I would not recommend either of these films to anyone in a blue mood. Yet the same could certainly be said of an intelligent viewing of any news program.

Heidi MacDonald Dark Future, THE BEAT, January 3, 2007

The holiday spirit seems to be waning rather quickly these days.

For those of us fortunate enough to spend a few days at the end of December away from the troubles of working life, the return to the real world always comes as a bit of a shock. The post-holiday seasons of recent years, however, have seemed particularly brutal – with the added concern that we might not have a real world to return to at all.

The devastation of the December 25, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami inspired many to turn to scripture for analogue; this year’s grim predictions ask us to reference a different source: the dystopic novel.

Recent events seem better suited to the pages of Zamyatin or Huxley than The Washington Post:

-Alfonso Cuarón’s film, Children of Men, went into limited release immediately after Christmas. This adaptation of P.D. James’ 1992 novel of the same title paints a world scarred by pollution, terrorism, and near-universal infertility, a world at 2027 that looks far too much like our own twenty years before. The film hearkens to Christmastime both with its release date and its central element of a miraculous birth, but in tone it is much more like the steady grey of January winter.

-The Times of London featured the story of Ashley X, a young girl from Seattle whose severe mental and physical disabilities prompted her parents to request surgery to remove her uterus and breasts in conjunction with estrogen therapy, rendering her sterile and stunting her growth. She will remain at her 4.5ft and 75 lbs. even as she ages. For far better examinations of the ethics involved than I can produce, see here, here, and here.

-The United States National Climatic Data Center reports that 2006 was the warmest of the past 112 years in the country, ending a nearly decade-long heat-streak. See here.

It’s unlikely that a movie studio, a British newspaper, and the US National Climactic Data Center planned some sort of combined PR move for these release dates – though not impossible given the strangebedfellows of these days – but could all three be tapping into some sort of prevalent dystopic mood present after the holidays? Do we feel guilty for our leisure? Do these stories of supposed moral or biological decay make our own troubles seem that much smaller, or do they magnify them? Or perhaps we’re simply hungry for something that generates thought after a month of nothing but Christmas?