History YMMV / Idiocracy

* GeniusBonus:
** One of President Camacho's middle names is Herbert. UsefulNotes/HerbertHoover was like Camacho: a genuinely nice man who wasn't up to the task of solving America's crises and who was succeeded by [[UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt someone who could]].

* OneSceneWonder: Dr. Lexus (Creator/JustinLong)-- he only appears in one scene, but Long's performance made him quite memorable. He even made the back of the DVD case.

** The movie's usage of crass humor, reality TV, red-neck culture, and hip-hop culture was more aligned with the 2000's era assumption of stupidity; which had been more scrutinized as the invalidity of IQ Testing Methods from that era and awareness of "idiots"--namely pseudo-intellectuals, or well-read people who isn't well-informed yet try to share their questionable opinions on it--who would not fit with movie's descriptions of idiots.

*** Plus, the film's premise goes by a misconception that "only smart parents have smart offspring." While it's true that genetics certainly do play some role in shaping one's mental[=/=]intellectual abilities, that doesn't guarantee high IQ parents will always breed children with the same degree or quality of intelligence. Parents with "normal" [=IQs=] could very well produce a ChildProdigy, and on the flip side, "genius" parents may have "average" children.
** A harmless example with ''[[ShowWithinAShow Ow! My Balls!]]''. Sure, it's supposed to be the ultimate example of [[LowestCommonDenominator lowbrow, nonintellectual culture]] and everyone who finds it even remotely funny InUniverse is a complete moron, but most viewers admit that it's hard ''not'' to laugh a little bit.

** The movie's usage of crass humor, reality TV, red-neck culture, and hip-hop culture was more aligned with the 2000's era assumption of signs of stupidity; which had been more scrutinized as the invalidity of IQ Testing Methods from that era and awareness of "idiots"--namely pseudo-intellectuals, or well-read people who isn't well-informed yet try to share their questionable opinions on it--who would not fit with movie's descriptions of idiots.

* RetroactiveRecognition: At the time of the film's release, Creator/MayaRudolph (Rita) was best known for having just come off a successful tenure on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. For a younger generation of viewers, however, she'd be better known as [[{{Series/TheGoodPlace}} the Judge]], [[{{WesternAnimation/BigHero6}} Aunt Cass]] or [[WesternAnimation/BigMouth Connie the Hormone Monstress]].

* The movie's usage of crass humor, reality TV, red-neck culture, and hip-hop culture was more aligned with the 2000's era assumption of signs of stupidity; which had been more scrutinized as the invalidity of IQ Testing Methods from that era and awareness of "idiots"--namely pseudo-intellectuals, or well-read people who isn't well-informed yet try to share their questionable opinions on it--who would not fit with movie's descriptions of idiots.

** In a truly bizarre way, the film can be interpreted as pro-democratic. Even in a world of rampant stupidity and AntiIntellectualism where corporate corruption is so rampant it's ''automated'', voters manage to put the smartest, most capable people in charge and when push comes to shove they make the right choices in a crisis to make the world a better place.

*** Joe is described as a RidiculouslyAverageGuy, but he has very little drive or social astuteness, doing nothing but watching television all day, and he misses Rita's hints about what she actually does for a living. When he wakes up in 2505, he struggles to understand the changes that have taken place and because of that he is arrested quite easily. Joe only succeeds because he eventually abandons his now-outdated mindset and adapts to the world around him: to get everyone to believe him about water being good for agriculture, he convinces his ignorant colleagues that he can [[ItMakesSenseInContext pretend he can talk to plants]]. [[spoiler: When he becomes President, he adopts Camacho's behavior because he realizes that's what the people want]].

** The film also argues that if you want things to change for the better you have to grab the bull by the horns to make them better. Joe starts the movie a lazy [=TV=] addict who didn't really do much with his life. [[spoiler: It is only when he embraces his new job as Secretary of the Interior that the world starts improving]].

** As WebVideo/SarahZ points out [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o52zD-aGqjA in her own video essay on the movie]], many of the problems of the world of 2505 could be blamed less on human stupidity and more on huge corporations like Brawndo manipulating and corrupting a complacent society through buying out entire government agencies and using their wealth and power to get their way at the expense of the public good until everything is falling apart and no one is really benefitting anymore, not even the people supposedly in charge (who themselves have become just as incompetent as the rest of the populace).
** The film lambastes anti-intellectualism as the biggest source of societal ills, but one may argue that '''[[KnowNothingKnowItAll pseudo]]'''-[[KnowNothingKnowItAll intellectualism]] is the bigger problem. The Brawndo Corporation ''literally'' buys out both the US Food and Drug Administration and the FCC, not by accident, but out of a calculated obsession with maintaining their profitability, and uses them to put out messages about how Brawndo was allegedly better than plain water, thereby making farmers use Brawndo for their crops and causing famines.

