As always, I’m very grateful to all my supporters on Patreon. If you’d like to help support my work in exchange for a great many perks, you can sign up at www.patreon.com/pillarofgarbage P.S. Once or twice throughout this video, I mistakenly refer to presidential candidate Jack Johnson as ‘Joe Johnson’. I’m truly sorry for any confusion this may have caused, and I’m bewildered at my own mistake. How could I ever have forgotten about Jack Johnson, proponent of the innovative 3 cent titanium tax, unique political firebrand? I have no answers and can only beg forgiveness.
One of the only things that futurama/Fukuyama didn't predict with the eternal 1999 with everything being the same/rehashed was that there would be so little problems that people would decide to make their own problems creating a new culture that eats itself to the point that anything 20 years ago is considered taboo with a lot of labels attached to it. Instead, people would rather tear down the current culture and rehash historically failed ideas(like how well rehashing 80/90s movies is doing "sarcasm") to slay an imaginary dragon that doesn't exist beyond the landscape of social media, even if it harms society and/or it benefits corporate monopolies (sorta like that mom episode in futurama).
Starting a discussion about whether or not the upcoming Futurama reboot can make it in 2023 by invoking Francis Fukayama's 'The End of History' is peak video essay, and I say that in the best way possible.
I agree. What an insightful, well constructed and executed discussion! Wow! I laughed, I cried, I pondered, and my perspective on the topic was shifted by the end. Well done in many many ways!
To me futurama was always a mirror of the world 1000 years before, it wasn't ever stuck in 1999, it always was stuck in the events and atmosphere of when the episodes came out
I thought it was superimposing the 20th century in the 31st. But honestly, we're only 22 years into the 21st century and we're still vaguely recognising it, especially when you crop out the internet.
Franscis Fukayama watching the 2008 financial crash, war in Ukraine and rise of China happening in the 2000s Franscis Fukayama: "The risk I took was calculated. But man am I bad at math."
After hearing both about 50 times in this video, I feel pretty confident that Groening titled the show after Fukuyama. Not literally, but they sound very similar on purpose.
The end of history bit is interesting because growing up in the early 2000s, that was what the vibes were in the late 90s history textbooks at school. To where they were still riding off the high of the end of the Soviet Union but before 9/11 happened. In hindsight that old mentality is ironic because it thought that liberal democracy under American capitalism would just coast on by forever and didn't factor in the rise of China, more recessions, growing wealth divides and the re-emergence of fascism. I think can all be tied to late stage capitalism which is the exact opposite of the end of history narrative
I often wonder how capitalism would've been able to continue without the sharp authoritarian turn America took after 9/11. In 1999 you had the absolute trainwreck that was Woodstock '99 which could easily be argued as the best microcosm for neoliberalsim ever conceived and anarchist black blocs, union members, and environmental activists basically united to shut down the WTO's meeting in Seattle later that year with both events funnily enough being put down with heavy law enforcement and National Guard involvement. Hell in 2000, Rage Against the Machine held a protest concert outside of the Democratic National Convention which was violently broken up by LAPD, and they even breifly shut down Wall Street performing on the steps of the exchange for a music video directed by Michael Moore. Looking back it really felt like the entire canvass of of the post-Cold War world was falling in on itself with the absence of a proper enemy to rally against.
@@onearmedbandit84 think all of the negatives would've happened eventually and was unavoidable. Almost every modern day problem from the environmental collapse to gross wealth inequality and subsequently democratic backsliding stems from neoliberalism being allowed to reign supreme
@@Spongebrain97 I agree. Looking back at how the Democratic Party progressively leapfrogged to the right on economics as did the Republican Party on social issues every election cycle for the past 30 years it most likely would've been inevitable.
I just saw the first episode of the Hulu revival and it was funny as hell. Same writers as the previous seasons, and they haven’t missed a beat. Episode got pretty insane and I think the format of Hulu works very well for this show. Can’t wait to see more. Billy West seems to be getting back into his characters so he sounded a bit off at first but other than that, I enjoyed what we have gotten thus far.
When i watched futurama originally 25 years ago i never took the characters exemplifying bad attitudes for then or accepting a bad status quo as indicating approval of the world it was satirizing. I felt it was a reflection of the apathy that in fact would lead to the future to be the same as the past and was meant to cause an awareness not to do that. I have seen several younger people looking back at futurama and making this mistake.
I never thought that Futarma was supposed to be an accurate prediction. I thought it was a satire of today and thinking the future would save us, from any of it. There's still racism, sexism, poverty, crime and any number of other small problems that are still present in the future.
futurama always implied that humanity sucked, and it would continue to suck even harder in the future. it was much darker than say rick and morty but it was not so showy about it, it was much more implicit.
Great points about the end of History. Another potential problem is the fall into shallow parody. For example, in Futurama, besides the jokes about 90-00's society and the fairly unique human drama, you could easily see the cultural sci-fi influences and references made by the show.The doomerist, moralistic stories of the 50's, the utopian sense of wonder of Star Trek, the playful, fairly shallow arcade game-like approach of the early 80's. All things the writers knew and liked. These weren't simply used as "hey, I understood that reference" jokes, they actually set the tone. Compare that with Disenchantment, supposed to parody fantasy tropes and genre. There is... nothing. Vague fairytale vibe, your odd Game of Thrones or D&D winks thrown in there, Dung Age stereotypes, steampunk and smurfs for some reason... The show does not know what it is talking about, and it is hurting the story. And I'm afraid this will creep in this new Futurama. As a genre, scifi is not super active. What are they gonna reference ? Dystopian black mirror ? Mindscrewie annihilation ? There's not much to go from.
I do like Disenchantment, but you’ve got a good point here about these shows having a different type of engagement with their respective genres/influences
more radical progressive cautious optimism?! I think to stay any worth it futurama has to get more star trek i think. Maybe genuine star trek in dystopia with enough cynicism?!
