Lesson plan

Idiocracy

Idiocracy is a 2006 American science fiction comedy film directed and produced by Mike Judge, who co-wrote with Etan Cohen. The plot follows United States Army librarian Joe Bauers and prostitute Rita, who undergo a government hibernation experiment and awake five hundred years later to find a devolved dystopian anti-intellectual society. The cast includes Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews, David Herman, Justin Long, Andrew Wilson, and Brad Jordan. The concept of Idiocracy dates back to a concept Judge envisioned in 1996. In 2001, Judge finished a script with the working title 3001, and rewrote the film a year later. Filming took place throughout 2004 at Austin Studios and other cities in Texas. Idiocracy serves as a social satire that touches on issues including anti-intellectualism, commercialism, consumerism, dysgenics, voluntary childlessness, and overpopulation. 20th Century Fox was hesitant to promote the film, refused to grant it a wide release, and did not screen it for critics. The decision not to market Idiocracy was seen as unexpected, following the success of Office Space (1999).…

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Article summary

Idiocracy is a 2006 American science fiction comedy film directed and produced by Mike Judge, who co-wrote with Etan Cohen. The plot follows United States Army librarian Joe Bauers and prostitute Rita, who undergo a government hibernation experiment and awake five hundred years later to find a devolved dystopian anti-intellectual society. The cast includes Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews, David Herman, Justin Long, Andrew Wilson, and Brad Jordan. The concept of Idiocracy dates back to a concept Judge envisioned in 1996. In 2001, Judge finished a script with the working title 3001, and rewrote the film a year later. Filming took place throughout 2004 at Austin Studios and other cities in Texas. Idiocracy serves as a social satire that touches on issues including anti-intellectualism, commercialism, consumerism, dysgenics, voluntary childlessness, and overpopulation. 20th Century Fox was hesitant to promote the film, refused to grant it a wide release, and did not screen it for critics. The decision not to market Idiocracy was seen as unexpected, following the success of Office Space (1999).…

Key claims

  1. release date: 2006-09-01 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  2. release date: 2007-01-09 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the release date is "2006-09-01". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. The record states that the release date is "2007-01-09". What evidence would count against this claim?
  4. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  5. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

No sources recorded.

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.