"One tricky thing about writing dystopian fiction with staying power is that the future eventually catches up with you. Stephen King's 1982 novel The Running Man takes place in 2025. In his vision of, well, now, there is widespread poverty, rule by giant corporations, and exploitative entertainment that takes advantage of people who are suffering and tries to force ordinary people to despise each other. There is environmental destruction, mass surveillance and even the resurgence of polio. Just imagine."
"The story follows a man named Ben Richards, who tries to provide for his family and his sick kid by going on a game show also called The Running Man. On the show, he has to survive on the streets for 30 days while professional assassins pursue him. If he makes it, he wins a billion dollars. But, of course, nobody has ever survived."
Stephen King's 1982 novel The Running Man is set in 2025 and imagines widespread poverty, corporate rule, exploitative entertainment, environmental destruction, mass surveillance, and a polio resurgence. The plot centers on Ben Richards, who enters a lethal game show called The Running Man to win money for his sick child by surviving thirty days while professional assassins hunt him. A 1987 film adaptation transformed the story into a campy, arena-style action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. A new Edgar Wright film returns to the grimmer original. The Network megacorporation runs the show, recruits Richards, and deploys celebrity Hunters led by the masked McCone.
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