There have been countless Young Adult novels devoted to dreary dystopian futures, and there are currently TV shows which depict a future where: a mysterious plague has wiped out over 80% of the world’s population (The Last Ship), a mysterious plague has made all women infertile (The Lottery), and astronaut Halle Berry has a robot child and then mysteriously gets pregnant while alone in outer space (Extant.) Here are some other possible tomorrows:
1. A future in which the only people left alive are still arguing over whether Jennifer Lawrence was too old or too healthy to play Katniss in The Hunger Games movies.
2. A future in which a mysterious plague has eliminated all of the nannies, so the human race dies out, at least in Tribeca.
3. A future in which Halle Berry’s space baby grows up and asks Halle how come, in all shows and movies about space travel, whether it’s Raquel Welch in Fantastic Voyage or Sandra Bullock in Gravity, the female astronauts always wear formfitting spacesuits and eventually, lingerie? The space baby will also ask why, in the future, are all female scientists, surgeons and astronauts required to maintain hairstyles which keep their bangs in their eyes?
4. A future in which a mysterious plague has killed only the unpleasant and depressed people, so the earth is now populated entirely by cheerful, helpful folks, until a bloodthirsty war breaks out between the people who say “Have a good one!” and the people who say “Have a blessed day!”
5. A future in which, thanks to climate change, your mother was right and you do need a sweater.
6. A future in which Young Adult novels and films focus on young people who study hard and get good jobs, without whining about how no one “gets” them or appreciates their favorite tunes, without which they would literally die.
7. A future in which the apes take over, and start to develop movie and TV projects in which the humans take over.