Futurama doesn't need to update its sci fi references; they were mostly old when the show began, and there's a ton of retro sci fi to mine for _those_ concepts. Plus, it has its own worldbuilding to fall back on. That said, there are still pulpy trends that might get a few jabs, like the litrpg/gamelit genre that's exploded in the last fifteen years.
@@leephillips4402It hasn't been officially cancelled or renewed, but one of the writers said the next season was almost finished. So it's really weird and nebulous.
@@leephillips4402 Maybe they literally set fire to all existing copies of five already finished seasons, so they could use it as a tax write-off when airing these episodes would have made them less money.
Man. I do remember back in school, thinking something to the extent of "can't wait for more historic events to happen so I can witness them" I swear I was being sarcastic, people. It was sarcasm!
I just wanted to say this was an absolutely fantastic, well thought-out video essay, one of the best I've watched this year. You've earned yourself a new subscriber, keep up the great work sir.
I feel like the most 1999 thing Futurama 11 could do is have all the current events going on in the background and have the gang have their usual adventures completely ignoring the world falling apart around them and complaining in a tone deaf way like NoBoDy WaNtS tO wOrK aNyMoRe
This and king of the hill I think really could work with a reboot in the modern day. Both shows excelled being so present in the times they were made, with biting commentary on various issues from great, likeable characters. The one way to NOT do it is trying to 1:1 recreate that original success which, imo, is impossible.
Considering the, to say the least, problematic politics of Mike Judge's Beavis and Butthead reboot I do not have confidence that a hypothetical reboot of a show centered around a conservative white dude living in suburban Texas would bear any such fruit.
@@leephillips4402 There's also the much-loved eugenics propaganda piece, 'Idiocracy'. But generally I am immediately suspicious of any satire produced by any comedy personality who peaked during the Clinton era.
@@onearmedbandit84 I wouldn't say Mike Judge has peaked, people just keep giving him money to rehash stuff he'd already given satisfying conclusions to and he keeps taking it instead of working on new projects.
I'd also include that these topics were also major topics in their time, I argue that most have grown bigger since the original premiere. Just like King of the Hill; they both curtel to a certain population Geographic of the world as well as to the Populations most able to make a global change (i.e. middle class, right-wing, southerners [for us Americans], and Melenoleus world wide) I do believe That these populations still have massive power for global change; possible even more so today?
The most accurate thing Futurama predicted was pop cultural stagnation. Afterall, what is a nostalgic revival really but putting a dead celebrity's head in a jar?
I'm honestly more excited about Futurama coming back for an 11th season on Hulu than I am about any of the Star Wars shows on Disney+. I may have to renew my Hulu account.
great analysis! its kind of represents a quandary with shows like this, do you acknowledge the present and provide witty takes on it, or do you focus on more base, humanistic stories and wrap them up in escapism. In a lot of ways id say "the Orville" has a very similar working concept to Futurama and has managed to successfully comment on the present in an organic, thought provoking manner whilst also providing base level fun/drama with silly sci fi themes to get lost in.
@@camelopardalis84 Tbh, I haven't watched Futurama in years and I was 12 when it started airing in '99. I know that it was fairly progressive and even anti-capitalistic at times, but I was still ignorant on trans issues last time I watched it (maybe 7 or 8 years ago). So I can only hope they'll do it better now, but as a cis man I leave the judgement to the people who have to deal with transphobia and bigots on a daily basis.
@@God_Is_An_Atheist Firstly, I need to tell you that recently, I was met with what was apparently genuine disbelief in a comment section of another video that when I mentioned that I remembered the 1990s. As a person who likely also does, do with that piece of bizarre information what you will. Secondly, yes. Trans people are the ones to judge those things, but I really do get where that one trans person I've seen talk about it in the aforementioned video is coming from. It's very, very understandable. So I feel like I can judge Futurama negatively on that front. I've had it explained to me how the show did badly. And I also see that some of it probably came from a place of innocent (enough) ignorance.
I have always loved futurama and always been a big fan, but these first few episodes feel pretty shallow compared to the other seasons, but i WILL keep watching hoping they get deeper into things.
My biggest worry is that it might be too self referential, what I mean is that it's gonna reuse old jokes instead of having the charm that most episodes had. In the revival before the most recent one, the first few episode had that and it was putting me off until it seemed to figure out its own identity and we got more and more banger episode the more it went off until the finale. I'm optimistic though, I'm hoping that even if the early episodes in this revival are "haha bender asshole and don't care", "Fry dumb", "no one likes zoidberg" I'm hoping eventually they'll reach move past it and get it's charm back
Societies can be cyclical. Why would it be hard to imagine the future society portrayed in Futurama dealing with something similar to the progression of ours?
4 weeks later I return to share my opinion: yes! The new season is amazing! Haven’t seen a new all time favorite, but very solid episodes that haven’t missed a beat.
Futurama will probably be fine if they kept decent writers but i expect it to be a step down in quality. My fear for the show is it's going to be too late to the game about a lot topics and that would certainly make the show less relevant. I also fear they're undermining the show's legacy by necessitating a third ending for the show. Futurama ended perfectly 2 times. That's a feat that almost no show has ever done. It seems impossible they'll be able to end it perfectly a third time. I don't want Futurama to end like a wet fart. I want that perfect ending that balances humor, feeling, and a celebration the show. Let's face it, most revivals are subpar and even amazing shows botch their revivals. Futurama was still funny after it's revival but it was a major step down. I highly doubt they're going to be able to live up to the high standard set during the original run or even the standard set by the first revival. With that said, I'm still going to try it. I just hope it doesn't ruin its own legacy.