** ''Ass'', a film which was nothing but a close-up of someone's ass? That sounds too ridiculous to be true -- [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244835/ oh, wait...]] By Creator/AndyWarhol, no less.[[note]]It was not, however, a commercial success which won eight Oscars, including Best Screenplay.[[/note]]

** Calling the movie a documentary. Which in turned spawned the counter-meme that it's not a documentary.

** A lot of people have taken the stated premise of the movie very seriously and believe that the answer to preventing a BadFuture is to pressure more well-to-do but reluctant people like Carol and Trevor to start producing more kids so that they can eventually outnumber the "stupid" families. This has tied people's reasons to abstain from or delay having kids into a Literature/Catch22 situation: that [[InsaneTrollLogic if they don't believe they are ready to have kids, they should have kids because they are at least smart enough to understand why they shouldn't have kids (yet).]] It also ignores people's personal choices and self-judgments in the matter, as the biggest factor in providing children a stable home is for parents to actually want them, not for parents to go along and have kids they don't want because that's what society expects.
*** Plus, the film’s premise goes by a misconception that "only smart parents have smart offspring." While it's true that genetics certainly do factor into shaping one’s mental[=/=]intellectual abilities, that doesn't guarantee high IQ parents will always breed children with the same degree or quality of intelligence. Parents with "normal" [=IQs=] could very well produce a ChildProdigy, and on the flip side, "genius" parents may have "average" children.

** Clevon Jr, whose one line pretty much sums up the entire experiment: '''I’M GONNA FUCK ALL OF YOU!!!''' Surrounded by cheerleaders after winning a high school football game.

** While Creator/MikeJudge [[https://www.fastcompany.com/3064328/mike-judge-on-the-10th-anniversary-of-idiocracy-and-predicting-the-near-future swears up and down that this wasn't his intention]], [[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bn3vgv/idiocracy-is-elitist-porn many]] [[https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/idiocracy-is-a-cruel-movie-and-you-should-be-ashamed-fo-1553344189 critics]] [[https://www.salon.com/2016/03/05/idiocracys_curdled_politics_the_beloved_dystopian_comedy_is_really_a_celebration_of_eugenics_partner/ and]] [[https://youtu.be/o52zD-aGqjA viewers]] have pointed out over the years that it's ''way'' too easy to interpret the opening sequence of the movie as an endorsement for eugenics, as "stupid people were having more kids than smart people" is what leads to the future being a CrapsackWorld. The movie's portrayal of [[LowerClassLout poor people as being "stupid" by default]] and the "smarter couple" being portrayed as upper-middle class also can be interpreted as classist.

** A lot of people have taken the stated premise of the movie very seriously and believe that the answer to preventing a BadFuture is to pressure more well-to-do but reluctant people like Clara and Trevor to start producing more kids so that they can eventually outnumber the "stupid" families. This has tied people's reasons to abstain from or delay having kids into a Literature/Catch22 situation: that [[InsaneTrollLogic if they don't believe they are ready to have kids, they should have kids because they are at least smart enough to understand why they shouldn't have kids (yet).]] It also ignores people's personal choices and self-judgments in the matter, as the biggest factor in providing children a stable home is for parents to actually want them, not for parents to go along and have kids they don't want because that's what society expects.

** While Creator/MikeJudge [[https://www.fastcompany.com/3064328/mike-judge-on-the-10th-anniversary-of-idiocracy-and-predicting-the-near-future swears up and down that this wasn't his intention]], [[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bn3vgv/idiocracy-is-elitist-porn many]] [[https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/idiocracy-is-a-cruel-movie-and-you-should-be-ashamed-fo-1553344189 critics]] [[https://www.salon.com/2016/03/05/idiocracys_curdled_politics_the_beloved_dystopian_comedy_is_really_a_celebration_of_eugenics_partner/ and]] [[https://youtu.be/o52zD-aGqjA viewers]] have pointed out over the years that it's ''way'' too easy to interpret the opening sequence of the movie as an endorsement for eugenics, as "stupid people were having more kids than smart people" is what leads to the future being a CrapsackWorld.

