Futurama Sitcom Reaction Paper

Corpuz, Raiza M.

Futurama is a science fiction cartoon about Philip Fry a New York City delivery boy who accidentally slipped into a cryogenic pod that froze him for a thousand years. Several invasions by extra-terrestrial beings with advanced machineries caused the rise of different civilizations in New York City. Finally Philip reawakens to a modern New Year’s Eve of 2999. Not at all uncomfortable that he is transported a millennia to the future, he considers his situation as a start of a new life. Apparently, he has nothing important left in his past and a new life is what he was really asking for.

Not long after being reawakened, he finds himself being assigned as a delivery boy again. Moreover, a chip is injected to everyone that seemingly attaches their occupation to their identity. Future may be depicted orderly and very advanced but it can also be seen as stifling. People’s skills are evaluated and immediately assigned to a field and they don’t have a say on that. There also exists a suicide booth which for me shows that the people living in that millennia already forgot to value their own lives. However beautiful and forward the new civilization is, the people are dissatisfied with it. Machines make their own choices for them and people are forced to compel to the system. This situation is not that different to our present situation although it is not as obvious today. We can see parents forcing their children to take this and that courses because it will help them earn more in the future thus, helping them survive. We can’t help but to cope to the norms of our society because taking a different route is very risky. Philip, Leela and Bender however chose to take that unguaranteed route and accompanied Professor Farnsworth in Planet Express Inc.

Futurama may be science fiction but it also shows how people can react to a change of civilization accurately. Science may advance exponentially, but it also needs to wait for the people cope with the change.