Agreed. Also I would like to point out the irony here: Futurama being a show about the "end of the histroy" (even mimicking its author's name - futurAMA, fukuyAMA) being recicled into something new but not really. Honestly, if streaming services gave a shit about putting out good animated shows with social commentary on it they would keep the new series that are appearing and being cancelled after a season or two. To me this will fall flat and late to most societal problems of today and hulu won't care about putting good writting in It (I doubt they will pay for this, too). All they want is hop on the very overused nostalgia train and get more subscriptions during the month the series will be launched.
Yeah, we can hope they talk about strikes i guess, but it ended well 2 times. As scifi the shouw could do a lot but the revivals got weaker every time, probably writders running out of fresh stuff. unless they go full onstikes and union taks which ight make it relevant :( but i wnt tolet it go.
Great essay, honestly. I’ll just say I’ve always seen Futurama as a show about the future that is secretly a show about today, rather than a show about the future that is secretly about 1999- which to be fair is oversimplifying your argument which is more about the stalling of progress- so I honestly think lampooning current issues isn’t really that out of line for the original mission statement of the series and is probably the way to go. The previous reboots may not he as strong as the original run but I still enjoyed them and I’m fine with the direction as long as the writing is still sharp. I think the first 2023 episode was a mixed bag but there’s still some really clever lines in there. (Having a bit about a writer’s room was kind of unfortunate timing, though the larger context of the scene is pro-writer so it wasn’t as big an oof as it could’ve been).
Fukuyama's assertions were always incredibly arrogant and basically a "nuh uh" to the cataclysmic, world-ending inherent contradictions of capitalism. The climate collapse wrought by liberal capitalism's market-driven overproduction is not some hiccup or speed bump on a perpetual liberal future. They are not only a material existential threat, but a cultural one. To reproduce an ideology, its efficacy must be tangibly demonstrated for would-be adherents. The proof's gotta be in the pudding, and it ain't anymore. Within the imperial core itself, mass disillusionment with the system is rampant, and entire generations are seeing it as the farce it is, nevermind at the Imperial peripherary. Millenials are characterized as being sold the American Dream only to have it turn to ash in their hands, whereas Gen Z hasn't even been promised anything, seeing the whole thing as a bad joke. Gen Alpha will think of it as some fairytale. They won't really get the cultural references in Futurama as anything more than absurdist non sequitirs. Fukuyama sounding defeated brings me schadenfreude. What a smug thing to pretend, that we had it all figured out when we couldn't even solve homelessness.
amen to all of that. It is crazy that anyone bothers talking to him post 9/11 honestly. His response to that was just "oh that sucks, but I'm still right". Hell the fact that the dream come true for POS like him, NAFTA, happened and immediately cause a leftwing revolution to take over a chunk of Chiapas to this very day is telling. The reaction to the supposed domination of liberal capitalism started as soon as the Eastern Bloc was being collapsed. It is just that now Liberal thought-leaders are finding it impossible to treat Iran or China or Venezuela as some bump that they can crush as they continue towards their goals.
Honestly, the entire "can it work?" question is entirely subjective. It will work for those who are amused by satire, and it won't work for those who take themselves and the world too seriously. Which is EXACTLY the same today as it was in 1999. And the fact that the world and it's people continue to grow and change means that years from now, people will look back at season 11 as a new cult classic addition (albeit further removed from its predecessors). What I'm getting at in a roundabout way is "the more things change, the more they stay the same". And that is the essence of Futurama at it's core. It's probably one reason why everyone involved with the show decided to return; older, wiser, and more convinced than ever of the truth of that old saying.
I'm 29 and remember a 4th grade science teacher telling our class that it was "absolutely ludicrous" to think there wouldn't be flying cars by the time we're adults. It does almost seem to speak to the, I don't know if I should call it idealism or naivety of that era... Coming off of pagers and land lines, I don't think poor guy could have predicted we'd be getting the same cars and phones re-released with slight tweaks for the next two decades because corporations realized they make more money that way.
This made me think about how the way the future is portrayed reflects its present and also what two very different series Star Trek and Doctor Who which managed to evolve with their present times, albeit with breaks in both cases, managed to do it.
I read "The End of History", or possibly some reaction article, I forget, at the time. It amazed me that someone so smart could be that naive. A lot of today's issues-the defeat of environmentalism and the fascist new wave, for instance-were obvious to anyone who was paying attention. Probably since the 1970's, even, but I wasn't an adult then. I admit I didn't predict anti-vaxx, but in retrospect it is an obvious side effect of the war on science.
I didn't think much of the first episode. It was just Killer App but with streaming services. Compare this to the one with Napster where it explored its topic through multiple dimensions. And yes, it did explore the constant drive for more content that underpins today's world, but overall felt contrived.
I feel like anything weird that changes in the first episode is either early installment weirdness or as time goes on fry stops seeing the world though the oh man everything is new lens and instead sees it as it is. Mundane just like our Time
Futurama is such a great show, and I'm glad it's still here in the year of 2023. Also, Zoidberg is easily my favorite character. He's just the absolute best!
8:30 oooo, look at Rishi Sunak over here, *buying* food. Next you'll boast that you can afford your electricity bill or that your youngest item of clothing is less then 5 years old.
Imo Futurama can always be a timeless show because certain topics and themes they bring up just work. The emotional gut punches along with the Even it's not about the future, recent events could always have a impact on the subject of episodes
Now a discussion on philosophy wasn't what I was expecting. However I love it. I heavily disagree with his philosophy as I'm and my modern contemporarys are what he claimed would be gone. I'm a socialist and believe in change. Not just in it but that it is fundamental to humanity. In history the only things that do not change... Are dead. The fall of the Soviet union does not mean socialism is gone. But that the debate between socialists of militant revolution and evolutionary socialism is settled. In every Western government there is a socialist party with some measure of political power. We are not gone but changed. Now I believe that Futurama will play into one of it's key strength. It's characters and social commentary. And indeed the first 2 episodes show this. A much stronger focus on the people in the show and world. There is such a place for it as such shows have become the highlight of many in todays world. The end of history is in itself... Ended.
