In modern day America, the imagination of living in a dystopian society has become more real than fiction. Living in this time, many people are witnessing police shootings becoming more common and in many cities, police not coming to help in a timely fashion. In inner cities, there is civil unrest, where many people do not like the police, while police are sometimes afraid to go into some neighborhoods in inner cities out of fear for what might happen to them. The current situation has led to inner cities becoming some of the most dangerous cities in America, and in some cases, the world. In the movie Robo Cop and Dredd, they both take place in dystopian societies in future America. When many people saw this movies decade ago in theaters, many people would not have guessed that American society would have come anywhere close to what the movie depicts. By comparing Robo Cop and Dredd to American Society, we can see a connection between the movies’ setting and present day America because of the lawlessness that we see in inner cities and the dystopian society we live in.

In the movie Robo Cop, it takes place in Detroit in the future. In the movie, the setting is set in the future to where Detroit is in a crime ridden, apocalyptic state on the verge of complete financial ruin. During the 1980’s, many sci-fi movies depicted America in a dystopian state in the future and some of what the movie depicts is actually true. An example of this is how Detroit was depicted in the movie and how it is now in present day America. In the movie Robo Cop, the movie is set in the near future in a dystopian society. In Detroit, it is a crime ridden area where the whole city is financially ruined. Though, back when Robo Cop was released in 1987, many people would not have imaged how close Detroit was compared to present day Detroit. One comparison that can be made is that can be made is the financial issues that Detroit faces. Present Day Detroit is in financial ruin as the city has filed bankruptcy as they are in “$18 Billion in debt” (O’ Conner). Also, another comparison is between Rob cop and present day America is how dangerous the city of Detroit is in the movie compared to the present day. In the movie, Detroit is full of crime where gangs run the streets and police don’t do much to stop them. The same can be said about present day Detroit because it takes police “an average of 58 minutes to respond to emergency calls, compared to the national average of 11 minutes” (Bialik). By comparing the movie, Robo Cop, to present day Detroit, they both have eerie similarities like the financial crisis they both have and how police don’t respond to crimes like they should.

Although both of these movies came out decades apart, they are both similar in many ways. A similarity between both of these films is how the climax is presented in the movie. In Dredd, the climax occurs when he finds the drug lord and throws her hundreds of feet to her death. This is similar to Robo Cop because Robo Cop repeatedly shoots the corrupt police officer who crashes through a window and falls to his death. Another similarity between both of these movies is that both Judge Dredd and Robo Cop wont shoot anyone that surrenders to them. Also, both to these main characters have to fight against corruption in the their police departments. In Robo Cop, most of the police depart is against Robo Cop because they think they are going to be replaced and one officer is helping a gang so Robo Cop will be killed. In Dredd, when he is going after the drug kingpin, he had to fight against the four other Judges that were protecting the drug kingpin. This is like some police departments in America, because some police officers will become corrupt and try to protect the criminals they are supposed to arrest. Both films show many similarities between them and how corruptness can occur in police departments across the country. 

A difference between Dredd and Robo Cop is how both main characters’ act towards the criminals that they face. In Robo Cop, the main character will always try to apprehend the suspects that he’s going after, but will kill then if he has to. Robo Cop must apprehend each suspect he can because he was programmed to when he was created to not kill anyone who surrenders. In Dredd, the main character, Judge Dredd, will judge them on their crimes and will kill then if he charges them with murder. By being the judge, jury and executioner, Judge Dredd doesn’t give many criminals the change to surrender. In America, this can relate to police brutality and how police take justice into their own hands. In statistics from 2010, there were “4,861 reports of police misconduct and 247 fatalities reported” (Police). This relates to Dredd because of how police brutality was rampant in the and how it is a big problem in America. Through the statistics, there are hundreds of police that use excessive force by means of being too physical or through the use of a firearm. Through the comparison, Dredd is a representation of how America acts because police serve their own type of justice on the criminals that they are supposed to apprehend. This can also be connected to the amount of police shootings this year where police have killed a person. In 2016, police have killed “884” people since January 1st  (Washington).During the present time, police brutality is in the news a lot more because of the shootings that occur that aren’t warranted.

In conclusion, Dredd and Robo Cop have many similarities between them. Some of these include how the settings are both in dystopian societies where the cities are filled with crime and they are both police officers trying to clean up the streets. The difference is that in Dredd, the police are judging the people on their crimes and killing the criminals, but in Robo Cop, the police try to apprehend the suspects instead of trying to kill them. Both movies have parallels to modern America because of how these movies predicted the future. Both movies predicted that many of the inner cities would be so similar to the dystopian setting. Dredd also shows parallels to how there is so much police brutality in the U.S. By comparing both movies to how the U.S is right now with the crime in the inner cities and police brutality, we should learn from these movies and try and fix the problems that are hurting so many people in the U.S. 