** The film lambastes anti-intellectualism as the biggest source of societal ills, but one may argue that '''[[KnowNothingKnowItAll pseudo]]'''-[[KnowNothingKnowItAll intellectualism]] is the bigger problem. The Brawndo Corporation ''literally'' buys out both the US Food and Drug Administration and the FCC, not by accident, but out of calculated obsession with maintaining their profitability, and uses them to put out messages about how Brawndo was allegedly better than plain water, thereby making farmers use Brawndo for their crops and causing famines.

* BrokenBase: Is the movie just another lowbrow early 2000s comedy that isn't anything special? A cruel classist screed that completely misses the mark on what problems are facing modern society? Or is it a surprisingly insightful warning about the direction society could take?

** Clevon Jr, whose one line pretty much sums up the entire experiment: '''I’M GONNA FUCK ALL OF YOU!!!''' Surrounded by Cheerleaders after winning a High School Football game.

** While Mike Judge denies this, the movie seems to argue for eugenics, [[KillThePoor thinking that poor people shouldn't have children]] and only people with the "right" genetics should be allowed to have children.
*** Hardly anyone who supports eugenics thinks that poor people shouldn't have children at all. The question is merely what happens when less intelligent people have more children than intelligent people.
** Soren Bowie of ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmZOZjHjT5E found his own regarding the world of 2505]]. The people in that world may have been dumb enough to pour salt on their crops, but they also seem pretty open-minded to the point where racism and sexism seem to be non-existent, recognized that Joe was smart enough to solve their problems and let him serve as president, and President Camacho can be considered a [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure competent leader]] who actually wants to help people, his first reaction to finding Joe being getting him to find a solution to the food crisis, even if said problems are actually simple to solve. So a more positive takeaway can be "Being BookDumb isn't something to aspire to, but it's still better than the irrational, primal mob mentality and racist and misogynistic fearmongering that makes up most RealLife instances of lethal stupidity."

** Amusingly, Carl's Jr.'s slogan in this film isn't too far off to what they actually used at one point ("[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JX599Zj4YU Don't bother me, I'm eating]]"), though obviously it's less vulgar than [[PrecisionFStrike presented here]].

* BrokenBase: Is the movie just another lowbrow comedy with nothing special? A classist attack on the lower class? Or is it a surprisingly insightful warning about the direction society could take?

** Calling the movie a documentary.

** Quite a lot of people take this movie seriously, pointing to the (purported) stupidity of modern pop culture as proof that this movie is a good predictor of the future. The filmmakers themselves eventually rolled with this, although it was more for socio-political reasons and insidious business practices than lethal stupidity caused by mass consumer culture.

*** Plus, the film’s premise goes by a misconception that "only smart parents have smart offspring." While it’s true that genetics certainly do factor into shaping one’s mental[=/=]intellectual abilities, that doesn’t guarantee high IQ parents will always breed children with the same degree or quality of intelligence. Parents with "normal" [=IQs=] could very well produce a ChildProdigy. Likewise, "genius" parents may have “average” children.
*** That doesn't matter though, as on the group level, a sufficiently large number of smart parents WILL have considerably more smart children than an equal number of less smart parents in >99% of cases.
** A harmless example with ''[[ShowWithinAShow Ow! My Balls!]]''. Sure, it's supposed to be the ultimate example of [[LowestCommonDenominator lowbrow, nonintellectual culture]] and everyone who finds it even remotely funny InUniverse is a complete moron, but most viewers admit that it does make them laugh ''a little'' bit.

** The movie's premise is "idiots making too many babies and overrunning the planet." The fear of overpopulation was still plausible in 2006 but now seems ridiculous in the 2020s, when many nations face an underpopulation crisis due to the demographic transition.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: This is a crass comedy with sex jokes...that features issues like propaganda, corporate corruption, and the possible degeneration of society.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: President Camacho. RatedMForManly, LargeHam, and ReasonableAuthorityFigure are the traits that galvanize his statement. And played by Creator/TerryCrews.

* ValuesDissonance: After Joe's plan to fix the drought inadvertently leads to layoffs at Brawndo, the narration explicitly describes the protesting workers as being "irrational" over losing their jobs. With the heightened sense of class consciousness after both the 2008 Recession and especially the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, audiences are much more inclined to sympathize with the workers' plight.