I mean, "We're the best!"? Yeah, that's part of every culture, and absent sufficient time and objective analysis of the culture and how it develops, each culture's "We're the best!" has about equal weight. But... "We're the best, for all eternity!" - man, that takes an incalculable amount of hubris.
When I got disney plus i was pretty shocked when Futurama became my 7 year old's go to Saturday morning cartoon and he's now woked his way through the whole of it.
Honestly, this perfectly articulates the reason I was completely indifferent when I heard news of the reboot. I loved Futurama when it was relevant. Tried to watch it again last year and... I mean it'll always be good, technically, but it doesn't feel like these characters *matter* anymore. They don't have anything meaningful to say about the modern world. Everything they represent has changed too much. they can try to reboot it as many times as they want; for me the show will always end at the cardboard sides of my 10 season box set.
It's just stock footage - could be anything, I suppose. Now that you mention it, it reminds me of The Big Bang Theory's opening - could you be thinking of that?
This was perfectly done. I watched Futurama way before I got into politics and read up on the end of history. So you put the show in an completely different perspective for me. But you’re conclusion is correct, the reboots trailer already showed they’re likely going to be making cheap jokes only relevant to the time and will age poorly. I fully expect the reboot to get mixed reviews at best and bad at worst. However I’ll be cautiously optimistic because while things have changed since 1999 there is certainly a great deal of material to make for a good reboot, it’s just a matter of what the writers new direction will be.
just caught up on If Books Could Kill... opens up the yubtub to find new video essays... Fukuyama?! here too?! Michael Hobbes was right. this shit is *pervasive*
I guess Fukuyama's entire career can be summed up thusly: “Camus can do, but Sartre is smartre." -- "Yeah well, Scooby Doo can doo-doo, but Jimmy Carter is smarter!”
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P.S. Once or twice throughout this video, I mistakenly refer to presidential candidate Jack Johnson as ‘Joe Johnson’. I’m truly sorry for any confusion this may have caused, and I’m bewildered at my own mistake. How could I ever have forgotten about Jack Johnson, proponent of the innovative 3 cent titanium tax, unique political firebrand? I have no answers and can only beg forgiveness.
Once again smudcast is back
One of the only things that futurama/Fukuyama didn't predict with the eternal 1999 with everything being the same/rehashed was that there would be so little problems that people would decide to make their own problems creating a new culture that eats itself to the point that anything 20 years ago is considered taboo with a lot of labels attached to it. Instead, people would rather tear down the current culture and rehash historically failed ideas(like how well rehashing 80/90s movies is doing "sarcasm") to slay an imaginary dragon that doesn't exist beyond the landscape of social media, even if it harms society and/or it benefits corporate monopolies (sorta like that mom episode in futurama).
No crypto owes it’s success to drugs being illegal trust me I know the people who were buying stuff with bitcoin when it was worth like 4$
Starting a discussion about whether or not the upcoming Futurama reboot can make it in 2023 by invoking Francis Fukayama's 'The End of History' is peak video essay, and I say that in the best way possible.
When he said "meet Francis Fukayama" I actually screamed lol
I agree. What an insightful, well constructed and executed discussion! Wow! I laughed, I cried, I pondered, and my perspective on the topic was shifted by the end. Well done in many many ways!
Great premise garbage shoe horned pro China conclusion
It's not a reboot I find it more like a continuation of the show
To me futurama was always a mirror of the world 1000 years before, it wasn't ever stuck in 1999, it always was stuck in the events and atmosphere of when the episodes came out
100%. And still is faithful to that now, apparently.
Futurama was never about the future being good, if anything it was pretty damned dystopian.
That ad gag ight b one of th reasons t not let musk do brain chips.
He assumed it will be US dominated world but China Russia and even Middle East is challenging them and becoming multipolar , leaving the US dollar
@@zainmudassir2964Leaving US Dollar would be less significant for their power fall than much people thinks
@@zainmudassir2964 i dont see rusia or china currently making it there, not twith that regimes
I thought it was superimposing the 20th century in the 31st.
But honestly, we're only 22 years into the 21st century and we're still vaguely recognising it, especially when you crop out the internet.
Franscis Fukayama watching the 2008 financial crash, war in Ukraine and rise of China happening in the 2000s
Franscis Fukayama: "The risk I took was calculated. But man am I bad at math."
After hearing both about 50 times in this video, I feel pretty confident that Groening titled the show after Fukuyama. Not literally, but they sound very similar on purpose.
The end of history bit is interesting because growing up in the early 2000s, that was what the vibes were in the late 90s history textbooks at school. To where they were still riding off the high of the end of the Soviet Union but before 9/11 happened.
In hindsight that old mentality is ironic because it thought that liberal democracy under American capitalism would just coast on by forever and didn't factor in the rise of China, more recessions, growing wealth divides and the re-emergence of fascism. I think can all be tied to late stage capitalism which is the exact opposite of the end of history narrative
Interesting! Thank you for sharing!
I often wonder how capitalism would've been able to continue without the sharp authoritarian turn America took after 9/11. In 1999 you had the absolute trainwreck that was Woodstock '99 which could easily be argued as the best microcosm for neoliberalsim ever conceived and anarchist black blocs, union members, and environmental activists basically united to shut down the WTO's meeting in Seattle later that year with both events funnily enough being put down with heavy law enforcement and National Guard involvement. Hell in 2000, Rage Against the Machine held a protest concert outside of the Democratic National Convention which was violently broken up by LAPD, and they even breifly shut down Wall Street performing on the steps of the exchange for a music video directed by Michael Moore. Looking back it really felt like the entire canvass of of the post-Cold War world was falling in on itself with the absence of a proper enemy to rally against.
