws you in with good character development and even more interesting plot twists. Plus, just look at young Jude Law, man we all should know he was hoping for a better glow up after 20 years. 

Poor guy...

So how did the teenagers in Feed really react? Oh, you know it was the time of their lives. “We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” (pg1) Okay, I know, I lied. Thing is, this future is pretty advanced. Each and every person in this setting is equipped with something called ‘feed’ a database that mimics today’s internet except it is already built inside of us. Advertisements constantly pop up on feed just as they would on television on commercials. I guess the world has to be so advanced for a bunch of teenagers to be able to be so nonchalant about going to the moon. Then again, even the moon wasn’t what you would expect Neil Armstrong to describe it as. It has actually turned into some type of attraction that’s already being littered on “…and instead there’s just the rockiness, and the suckiness, and the craters all being full of old broken shit, like dome’s nobody’s using anymore…” (pg4) oh how EPA would be proud.

 M.T Anderson did hit the nail on the head several times in the first two chapters of Feed. When the main character is thinking to himself about the loneliness he is experiencing, you can’t help but groan or snicker when he says to the readers “Plus, I was thinking that maybe Loga and I could hook up again, if we didn’t find anyone else…” (pg12). That was only right after he explained to us the rocky overview of their history together, that nearly ended with the line, ‘I never want to see you again’ coming from Loga to the narrator. Just as a witness in society, to me it is obvious this kind of thinking is not outdated at all. This was not the only instance where Anderson had gotten right. When all the guys were hanging out, the narrator describes it as him trying to have fun but constantly telling himself to try to have fun. This is still way too common, and probably always will be. Expectations exist whether you want them to or not. When someone’s expectations aren’t meet for a hang out, it usually ends in them being bored and not having the fun they were looking for.

By looking at just the plenty of examples of what film directors, book writers, and just about anyone with an imagination had in mind for us, we’re beat. Yeah, I said it. The time we live in is not the future everyone hoped for. No talking animals, time travel, spaceships, or accessible road trips to the moon calls for entirely no fun, right? Wrong, just think for even a moment what you would be doing without your Iphone. Oh, you don’t have one? A Galaxy then. Oh…you’re using a flip phone? Okay, grandma, then riddle me this, what are you reading this on? Definitely not a newspaper article, that’s for sure. That all being said recent technologies like the common Iphone, Window’s phone, or Samsung’s Galaxy were all made popular not even ten years ago. Trust me, I was astonished too. Even laptops were not popularized until this most recent decade. So, I guess were getting somewhere.

That’s where expectations tie back in. Just as our narrator has these, not so common may I add, expectations of how a trip is going to go, Zemeckis and so many others expected huge imaginative things for our future. Now, these things are legitimate expectations. If you were to ask the average classroom if they expect cars to truly be able to fly, within their lifetime, you’re probably going to see a lot of children in agreement. Trust me, I’m expecting it too. No matter where the idea of these futuristic technologies came from, they are now and have been setting the bar. There are just plenty of people waiting for the day a board can hold the weight of a human being and almost magically, hover. Just like me, many are waiting for the chance to say “They’ve done it! This dog can actually talk you’ve got to come see this!”. To me, it’s just lame no one has reached the bar yet. Dear scientists, hurry up I’m almost 20.
Jordan L 919 words