It's hard to deny that we're living at the height of the digital age and human innovation. On the surface, everything can seem shiny, new, and exciting. But you're not alone if you sense something off about society's rapid growth. There’s a term that captures this unsettling feeling buried beneath the promising veneer of progress: bubblegum dystopia.
How does this concept weave into both pop culture and reality? We've got the details ahead.
The term "bubblegum dystopia" formally entered the discourse after writer Stephen Nothum posted a fantastic analysis of it on TikTok. Since debuting in late July, Nothum's video swiftly picked up momentum, garnering over 433,000 views. So, what is a bubblegum dystopia anyway?
@authorstephennothum The world won’t end with a boom, it will end with everything you want and nothing that you need. #dystopia #dystopian #filmanalysis #terrygilliam #movies #capitalism #bubblegumdystopia ♬ original sound - stephen nothum
“A bubblegum dystopia is a dystopian future usually ruled by a totalitarian corporate entity, and this entity makes the world vibrant and convenient but hollow. The citizens are reduced to consumers as their main identity,” Nothum explains. “And in a bubblegum dystopia, all of the citizens of this world believe that they are living in the best era of humanity.”
Here’s the catch: If these citizens stopped consuming things, they would realize how empty their lives actually were.
Nothum notes that he first came across the term when production designer David Warren casually mentioned it in a Dreams Magazine interview for the movie The Zero Theorem. One of Warren's friends described the satirical film as a “bubblegum dystopia,” which is a nod to the “pinks, oranges, and candy apple colors” in the movie. While embracing a fun, punchy color scheme, the film explores darker themes of corporate surveillance and exploitation.
The "bubblegum" part of bubblegum dystopia really makes the "dystopia" part more pronounced and disturbing. In a post on bubblegum dystopia for his taCity blog page, Professor Oli Mould writes that “the neon colours, retro-futuristic motifs, and playful imagery are juxtaposed with themes of decay and disillusionment."
Bubblegum dystopia is typically used to describe fictional societies. That said, it’s not a stretch to argue that reality, as we know it, is one. In his TikTok video, Nothum points out how companies collect data and use surveillance-based tactics to target consumers with online ads.
Besides leading us to buy things, data collection also has a major impact on virtual discourse. In his blog, Mould notes that “the algorithms that govern our online experiences create nasty echo chambers, reinforcing our existing preferences and limiting our exposure to different perspectives.”
Many classic films, shows, and books illustrate the underlying ails of an ostensibly perfect and advanced society. Here are just a few examples of bubblegum dystopia in pop culture.
In Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem, Christoph Waltz stars as Qohen, a quirky computer programmer who works to uncover whether or not life has any meaning. Qohen’s candy-colored world is undeniably advanced, but it’s far from perfect—it’s loud, it’s distracting, and it’s bombarded with ads.
Qohen’s employer, Mancom, is a large corporation that promises to help people make sense of the chaotic world. Despite its noble mission, it actively surveils its employees and pushes for worker efficiency to a disturbing degree.
Nothum flags Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 as a prime example of bubblegum dystopia. In the novel's society, books are banned, and Montag, the protagonist, is a fireman tasked with burning them. Within this deeply censored society, people, like Montag's wife, distract themselves with technologies like thimble-sized seashell ear radios (yes, like earbuds) and wall-sized TVs.
According to Nothum, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is another solid example of bubblegum dystopia. While all appears to be peachy keen and idyllically feminist in Barbieland, Margot Robbie’s Barbie senses that there’s something wrong with her picture-perfect life. In the real world, she learns that Mattel, the company that owns Barbie, is dominated by men.
In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a futuristic society called the World State grows human embryos in artificial wombs. The embryo stage determines your eventual social status — those destined to be part of a lower caste are engineered with imperfections.
Built on the idea of Henry Ford's assembly line, this system upholds social order and efficiency, but it punishes those who fail to conform. In this oppressive society, people are taught to consume new things all the time and rely on a happiness-inducing drug called “soma."
In John Carpenter's They Live, aliens pose as humanity's ruling class and use subliminal messages that get people to buy and do things. Only those who wear special sunglasses can see the aliens and underlying messages. The world isn't particularly bubblegum-colored, but your vision notably switches to black and white once you wear these shades.
In Black Mirror's “Nosedive,” we enter a beautifully pink but unsettling world where people rank each other on a five-star system. Although everyone is outwardly pleasant, this ranking technology also makes people anxious, as it impacts their social and economic standing. Things go awry when Bryce Dallas Howard's Lacie attempts to boost her score in order to secure a deal on a luxury apartment.
In the future, all young adults will undergo a surgical procedure called the "Transformation,” which slows down aging and boosts immunity. Although in good health, everyone more or less looks (and acts) the same—you can only choose from a select number of conventionally attractive body forms. Disturbed by this norm, 18-year-old Marilyn refuses to go under the knife.
Although it can feel bleak, bubblegum dystopia isn’t doomerism, per se. As a cultural concept, it prompts us to reflect on unchecked progress and instant gratification. At the heart of it all, it asks us what it means to be human.
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