Carl Abbott depicts the futuristic cities observed in fiction as “Migratory Cities”1. Variations of these include the Hunter-Gatherers, Riding Rails and Distributed Cities which serve as superficial locations and worlds to enhance the narrative or atmosphere of a film. Particularly through the Riding Rails concept, it reveals despite how advanced or innovative these cities are, there are still underlining disparities and equality in the population. Snowpiercer (2013) explores the poor faction in a circumnavigational train (The Snowpiercer) supporting the last vestiges of humanity. The poor initiates an uprising aiming to take control of the train. Through the exploration of each ascending carriage, it establishes the dire situation they are in and the extravagant lifestyles the wealthy populous live in within the prestigious carriages. Overall, despite futuristic cities have the aim for pushing humanity and technology forward, inequality still runs rampant no matter how much advancement a city faces.
Daniel Lee
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References:
1Abbott, Carl. 2016. Imagining Urban Futures. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.
Good summary. I wonder why ‘inequality’ is always a theme in these ‘unrealistic’ cities? What is the point of depicting the fictional cities?