@@onearmedbandit84 think all of the negatives would've happened eventually and was unavoidable. Almost every modern day problem from the environmental collapse to gross wealth inequality and subsequently democratic backsliding stems from neoliberalism being allowed to reign supreme
@@Spongebrain97And let’s be honest, neoconservativism and plenty other right wing forces were just waiting for their chance to make some big changes.
@@Spongebrain97 I agree. Looking back at how the Democratic Party progressively leapfrogged to the right on economics as did the Republican Party on social issues every election cycle for the past 30 years it most likely would've been inevitable.
Fry should be in his late 40s. Keep that in mind Fry is now 48.
Since the last reboot, he has not aged so I think he has 38 like in 2013
I know. He's a few years older than me and I'm 43.
Pretty sure in one of the eps it said he was born in 1976.
Technically, he's about 2 × ♾ + 48
Sounds like Fry should be Lars by now... minus the larynx damage.
If fry has to be in his 40's then Homer Simpson should be 68
I just saw the first episode of the Hulu revival and it was funny as hell. Same writers as the previous seasons, and they haven’t missed a beat. Episode got pretty insane and I think the format of Hulu works very well for this show. Can’t wait to see more.
Billy West seems to be getting back into his characters so he sounded a bit off at first but other than that, I enjoyed what we have gotten thus far.
Awesome! Looking forward to checking it out myself!
How were you able to watch it already? Some early access thing?
@@camelopardalis84 the first episode is out today (on Hulu, Star, or Disney+ depending on location)!
This showed more depth in Futurama than I'd ever thought of. An excellent video essay brought to you by Bachelor Chow, it's what man craves.
now I’m picturing influencers in 3000 hawking bachelor chow like hellofresh
'History has ended' is kind of a overconfident statement for anyone to make, in hindsight atleast...
When i watched futurama originally 25 years ago i never took the characters exemplifying bad attitudes for then or accepting a bad status quo as indicating approval of the world it was satirizing. I felt it was a reflection of the apathy that in fact would lead to the future to be the same as the past and was meant to cause an awareness not to do that. I have seen several younger people looking back at futurama and making this mistake.
have you considered that maybe you were the one who is making a mistake in how you read the text and, just maybe, other people's takes could be valid?
God even just thinking about spending time reading or contemplating Fukayama is giving me chills. Great video, hope the damage wasn't too severe
Sometimes you just gotta let go of a good thing and let it end
I never thought that Futarma was supposed to be an accurate prediction. I thought it was a satire of today and thinking the future would save us, from any of it. There's still racism, sexism, poverty, crime and any number of other small problems that are still present in the future.
And adsss, the prospect of being ssending ads in dreams is scary :(
ok there are a lot of that i just find tht very eary.
Other small problems? As in "other problems which are also small" or as in "other problems that, unlike the others I listed, are small"?
futurama always implied that humanity sucked, and it would continue to suck even harder in the future. it was much darker than say rick and morty but it was not so showy about it, it was much more implicit.
@@kaganozdemir4332 agreed. I love Rick and Morty also but its more about personal social dysfunction instead of continued societal dysfunction.
@@TalkwithLinaWhilst genderbender was harmful I still think Family Guys was a lot more harmful in my opinion.
Great points about the end of History.
Another potential problem is the fall into shallow parody. For example, in Futurama, besides the jokes about 90-00's society and the fairly unique human drama, you could easily see the cultural sci-fi influences and references made by the show.The doomerist, moralistic stories of the 50's, the utopian sense of wonder of Star Trek, the playful, fairly shallow arcade game-like approach of the early 80's. All things the writers knew and liked. These weren't simply used as "hey, I understood that reference" jokes, they actually set the tone. Compare that with Disenchantment, supposed to parody fantasy tropes and genre. There is... nothing. Vague fairytale vibe, your odd Game of Thrones or D&D winks thrown in there, Dung Age stereotypes, steampunk and smurfs for some reason... The show does not know what it is talking about, and it is hurting the story. And I'm afraid this will creep in this new Futurama. As a genre, scifi is not super active. What are they gonna reference ? Dystopian black mirror ? Mindscrewie annihilation ? There's not much to go from.
I do like Disenchantment, but you’ve got a good point here about these shows having a different type of engagement with their respective genres/influences
more radical progressive cautious optimism?! I think to stay any worth it futurama has to get more star trek i think.
Maybe genuine star trek in dystopia with enough cynicism?!
Futurama doesn't need to update its sci fi references; they were mostly old when the show began, and there's a ton of retro sci fi to mine for _those_ concepts. Plus, it has its own worldbuilding to fall back on.
That said, there are still pulpy trends that might get a few jabs, like the litrpg/gamelit genre that's exploded in the last fifteen years.
The Simpsons won't leave, Futurama keeps coming back, I wonder what Disenchantment's thing is gonna be.
It got cancelled iirc
@@kanna-san. I didn't hear that but I'm familiar with Netflix so I believe it.
@@leephillips4402It hasn't been officially cancelled or renewed, but one of the writers said the next season was almost finished. So it's really weird and nebulous.
@@lued123 Adult Swim saved Tuca and Bertie then re-cancelled it again pretty abruptly, think that could happen again?
@@leephillips4402 Maybe they literally set fire to all existing copies of five already finished seasons, so they could use it as a tax write-off when airing these episodes would have made them less money.
So many shows from the late 90s/early 2000s just hit so differently now. “Har har, everything will be fine,” style jokes just seem so incredibly daft.
I just caught up on futurama and this was the exact type of thought provoking content I was hoping I’d find on UA-cam
Man. I do remember back in school, thinking something to the extent of "can't wait for more historic events to happen so I can witness them"
I swear I was being sarcastic, people. It was sarcasm!
