What dystopian TV series or movies, such as "The Handmaid's Tale", best describe our current predicament?

[artemisia1]

Recommendations requested. Thanks.

[NJCher]

1. I'm not sure of the plot

Maybe “Manchurian Candidate?”

I’ve not watched it in a long time. I know there was a remake.

This is a terrific question. I am very much looking forward to hearing the answers of others.

[Jeebo]

2. "1984" immediately comes to mind.

Also "The Manchurian Candidate" and "The Handmaid's Tale" already mentioned. And "A Face in the Crowd". Andy Griffith's character in that movie most reminds me of that orange con man who's in the White House now. It's the megalomania.

— Ron

[Maru Kitteh]

41. "A face in the crowd" with Andy Griffith. YES! That movie was mind-blowing

Watched it towards the end of his first term. Amazing movie and very much apropos to our current time.

[usonian]

3. Blazing Saddles

Corruption, collusion, racism, drunks, flatulence, Klan members, and yet, collective action against evil.

And Count Basie's orchestra.

Alternatively, most Twilight Zone episodes, especially the one with the happy ending.

[MattBaggins]

4. Daredevil Born Again

Perfectly mirrors what is going on but that is intentional

[Eugene]

5. Shadow on the Land (1968) based on Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here

It looks like 1960s America, but the government behaves more like Nazi Germany. The climax is an attempt at a Reichstag fire.

EDIT:

Hasan Piker's encounter with CBP recalls another film, The Stranger (1973)

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143458123

An astronaut crash lands on a parallel Earth, where the "Perfect Society" removes people with "dangerous ideas."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stranger_%281973_film%29

[Skittles]

6. am currently watching The Rockford Files

lots of mob stuff, car chases, ups and downs, all made palatable by the yummy and affable James Garner....

[Aristus]

37. And pretty liberal too, from what I understand.

Given that he was from Oklahoma. Good for him. He is missed.

[sheshe2]

7. Stephen King

The Stand and The Dead Zone.

Both explain the predicament and how we got there and how we might survive.

[ironman99]

8. Max Headroom

Who ever has the best tv ratings becomes president. A few rich, mostly poor people barely getting by.

[Intractable]

9. The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Trump (as Thanos) wants to kill half of us.

He wants to kill all the poor people, so he can feel richer.

[usonian]

10. Late night thought. "Needful Things" novel by Stephen King.

In the movie version, Out of town stranger Leland Gaunt (Max Von Sydow) opens an antique store and incites people to violence against each other.

Gaunt demands payment both in cash and in small "favors", usually pranks played by his customers on their neighbors.

Sounds familiar.

Wikipedia

[meadowlander]

11. Idiocracy and WALL-E

[kimbutgar]

35. I was talking to a school janitor and he was complaining about how the kids are so messy and don't dispose of

Their trash properly. I thought of WALL·E. My son saw that movie when he was young and used to say he didn’t want to live in a wall e world

And Idiocracy is what we are experiencing right now with this administration and maga world.

[Shipwack]

12. V

The early ‘80s television series where seemingly friendly aliens arrive on Earth. They do a big PR campaign while slowly implementing a fascist regime.

One of their first steps is undermining people’s faith in science and scientists.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_(1983_miniseries)

[kimbutgar]

34. Every time I hear repukes speak I think of the aliens in V acting like they are human

With a nefarious agenda !

[Silver Gaia]

13. Definitely Handmaid's Tale, but also the Star Wars series, Andor,

especially the second season, which just dropped its last 3 episodes today. Andor is about the concurrent rise of the Empire and the Resistance and Rebellion mounted against it. It stars Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, who was the main character of the film Rogue One, and a rising rebel hero. Rogue One is a prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy we are familiar with. Andor shows the underpinnings of how it all came to be, and there are many interesting parallels. I think I will rewatch Rogue One when I finish Andor.

The Handmaid's Tale plops us right in the midst of a full blown takeover by a super patriarchal, rightwing, religio-fascist regime. It tells the story of an inside rebellion led by June Osbourne, the handmaid known as Offred (played by Elisabeth Moss), and others. It is emotional, scary, and sometimes hard to watch, but well worth it if you can handle that. It is in its final season with just a few more episodes to go, but there is a sequel called The Testament, also written by Margaret Atwood, that is set 10 years after this show ends, and should air its first season later this year or early next year.

