
Almost any typical modern rendition of a dystopian future includes some catastrophic event such as nuclear war or climate change, blaming humanity for its own downfall.  A less common approach, perhaps because it feels too real to some, is that humanity is on a decline in intelligence, and that ultimately will cause their own extinction.  Idiocracy and The Book of Eli are both set in futures with their own individual problems, but what they both have in common is that the root of all the destruction and mayhem is due to a decrease in average intelligence, a problem that is beginning to show in modern day politics and society.

Idiocracy follows the path of Joe Bauers, a spectacularly average man played by Luke Wilson, as he is frozen for an army experiment and wakes up 500 years later in a future where everyone is significantly less intelligent than he is.  As he ventures throughout the disgusting, trash filled wasteland looking for a way back to the past he takes an IQ test and is found to be the smartest person alive.  Because of this, the current president, Dwayne Camacho, a former professional wrestler played by Terry Crews, appoints him to be the new Secretary of the Interior and promises that he will fix all the problems of the future, including an economic crisis and the food shortage.  Overall, it’s very apparent how idiotic the people of the future are, especially after it is revealed that the reason the crops stopped growing was because they were being watered with Brawndo, their version of Gatorade, instead of water.  The only hope for the future is Jack Bauer, who eventually becomes president himself.

The Book of Eli is a film set in a post apocalyptic future 30 years after a nuclear war.  The film follows the adventures of Eli, a lone wanderer played by Denzel Washington, as he attempts to make a trek to the west coast of the United States in order to preserve a book.  As he is adventuring, it is revealed that most of the people that are alive in this future aren’t literate, simply because after the nuclear holocaust most of the books were destroyed.  The fallout of this wanton destruction of intelligence becomes apparent in the form of roving groups of bandits and entire towns that are led by vicious mad-men.  This barbaric portrayal of the future only has one hope; a colony of people on the west coast who are trying to preserve the intelligence of the past.

Idiocracy and The Book of Eli both have very different interpretations of the future, but they do have something in common; the root of the problems that are shown is a lack of appreciation for intelligence.  In Idiocracy, the average modern day human was shown to be a sex crazed maniac with violent tendencies.  Ultimately it wasn’t the active destruction of intelligence that brought on the downfall of humanity, but the lack of any positive emotions associated with intelligence.  The cause of the problems in The Book of Eli do, however, stem from the destruction of intelligence, with book burning being the main culprit.  Both films depict a less than desirable future where barbaric men are in control of the masses of idiotic, similarly barbaric people.

Though the cause of these futures are the same, the resulting societies that stem from the decrease in intelligence in society are extremely different.  In Idiocracy, the populus of the future may be idiotic, but they aren’t scattered.  If anything, overpopulation is the more immediate issue, rather than extinction.  The film portrays that the society still has a justice system and hospitals, and even if they aren’t exactly as helpful to society as our version today, they do still exist.  Society isn’t crumbling, whereas in The Book of Eli, the only remains of society are in the forms of bandit tribes and towns run by warlords.  The reason behind these differences is probably the only real difference in the cause of these two futures:  There was a nuclear war prior to the future depicted in The Book of Eli.  This nuclear war most likely targeted the larger, more populated cities, and the fallout would leave most of the land arid and barren.  The result would be a food shortage, similar to that in Idiocracy, but they wouldn’t have some simple quick fix.  Most of the people who didn’t die in the war would starve, and those who didn’t would either have some means of growing their own food, or they would have to steal it from others, explaining the loose groups of community and bandits.  

Though the two films may differ in many ways, the ultimate warning stays the same:  Humanity needs to realize that nothing good can come from shedding intelligence for more attractive, short term solutions.  The people in charge of the society in The Book of Eli probably thought that stupid people were easier to control, so they made sure nobody would be intelligent enough to rebel, ultimately resulting in the barren wasteland of bandits that is depicted.  Idiocracy shows the results of a society that is fixated on popularity and hedonism.  The less intelligent people of the modern day are shown to continually reproduce, while the more intelligent are trying to find “the right moment” to have a child, in order to allow the child to grow up in a more optimal future.  Both processes result in a future filled with less intelligent people who are less fortunate than those of the present, and have problems that are not relatable to the problems of the modern day man.  
