Snowpiercer is about a time in the future after the Earth has been turned into a frozenplanet by a failed attempt to stop global warming. Other post-apocalyptic movies include the Mad Max series and 2009's The Road in which a father and son battle to survive in a dangerous and lawless post-apocalyptic world. Movies that are set during apocalyptic events include the 1983 drama Testament in which we follow a family caught in a nuclear attack and 2007's Sunshine in which we follow a mission sent into space to stop the sun from dying. Movies set just before a future apocalypse include the critically-acclaimed 2012 Japanese black comedy Fish Story in which the Earth is about to be destroyed by a comet, and Lars von Trier's art-housedrama Melancholia in which the Earth is about to collide with another planet.

While most of these movies have messages about environmental themes, in other sci-fi movies we can find political and social themes. Many of these films have been dystopian dramas about the dangers of authoritariangovernment, corporate power, and social inequality. One of the first was 1966's Fahrenheit 451 in which an oppressive authoritarian government orders the burning of all books in case they contain views and knowledge that lead to a revolution. Another was George Lucas' 1971 film THX 1138 in which a totalitarian government controlled by a powerful corporate elite uses brutal android police, electronic surveillance and sedative drugs to control workers and increase corporate profits. In the classic dystopian drama 1984 a political elite controls the minds of an underclass of workers by forcing them to watch propaganda broadcasts and use a language of propaganda called "newspeak" in which words like "freedom" are banned and new words like "thought crime" are invented.

Examples of more recent dystopian dramas include V for Vendetta, Elysiumand The Hunger Games, the first of a series of films set in a brutal totalitarian state in which teenagers from the underclass are forced to fight to the death on a reality TV show. As in many dystopian dramas, the Hunger Games series follows a group of heroic rebels who lead an uprising against an oppressive society.

frozen [´frəuzn]   freeze 的过去分词   (初中英语单词)

planet [´plænit]   n.行星   (初中英语单词)

series [´siəri:z]   n.连续；系列；丛书   (初中英语单词)

survive [sə´vaiv]   vt.幸存；残存   (初中英语单词)

mission [´miʃən]   n.代表团；使馆vt.派遣   (初中英语单词)

contain [kən´tein]   v.包含；容纳；抑制   (初中英语单词)

hunger [´hʌŋgə]   n.饥饿；渴望   (初中英语单词)

reality [ri´æliti]   n.现实(性)；真实；逼真   (初中英语单词)

collide [kə´laid]   vi.碰撞；冲突   (高中英语单词)

classic [´klæsik]   a.第一流的 n.杰作   (高中英语单词)

propaganda [,prɔpə´gændə]   n.宣传(机构)；传播   (高中英语单词)

warming [´wɔ:miŋ]   n.暖和；加温   (英语四级单词)

lawless [´lɔ:ləs]   a.无法无天的   (英语四级单词)

brutal [´bru:tl]   a.兽性的；残暴的   (英语四级单词)

uprising [ʌp´raiziŋ]   n.叛乱；起义，暴动   (英语六级单词)

oppressive [ə´presiv]   a.压制的；沉重的   (英语六级单词)