Idiocracy

While ostensibly focused on a dystopian future "Uhmerica",  Idiocracy is a mirror image of our contemporary society.  The media of today focuses on reducing individuals to a label that is consumed as easily as a fast food meal or sports drink. Similarly, most of the characters in Idiocracy are given single names or labels, during the end credits, Rita, Secretary of Defense, Prosecutor, Doctor, Horny Guy, Slutty Girl, New Slutty Girl, and so on. This is carried to an extreme when the husband and wife at the start of the film are given the names Trevor and Carol, only to be credited as Yuppie Husband and Yuppie Wife.

While the bulk of the story is set 500 years in the future, the scenes set in 2005 already show signs of a decaying society, the written news stories about Officer Collins and Upgrayedd being arrested are poorly written, "...arrested on several counts of attempted to run and use a call service..." and "Upgrayedd research, these 420 crimes are everywhere across the country, surfacing only recently..."

The extreme lengths the film goes to with a potential future carry the audience into humorous situations that are recognizably possible today.  Joe's soon to be attorney first stands up to tell Joe to shut up, and we see that he has been sitting on a combination toilet lounger, which flushes automatically. The blind corporate greed of a company buying up government institutions to help support its stock price. Starbucks logos incorporated on the printed money of 2505 and a Costco box store that spans miles on a side.

The labeling carries on with the description of Joe when he is identified by "Hair: Yes" and "Eyes: Yes". Further still, anyone who is working at their job has labels on their shirt sleeves, such as Attorney at Law and Secretary of Interior.

During the end credits, the "Ow! My Balls! Guy" is not credited as Hormel Chavez, but instead as "Main Character". This turns the movie back onto the viewing audience, pointing out that the movie itself has been one extended episode of the Ow! My Balls! television show. While Joe Bauers is the protagonist of the story, we have watched and laughed as he is put through physical and emotional pain. As the humor of the film is primarily focused on painful slapstick, sexual innuendo, and laughing at dumbed down caricatures of the government, the credits are poking fun at the audience for having watched and laughed at the movie.

The final message of the film is that if we dumb ourselves down, we leave ourselves to be taken advantage of by those who do not dumb themselves down. Watching past the credits, Upgrayedd awakens from the same Army experiment that took Joe and Rita into 2505. As Upgrayedd walks down the street, we know that he will be able to take advantage of the society of 2505 in the same way Rita did and how Joe became President.