EMA Predicts “The Future’s Void.” These Hollywood Blockbusters Agree.

EMA has a complicated relationship with the future. In short, it freaks her out. The songwriter even named her new album The Future’s Void, a double entendre whose playfulness only seems to emphasize her underlying fear. Everywhere she looks, EMA sees the specters that modern technology has cast into our lives: soul-sucking computers, omnipotent video cameras, all-consuming smartphones (“Makin’ a living off of takin’ selfies,” she sings with a hint of anxiety). But she’s not the only one who thinks we’re headed in the wrong direction. Just look at Hollywood, whose filmmakers have produced countless visions of the dystopian future at our doorstep. Just for fun, we’ve found three blockbusters that confirm EMA’s fears and take her terrifying visions to their natural conclusions. Open the satellites, oh, / Oh, as yes, as the sky does turn to night / And we push our bright / eyes up to the sight / I can see them / Two, three, four, five thousand of them … You’ve seen this future in: Independence Day EMA marvels at earth’s satellite network for connecting humanity in ways once deemed impossible. But, as her fearful tone shows, she’s all too aware of how vulnerable this network leaves us to hostile space invaders. Though she foregoes sampling the obvious soundbite, EMA is clearly trying to tell us she’d feel safer if Bill Pullman were president. Feel like I blew my soul out / Across the interwebs and streams / It was a million pieces / Of silver and I watched them gleam You’ve seen this future in: The Matrix EMA sings of the soul-crushing existential angst that comes from a life lived primarily in the virtual realm. Who knows this pain better than Neo? Each trip into the Matrix transforms him from a human into mere lines of code—albeit lines of code that know kung fu. So lemme tell you bout this girl I know (she’s so blonde) / Her pills are shakin’ in her bag (she’s so blonde) / Her eyes the storm of all the things that’s cool (she’s so blonde) / Until Calvin gets her restrained You’ve seen this future in: Attack of the 50 Foot Woman When it comes to doomed futures, technology isn’t always the culprit. Sometimes it’s the burdens of modern femininity. EMA’s blonde friend might as well be Nancy Archer, the titular character in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Fresh out of her stay at a sanitorium, Nancy encounters an alien in the desert. No one believes her—especially not her greedy, philandering husband—until she turns into a rampaging giant. Restraints and morphine can’t keep Nancy down, much like EMA’s unnamed blonde. Scared of what the future might hold? Whatever you do, stay away from these Goods deals for electronics.