‘A happy world’, like all pop culture classics, has already become commonplace. In a hard dispute with ‘1984’ and ‘Fahrenheit 451’, it may well be the worst understood science-fiction work in history (or more tortuously understood than that). Perhaps this new television version will make things clearer. Or to confuse everything even more.
The point is, this new adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s mythical 1932 novel ‘A Happy World’ will be seen on NBCUniversal’s new streaming platform, Peacock, and on Sky One in the UK starting July 15. At the moment there is no news of its broadcast in Spain, but the universal nature of its history and the presence of proper names such as Demi Moore and Alden Ehrenreich (whom we will hardly see again interpret the space smuggler from ‘ Han Solo ‘) guarantee that it will arrive here. sometime.
In the series, Ehrenreich is John, a resident of the “Savage Lands”, a kind of people zoo for New Londoners. There, life has reached almost inhuman perfection thanks to drugs and bioengineering, and wretches like John are viewed almost as prehistoric curiosities. But our hero ends up moving to the big city, where he will be amazed at how the upper classes live in a state of denial of unhappiness that will, in reality, be the germ of change.
Dystopian classics
The new trailer for the impending series starts with a neat inhabitant of New London (so much so that, until we discover that she is one of the protagonists, she gives the impression that she is part of an advertising spot) blowing off a spark from Soma. But we soon realize that this Happy World is really new, and that bodily modification are the order of the day. Without a doubt, if they work like the drugs in the original novel, it will be an interesting way to reflect on the dangers of technology today, just as Huxley did, with other aspects of his fiction, to talk about his own time.
The trailer already shows notable differences with the original novel, as it is logical in the case of a book that approaches the century of existence, and that was written long before the majority of technological advances of the present time were not even remotely conceived. The caste system he describes has been clearly outdated (although it is not difficult to draw parallels with today), but in many ways, it is surprisingly anticipating the future: assisted reproductive technology, social manipulation by power, and a long etcetera. An eternal story, difficult to adapt and that we hope will give rise to a series to match.