Wall-E observes the effects of technological advances on society. The citizens enjoy many conveniences, and as a result live an easy, yet dystopic, existence.
Lucy travels through time to view the Earth at various periods in the past. As she travels, the setting behind her gradually changes in a timelapse. She visits the dinosaurs and eventually meets Lucy the Australopithecus.
The genre of dystopia – the ‘not good place’– has captured the imaginations of artists and audiences alike for centuries. But why do we bother with all this pessimism? Alex Gendler explains how dystopias act as cautionary tales – not about some particular government or technology, but the very idea that humanity can be molded into an ideal shape.