I just wanted to say this was an absolutely fantastic, well thought-out video essay, one of the best I've watched this year. You've earned yourself a new subscriber, keep up the great work sir.
Thank you so much :D
I feel like the most 1999 thing Futurama 11 could do is have all the current events going on in the background and have the gang have their usual adventures completely ignoring the world falling apart around them and complaining in a tone deaf way like NoBoDy WaNtS tO wOrK aNyMoRe
Yeah, that would be interesting
This and king of the hill I think really could work with a reboot in the modern day. Both shows excelled being so present in the times they were made, with biting commentary on various issues from great, likeable characters. The one way to NOT do it is trying to 1:1 recreate that original success which, imo, is impossible.
Considering the, to say the least, problematic politics of Mike Judge's Beavis and Butthead reboot I do not have confidence that a hypothetical reboot of a show centered around a conservative white dude living in suburban Texas would bear any such fruit.
@@onearmedbandit84 well Mike Judge can only write what he knows, that's why The Goode Family was such a flop.
@@leephillips4402 There's also the much-loved eugenics propaganda piece, 'Idiocracy'. But generally I am immediately suspicious of any satire produced by any comedy personality who peaked during the Clinton era.
@@onearmedbandit84 I wouldn't say Mike Judge has peaked, people just keep giving him money to rehash stuff he'd already given satisfying conclusions to and he keeps taking it instead of working on new projects.
I'd also include that these topics were also major topics in their time, I argue that most have grown bigger since the original premiere. Just like King of the Hill; they both curtel to a certain population Geographic of the world as well as to the Populations most able to make a global change (i.e. middle class, right-wing, southerners [for us Americans], and Melenoleus world wide)
I do believe That these populations still have massive power for global change; possible even more so today?
It still works, most people still watch the episodes that exist so far over and over
After watching the new episode I see they go full into 2023. And it was good. And fun. Classic Futurama.
Yeah I hope it does well. I'm definitely going to watch it.
The most accurate thing Futurama predicted was pop cultural stagnation. Afterall, what is a nostalgic revival really but putting a dead celebrity's head in a jar?
I'm honestly more excited about Futurama coming back for an 11th season on Hulu than I am about any of the Star Wars shows on Disney+. I may have to renew my Hulu account.
great analysis! its kind of represents a quandary with shows like this, do you acknowledge the present and provide witty takes on it, or do you focus on more base, humanistic stories and wrap them up in escapism. In a lot of ways id say "the Orville" has a very similar working concept to Futurama and has managed to successfully comment on the present in an organic, thought provoking manner whilst also providing base level fun/drama with silly sci fi themes to get lost in.
I can already see the inevitable claim by idiots that Futurama went woke (even though it always was) and that this is somehow bad.
Cough cough, Futurama is horrible when it comes to trans stuff. And it's not like they haven't had trans episodes. They just fucked them up mostly.
@@camelopardalis84yeah, the trans episodes like bender becoming a woman and everyone swapping genders was shit
@@c.d.rstudios4691 There's a video essay by UA-camr Lily Simpson on the topic. Maybe you're interested. Maybe you know it already.
@@camelopardalis84 Tbh, I haven't watched Futurama in years and I was 12 when it started airing in '99. I know that it was fairly progressive and even anti-capitalistic at times, but I was still ignorant on trans issues last time I watched it (maybe 7 or 8 years ago). So I can only hope they'll do it better now, but as a cis man I leave the judgement to the people who have to deal with transphobia and bigots on a daily basis.
@@God_Is_An_Atheist Firstly, I need to tell you that recently, I was met with what was apparently genuine disbelief in a comment section of another video that when I mentioned that I remembered the 1990s. As a person who likely also does, do with that piece of bizarre information what you will.
Secondly, yes. Trans people are the ones to judge those things, but I really do get where that one trans person I've seen talk about it in the aforementioned video is coming from. It's very, very understandable. So I feel like I can judge Futurama negatively on that front. I've had it explained to me how the show did badly. And I also see that some of it probably came from a place of innocent (enough) ignorance.
I have always loved futurama and always been a big fan, but these first few episodes feel pretty shallow compared to the other seasons, but i WILL keep watching hoping they get deeper into things.
This dude being my age explains a lot about some of this channels takes.
Fellow based socialist?
My biggest worry is that it might be too self referential, what I mean is that it's gonna reuse old jokes instead of having the charm that most episodes had. In the revival before the most recent one, the first few episode had that and it was putting me off until it seemed to figure out its own identity and we got more and more banger episode the more it went off until the finale.
I'm optimistic though, I'm hoping that even if the early episodes in this revival are "haha bender asshole and don't care", "Fry dumb", "no one likes zoidberg" I'm hoping eventually they'll reach move past it and get it's charm back
the new episode was so funny im literally laughing my ass of at, "phillip j fry i... wait what?" the episode was greath cannot wait for the next one!
Societies can be cyclical. Why would it be hard to imagine the future society portrayed in Futurama dealing with something similar to the progression of ours?
4 weeks later I return to share my opinion: yes! The new season is amazing! Haven’t seen a new all time favorite, but very solid episodes that haven’t missed a beat.
This season has been terrible, what are you on?
Fantastic video essay, one of the best I've seen on UA-cam
Thank you so much!
Futurama will probably be fine if they kept decent writers but i expect it to be a step down in quality. My fear for the show is it's going to be too late to the game about a lot topics and that would certainly make the show less relevant. I also fear they're undermining the show's legacy by necessitating a third ending for the show. Futurama ended perfectly 2 times. That's a feat that almost no show has ever done. It seems impossible they'll be able to end it perfectly a third time. I don't want Futurama to end like a wet fart. I want that perfect ending that balances humor, feeling, and a celebration the show.
