Idiocracy

Mike Judge's 2006 satire Idiocracy presents a future where humanity has collectively lost its intelligence, replaced by rampant consumerism and anti-intellectualism. The film begins with a sobering premise: intelligent people reproduce less, while the less educated have more children, leading to a gradual dumbing down of society. By 2505, the world is a landfill of corporate logos, with citizens who can barely read or think critically. Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson), an average Army librarian with an IQ of 100, and Rita (Maya Rudolph), a prostitute whose file was misfiled, are chosen for a one-year hibernation experiment that accidentally lasts 500 years. They wake up to find themselves the smartest people on Earth.

The film was produced on a $30 million budget by 20th Century Fox and Ternion Pictures, but it grossed only $495,303 worldwide, making it one of the lowest-grossing wide releases in history. The studio reportedly buried the film with minimal marketing. Despite this, the cast includes strong performances from Dax Shepard as Frito, Joe's parasitic descendant, and Terry Crews as President Camacho, a former wrestler who rules by reality TV ratings. Judge co-wrote the script with Etan Cohen, and the score was composed by Theodore Shapiro.

Idiocracy has since become a cult classic, frequently cited in political and social commentary for its prescient take on celebrity culture, corporate dominance, and the erosion of critical thinking. Its themes have been discussed in academic circles, and in 2023, the film was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.[edit]

In 2005, a documentary-style opening explains that the average human intelligence is declining because intelligent people have fewer children while the less educated reproduce at higher rates. The film then introduces Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson), an Army librarian with a perfectly average IQ of 100. Joe is selected for a top-secret military hibernation experiment alongside Rita (Maya Rudolph), a prostitute whose file was misfiled. The experiment is meant to last one year, but the supervising officer is arrested for corruption, and the facility is abandoned.

Joe and Rita wake up in 2505 to find a world transformed. The landscape is covered in garbage, giant advertising screens, and monolithic franchises like Costco and Starbucks. The population is obese, illiterate, and obsessed with lowbrow entertainment like the reality show "Ow! My Balls!" Joe is immediately arrested for being "different" and subjected to intelligence tests that reveal his IQ is off the charts by modern standards. He is brought before President Camacho (Terry Crews), a former professional wrestler and porn star who governs based on popularity and reality TV ratings.

Camacho is facing a crisis: crops are failing because the soil has been depleted by overuse of a single fertilizer called "Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator," which is also the only beverage anyone drinks. The government's solution is to hold a televised trial to find a solution, and Joe is forced to participate. He is assigned a lawyer named Frito (Dax Shepard), a sleazy descendant who only cares about exploiting Joe for personal gain. Meanwhile, Rita is placed in a brothel where her intelligence makes her a star performer.

Joe's central conflict becomes convincing this moronic society to use water instead of Brawndo on crops, while navigating a world where everyone is too stupid to understand basic logic. He tries to explain agriculture to the Secretary of Defense, who responds with baffled hostility. The film follows Joe's attempts to save civilization, culminating in a televised trial where he must prove his sanity and worth to a nation that worships ignorance.[edit]