The Running Man was made in 1987 and is set in 2017. And how did this second-rate science-fiction movie picture the way things would be in the time we are now in? How does The Running Man‘s 2017 compare with the actual 2017? For starters, the world economy in the film has collapsed, and food, natural resources, and oil are in short supply. In reality, scarcity in 2017 is not at all a problem, but oversupply definitely is, which is why oil prices keep falling and deflation (rather than inflation) is the more persistent and pernicious economic problem. Indeed, the scarcities that produce poverty in our times are not natural (the base), but the consequence of laws and their enforcement (the superstructure).
In The Running Man, a police state has replaced the democratic state, but the US is still a consumer society. In short, it is the kind of society that, at present, exists in the mind of the man, Steve Bannon, who helped put Donald Trump in power and managed to place himself and his team in the powerful National Security Council. Bannon’s world, and the world that could become a reality, is a totalitarian consumer society (TCS). As in The Running Man, in Bannon’s TCS, the police state will be fine for those who have good jobs and lots of money—you can fly to a tropical island for a vacation, or live in a huge intelligent apartment, or have your hair done in a very big way.
What remains of entertainment in The Running Man? Guy Debord’s spectacle. People primarily consume the violent images of a reality competition television show that has “convicted” criminals running and fighting for their lives in a dark and bombed-out underground city. This show is called The Running Man, it has the highest ratings in the network, and it is hosted by Damon Killian (Richard Dawson). In 2017, we find that the president is a reality TV star, and he is running the country like a reality TV show.
In The Running Man, fake news rules; indeed, it is because of fake news that the film’s hero, Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger), becomes a running man. Richards, a helicopter pilot, is accused of a crime he did not commit and is sentenced to either death or a slim chance at life in the reality competition show. Today, fake news is not yet as universal as it is in the movie; it is still in a struggle with the facts.
But here is the important thing to keep in mind. In The Running Man, the moment fake news is revealed as such, there is a revolt. The American consumers are stunned to discover that their government is lying to them, and that the news it circulates has nothing to do with reality. You see the horror on their faces. In an instant, the consumers become rebels. But in the real world of 2017, the exposure of fake news to the facts has not diminished support for the president. Those who voted for him would vote for him again, even when they are exposed to truth after truth: Trump is an inveterate liar, American toddlers are more dangerous to American citizens than Muslim terrorists, immigrants in Sweden have not increased that country’s crime rates, and so on. The truth does not set many people free in 2017.
