The year is 2026. A Dickensian "the best of times, the worst of times". It was...wait.
Let's not kid ourselves. There's not going to be any best of times! It's going to suck. Lawntropolis High is the ultimate result of the political policies that public education suffers with today.
We see public school funding being cut back, and an insistence by communities that some schools be run by private concerns. Soon, school vouchers (oh, excuse me, school choice) will be sucking away at funds originally earmarked public education.
Everytime we find a failing school system, the fix is usually school uniforms, more security or standardized testing. More money for a higher quality education is rarely proposed as a solution. Which is odd, since most schools that fail are in impoverished areas.
Another trend is the state takeovers of many local school systems, and the consolidation of schools from small town systems into regional and even state wide systems. The reason for these consolidations is usually monetary. The reason is never to provide more people with a better better education.
So, the is future very plain and very predictable.
In 2026 Lawntropolis, the haves will have the best private school education money can buy. And the public school have-nots will get what is left. Over crowded. Over consolidated. Over secure. Under funded. In sort, Lawntropolis High.
By now, you probably have realized that this story is a crossover with the classic silent era movie, Metropolis! Fritz Lanz's fantastic vision of the future is still one of my favorite movies of all time. Virtually all science fiction movies thereafter have used themes and borrowed scenes from this groundbreaking motion picture. Sadly, the original movie no longer exists. Cut up for distribution in other countries, large pieces of the film are missing today. The most complete version to date is the one put out by Giorgio Moroder in the early 1980's. Featuring a modern soundtrack, sound effects, and color tinted film, it includes most of the surviving scenes, and attempts to patch in missing sections with still photos and additional dialog. It is this version that I used for this story. For more information on this and other releases of Metropolis, as well as a quick refresh of the story, go to Fritz Lang's Metropolis, one of the better sites I found while researching this project.
This story is certainly the hardest I've written to date. The art form of the motion picture started out without sound. The story had to be conveyed by images, expressions and skilled use of the camera, and with minimal dialog. Contrast that with Daria. In this modern story telling media, the animation limits the amount of action that can be displayed. The stories are very dependant on dialog. Merging these two different forms was a real challenge. Hence the format of the story. The action is described in a script like fashion, and all dialog is "called out" through captions, like a silent film.
And just so you know, Upchuck plays the part of Rotwang in my production. Through great effort, I managed not use a certain particular play on words as a joke. It wasn't easy. Also, note the R. prefixing the robot. Just my small salute to Issac Asimov.
The ten hour clock has struck. It's time for school! So, welcome to the first "silent" fan fiction! Set your sights on the year 2026, and your educational expectations to mediocre.
And enter the city of Lawntropolis!