The evocation of dystopian space with contemporary settings. One of the many challenges faced by directors of low- or no-budget SF films is the convincing depiction of futuristic space, especially where it needs to appear oppressive or totalising. What are you to do, when you lack the wherewithal to create elaborate sets, and even the cheesiest CGI is well out of reach?

You use extant buildings and artifacts, and you crop carefully. But which ones? Frank Lloyd Wright's Marin County Civic Center appears particularly popular in this context: here it is in THX1138, and here in Gattaca - the latter a film which also featured the Citroen DS and Studi Avanti to precisely evocative effect. (What's so sinister about this poor building? In real life it's stunningly pretty.)

Jean-Luc Godard had a field day in Alphaville, with the anomic architecture of mid-60s, high modernist Paris, and again with the same sorts of mainframe installations Lucas relied so heavily upon in THX. Even (cough) Logan's Run found low-rent dystopia in various Dallas and Fort Worth settings, here Fort Worth's Water Gardens.

Maybe the poor Marin Center's a bit played out, huh? As an aid to future directors, then, let me ask you: What are some dystopic settings near you?
posted by adamgreenfield on Sep 27, 2004 - 48 comments