Abstract

The image of the future in sci-fi movies is made from the imaginary contexts of each era. These contexts elaborate thematic cycles that appear over time. This paper aims to discuss the emergence of the culture of citizen surveillance, which is present in our time. This culture is constantly present in sci-fi movies, especially in films movies that take place in dystopian futures. We are interested in its implications in social arrangements, and we chose as the object of discussion the films THX 1138, Brazil and Minority Report. These films movies show possibilities of surveillance and control that are particularly different from each other, but they have in common share societies in a constant state of emergency, which war, ultimately, is waged against its own citizens. They are futuristic films, but also mirrors of a present in which governments classify their citizens in different conditions of political protection.

Keywords
imaginary cycles; states of exception; sci-fi; futuristic movies