Let's face it, most revivals are subpar and even amazing shows botch their revivals. Futurama was still funny after it's revival but it was a major step down. I highly doubt they're going to be able to live up to the high standard set during the original run or even the standard set by the first revival. With that said, I'm still going to try it. I just hope it doesn't ruin its own legacy.
Agreed. Also I would like to point out the irony here: Futurama being a show about the "end of the histroy" (even mimicking its author's name - futurAMA, fukuyAMA) being recicled into something new but not really.
Honestly, if streaming services gave a shit about putting out good animated shows with social commentary on it they would keep the new series that are appearing and being cancelled after a season or two. To me this will fall flat and late to most societal problems of today and hulu won't care about putting good writting in It (I doubt they will pay for this, too). All they want is hop on the very overused nostalgia train and get more subscriptions during the month the series will be launched.
Yeah, we can hope they talk about strikes i guess, but it ended well 2 times.
As scifi the shouw could do a lot but the revivals got weaker every time, probably writders running out of fresh stuff.
unless they go full onstikes and union taks which ight make it relevant :( but i wnt tolet it go.
Great essay, honestly. I’ll just say I’ve always seen Futurama as a show about the future that is secretly a show about today, rather than a show about the future that is secretly about 1999- which to be fair is oversimplifying your argument which is more about the stalling of progress- so I honestly think lampooning current issues isn’t really that out of line for the original mission statement of the series and is probably the way to go. The previous reboots may not he as strong as the original run but I still enjoyed them and I’m fine with the direction as long as the writing is still sharp.
I think the first 2023 episode was a mixed bag but there’s still some really clever lines in there. (Having a bit about a writer’s room was kind of unfortunate timing, though the larger context of the scene is pro-writer so it wasn’t as big an oof as it could’ve been).
I am excited for a new season of Futurama.
Perfect timing, I'm currently re-watching Futurama right now. On season two.
Fukuyama's assertions were always incredibly arrogant and basically a "nuh uh" to the cataclysmic, world-ending inherent contradictions of capitalism. The climate collapse wrought by liberal capitalism's market-driven overproduction is not some hiccup or speed bump on a perpetual liberal future. They are not only a material existential threat, but a cultural one. To reproduce an ideology, its efficacy must be tangibly demonstrated for would-be adherents. The proof's gotta be in the pudding, and it ain't anymore.
Within the imperial core itself, mass disillusionment with the system is rampant, and entire generations are seeing it as the farce it is, nevermind at the Imperial peripherary. Millenials are characterized as being sold the American Dream only to have it turn to ash in their hands, whereas Gen Z hasn't even been promised anything, seeing the whole thing as a bad joke. Gen Alpha will think of it as some fairytale. They won't really get the cultural references in Futurama as anything more than absurdist non sequitirs.
Fukuyama sounding defeated brings me schadenfreude. What a smug thing to pretend, that we had it all figured out when we couldn't even solve homelessness.
Excellent. Couldn't have written it better myself.
amen to all of that. It is crazy that anyone bothers talking to him post 9/11 honestly. His response to that was just "oh that sucks, but I'm still right". Hell the fact that the dream come true for POS like him, NAFTA, happened and immediately cause a leftwing revolution to take over a chunk of Chiapas to this very day is telling. The reaction to the supposed domination of liberal capitalism started as soon as the Eastern Bloc was being collapsed. It is just that now Liberal thought-leaders are finding it impossible to treat Iran or China or Venezuela as some bump that they can crush as they continue towards their goals.
Beautifully written. There's nothing more to add, just beautiful.
Honestly, the entire "can it work?" question is entirely subjective. It will work for those who are amused by satire, and it won't work for those who take themselves and the world too seriously. Which is EXACTLY the same today as it was in 1999.
And the fact that the world and it's people continue to grow and change means that years from now, people will look back at season 11 as a new cult classic addition (albeit further removed from its predecessors).
What I'm getting at in a roundabout way is "the more things change, the more they stay the same". And that is the essence of Futurama at it's core. It's probably one reason why everyone involved with the show decided to return; older, wiser, and more convinced than ever of the truth of that old saying.
I'm 29 and remember a 4th grade science teacher telling our class that it was "absolutely ludicrous" to think there wouldn't be flying cars by the time we're adults.
It does almost seem to speak to the, I don't know if I should call it idealism or naivety of that era...
Coming off of pagers and land lines, I don't think poor guy could have predicted we'd be getting the same cars and phones re-released with slight tweaks for the next two decades because corporations realized they make more money that way.
Very very nicely done!!
Excellent content as always thank you.
This made me think about how the way the future is portrayed reflects its present and also what two very different series Star Trek and Doctor Who which managed to evolve with their present times, albeit with breaks in both cases, managed to do it.
Just watched the first episode of the new season. And I really enjoyed... IT IS FUTURAMA! What did you expect? A good introduction to the new season.
every time you drop a video im reminded why you've made my fav channel
I read "The End of History", or possibly some reaction article, I forget, at the time. It amazed me that someone so smart could be that naive. A lot of today's issues-the defeat of environmentalism and the fascist new wave, for instance-were obvious to anyone who was paying attention. Probably since the 1970's, even, but I wasn't an adult then.
I admit I didn't predict anti-vaxx, but in retrospect it is an obvious side effect of the war on science.
Fantastic brother! ❤
Interesting... I think the crux is that the future has arrived and is yet to come. There's a lot of mileage left in Futurama.
...You made this whole video for that Fukuyama-Futurama line, didn't you.
So ready for the new season of futurama
Oh no, if this is how things are going to be… I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
Don't forget Illegally dissolved.
The Soviet Union was Illegally dissolved, and Russian standard of living dropped precipitously.
What was illegal about it? I know that it was destroyed and didn't simply "fall".
@@camelopardalis84 It was changed in a was that went against the laws of the time.
And it was destroyed by the capitalists.
Thanks again
I never thought how well the end of history narrative fits futurama.