Both are inspiring to me, just in different ways. Both offer us a view of rebellion and resistance from the point of view of the oppressed, and provide much food for thought.

I think these two series are the ones most in touch with the modern era as they are being filmed, and that adds a special richness to the content for me. I can often see why writers, directors, actors, and others made the filmmaking choices they did, and it helps these stories resonate with me.

I hope that helps some.

[Blue_Adept]

36. Andor is the top current/modern show that's capturing everything right

Which, of course, is why it's angering a lot of leftists as it's pointing out their flaws as well.

[Silver Gaia]

38. It's not angering this leftist!

Considering what not to do is important, too. I like this show a lot!

[Meowmee]

14. On some level "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"

Although I can’t think of any one film or novel, that would really capture everything that’s going on.

[JustAnotherGen]

15. The Plot Against America

If you don't have Max/HBO read the book.

[Iris]

20. Yes!

Was watching the HBO (?) version during first Trump administration and had to stop.

[Oneironaut]

26. That was a great series that deserved more recognition imo.

[JustAnotherGen]

29. I'd also recommend

Fatherland - the movie or the book.

And - the Man in the High Castle. The series or the book.

[JCMach1]

16. Brazil

[Iris]

17. Not dystopian. In fact, based on true events in 1930s - The Cradle Will Rock

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150216/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

[JustAnotherGen]

21. And it has Lloyd

aka John Cusack in it! I'll have to see if it's streaming anywhere.

[Buckeyeblue]

18. Twighlight Zone

Each day continues to be a little stranger than the day before, for almost 10 years. Maybe a little longer. I was going to say it started when Trump rode the escalator down to announce his presidential candidacy. But I think it really started when Republicans started pushing that Obama was born in Kenya.

[allegorical oracle]

19. Invasion of the Body Snatchers nt

[anamnua]

22. Dead of Night

Last edited Sun May 18, 2025, 08:17 PM - Edit history (2)

Spoiler alerts galore.
This was an iconic, surreal, way-ahead-of-its-time British horror film from 1945 starring Michael Redgrave. It serves as a brilliant parable for the wildly oscillating kaleidoscope in recent American history: Trump 1, Biden, Trump 2.
It begins with our hero arriving to a large country house for a weekend stay. He then goes through a series of
macabre experiences specific to each of the guests — something like ‘Tales from the Crypt’ from the 70’s. They join together for a nightmarish finale in which our hero is the victim.
Our hero then wakes up to warmth, sweetness, and light with his dear wife tenderly caressing his wrist. The phone rings: someone is inviting him down to finish off some contracted work in the country. His wife urges him to go ahead and make a weekend break of it as it will, inter alia, help him ‘get over all those dreadful nightmares’.
The film ends as our hero reaches his destination and finds to his horror that he is pulling up to — the exact same country house.

[obamanut2012]

23. Literally The Handmaid's Tale

[Swede]

24. Children of Men

Society is on the brink of total collapse. Wars and rumors of wars.

&ab_channel=AllAction

[maxrandb]

25. Star Trek - "The Squire of Gothos"

Except the Retrumplicans, that could be the "parents" and punish their petulant child, haven't shown up yet...and likely never will.

It will be up to the American people to put this spoiled brat in time-out.

?feature=shared

[Cowpunk]

27. Take a look at "The Regime"

It's a funny look at what having a mad dictator in charge is like.

[Drum]

30. Recommended!

[crud]

28. Man in the High Castle

Other than the Nazi's taking over the USA, it's about the Nazi's taking over the USA.

[Silver Gaia]

39. That's another good show that is

sometimes hard to watch.

[Midnight Writer]

31. Deep Throat. Asshole men are shoving things down our throats and all we can do is swallow.

[cbabe]

32. Fahrenheit 451

[kimbutgar]

33. Name of the game show Los Angeles 2017 directed by a young Stephen Spielberg in 1971

View for free here:

https://archive.org/details/the-name-of-the-game-la-2017-steven-spielberg


The environment has become unlivable and the rich have gone underground creating a dystopian society.

[artemisia1]

40. kick /nt

[bdamomma]

42. Good

comparisons, but this is no movie, we are living in chaos and havoc, we need to stop this.

[bobalew]

43. A tale of a Boy & his Dog

Don Johnson’s first movie. As far as reality is concerned, however it really feels like a hallucination gone really bad, like a mass LSD bad trip rippling its way through sidereal time…