The roots of Disneyland revealed from the “Tomorrowland” Expo (Part 1)

Pessimistic view of the future

After the New York World's Fair ended, the world became dominated by a pessimistic mood, making it difficult to portray an optimistic future as typified by Futurama II. From the next Fair, the Montreal World's Fair (Expo '67), the number of exhibits that raised social issues through difficult and avant-garde images increased. Furthermore, expositions themselves began to directly confront society, such as the Spokane World's Fair (Expo '74), which focused on the environment, due to the global pollution problem, and the Knoxville World's Fair (Expo '82), which dealt with energy issues in the wake of the second oil crisis.

This was also evident in the science fiction films of the time, such as " Planet of the Apes " (1968), "Death Becomes a Planet " (1970), "Escape from the Planet of the Apes " (1970), " THX-1138 " (1971), " Baby Boy " (1972), " Soylent Green " (1973), " Japan Sinks " (1973), "The Prophecies of Nostradamus" (1974), and " The World Burns " (1977), which all-out nuclear war, AI going out of control, a super-controlled society, environmental pollution, population explosion, food crisis, and natural disasters, all of which were apocalyptic in the future. Furthermore, this trend became established as a genre with the appearance of " Dawn of the Dead " (1978) and " Mad Max " (1979).

As a result, director Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof discussed making the main theme of the film, "Why have people suddenly become pessimistic?"

To be continued

Text: Takayuki Oguchi

In 1982, he became director of Japan's first CG production company, JCGL. After working as head designer for the IMAX Dome 3D film "Universe 2: Echoes of the Sun" at the Fujitsu Pavilion at EXPO '90, he is now a freelance video creator. He won an Emmy Award for the NHK special "Life: A Long Journey of 4 Billion Years" (1994). He is also a video journalist specializing in VFX, CG, 3D films, art animation, exhibition videos, etc., and has contributed numerous articles to film magazines, theater pamphlets, websites, etc. He is a visiting professor at Digital Hollywood University, and a part-time lecturer at Joshibi University of Art and Design, the Graduate School of Animation at Tokyo University of the Arts, and Japan Electronics College. His major publications include "3D Century: Wonders! 100 Years of 3D Film and a New Century of Film" (Born Digital), "Naked Eye 3D Graphics" (Asakura Publishing), and "The History of Computer Graphics: The Imagination of 3DCG" (Film Art Publishing).

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