The fuck do you mean years?! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!?!
I didn't think much of the first episode. It was just Killer App but with streaming services. Compare this to the one with Napster where it explored its topic through multiple dimensions. And yes, it did explore the constant drive for more content that underpins today's world, but overall felt contrived.
I feel like anything weird that changes in the first episode is either early installment weirdness or as time goes on fry stops seeing the world though the oh man everything is new lens and instead sees it as it is. Mundane just like our Time
Futurama is such a great show, and I'm glad it's still here in the year of 2023.
Also, Zoidberg is easily my favorite character. He's just the absolute best!
8:30 oooo, look at Rishi Sunak over here, *buying* food. Next you'll boast that you can afford your electricity bill or that your youngest item of clothing is less then 5 years old.
as long as I don’t think about the electric bill it can’t hurt me
Ron Popeil invented what we think of as infomercial selling. He had a bunch of small kitchen appliances that he invented.
No limits to revivals. They just have to written, performed, & produced successfully. With a general 75% audience acceptance rate
9:13 Switzerland invented a suicide pod in 2021 so only 13 years late
Imo Futurama can always be a timeless show because certain topics and themes they bring up just work. The emotional gut punches along with the
Even it's not about the future, recent events could always have a impact on the subject of episodes
Bro I’m crossed af rn, just getting out of a shower, and that beginning confused the FUCK out of me
very interesting angle to look at the series very philosophical
14:47 I haven't finished, but now that you've said both so much, I will be surprised if you don't say "Francis Futurama" by the end.
Futurama: "I CAN SEE THE FUTURE!"
Now a discussion on philosophy wasn't what I was expecting. However I love it. I heavily disagree with his philosophy as I'm and my modern contemporarys are what he claimed would be gone. I'm a socialist and believe in change. Not just in it but that it is fundamental to humanity. In history the only things that do not change... Are dead. The fall of the Soviet union does not mean socialism is gone. But that the debate between socialists of militant revolution and evolutionary socialism is settled. In every Western government there is a socialist party with some measure of political power. We are not gone but changed.
Now I believe that Futurama will play into one of it's key strength. It's characters and social commentary. And indeed the first 2 episodes show this. A much stronger focus on the people in the show and world. There is such a place for it as such shows have become the highlight of many in todays world.
The end of history is in itself... Ended.
I mean, "We're the best!"? Yeah, that's part of every culture, and absent sufficient time and objective analysis of the culture and how it develops, each culture's "We're the best!" has about equal weight. But... "We're the best, for all eternity!" - man, that takes an incalculable amount of hubris.
They make that “dibs” joke again in one of the movies but they updated it to “iPod” which is also now outdated as well :)
Thanks, I feel better.
I saw it and it was great.
Thanks for tha video
Thanks for the watch!
Now, some might call me an irresponsible parent, but my 5 year old daughter loved Futurama
you are a responsible parent
No matter the year the people are the same, it will work.
When I got disney plus i was pretty shocked when Futurama became my 7 year old's go to Saturday morning cartoon and he's now woked his way through the whole of it.
Uh, it’s definitely not appropriate for a 7 year old lmao
@@otterpoppin He seems okay😬
Honestly, this perfectly articulates the reason I was completely indifferent when I heard news of the reboot. I loved Futurama when it was relevant. Tried to watch it again last year and... I mean it'll always be good, technically, but it doesn't feel like these characters *matter* anymore. They don't have anything meaningful to say about the modern world. Everything they represent has changed too much.
they can try to reboot it as many times as they want; for me the show will always end at the cardboard sides of my 10 season box set.
As far as the suicide booth: Canada legalized assisted suicide so now, that hits a bit different lmao
The show that can imagine the end of the world, but can't imagine the end of Capitalism.
In the immortal words of the great Bender Bending Rodriguez... Shut up.
In the even more immortal words of Bender Bending Rodriguez, ‘bite my shiny metal ass’
I’m losing my mind, what show intro is that text from at 0:46?
It's just stock footage - could be anything, I suppose. Now that you mention it, it reminds me of The Big Bang Theory's opening - could you be thinking of that?
This was perfectly done. I watched Futurama way before I got into politics and read up on the end of history. So you put the show in an completely different perspective for me.
But you’re conclusion is correct, the reboots trailer already showed they’re likely going to be making cheap jokes only relevant to the time and will age poorly. I fully expect the reboot to get mixed reviews at best and bad at worst. However I’ll be cautiously optimistic because while things have changed since 1999 there is certainly a great deal of material to make for a good reboot, it’s just a matter of what the writers new direction will be.
i really liked the 1st episode
Man, the 90s feels like a crazy era frozen in time the way you explained it.
Yes it can work. The new series proves it.
Its only a few hours away.....it will feel as long as the last ten years have felt welcome back old friend woo hoo best day ever
Prediction: Canada will have the booths within 10 years. Subsidized by the government.
21:55 how does the fact that China is on the verge of social, economic, and physical collapse effect Francis Fukuyama's opinion?
citation needed on that one
@@PillarofGarbage Google “Tang ping” and “Tofu-dreg.”
Im on the fence man....I hope it gets better. But it could be me everyone else seems happy with it.
Another great video dude, keep it up
just caught up on If Books Could Kill...
opens up the yubtub to find new video essays...
Fukuyama?! here too?!
Michael Hobbes was right. this shit is *pervasive*
Sci fi takes place in the future, and is always about the present. and you know what, i think its working so far.
Asimovs Laws of Robotics prevails in the original incarnation.
It was John Jackson vs Jack Johnson
Thank you! Glad someone pointed out that correction.
I like futurama
I guess Fukuyama's entire career can be summed up thusly:
“Camus can do, but Sartre is smartre."
-- "Yeah well, Scooby Doo can doo-doo, but Jimmy Carter is smarter!”