To be perfectly honest, Alphaville made the list simply because of how cripplingly annoying the computer voice was. How could anyone live in a world with that thing droning on all the time without putting a gun in their mouth? Alright, alright, so there are some more legitimate reasons to not like the dystopian world presented in Alphaville. Free thought and emotions have been outlawed, and anyone seen to exhibit so-called "illogical" emotions are rounded up and executed. Interestingly enough, women are executed significantly less frequently than men, while Swedes, Germans, and Americans assimilate well in Alphaville. Because, you know, there's nothing to a dystopian future without a few good old cultural stereotypes. In addition, the sentient computer system that runs the society maintains a dictionary database in every home with an up-to-date list of words that were banned for being deemed to elicit too much emotion. Keeping with all that seems like an appalling amount of work, and our gut reaction is that we would be far too lazy to thrive in this society.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
