Luckily, it was no more that preview for a new winter blockbuster titled 2012 (you can view the trailer here: http://www.whowillsurvive2012.com/) but it did raise a few concerns. I enjoy watching doomsday thrillers just as much as the next person, but perhaps this last feature from the director who brought us Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow has gone just a bit too far. This day of reckoning (the exact date happens to be December 21, 2012) is over three years off, yet some groups of people are already forming cults and making survival plans. Before we become too caught up in stocking doomsday shelters, let's get our facts right. The Mayan calendar does in fact end on the 21st, however the 21st is also the winter solstice, a day which the Mayans would have been able to predict and would have considered important (http://www.2012endofdays.org/Mayan/Mayan-Calendar.php). Some theorists say that the prophet Nostradamus also predicted the end of the world on this date, but his prophecies are vague at best and can be interpreted in many different ways. Lastly, the sun will reach the peak of its eleven year cycle, sun sunspots, solar flares, and other sun activity will be at an 11-year high. Fortunately for us, this does happen ever eleven years, so most of the world's population has lived through it before.
I have been trying to figure out why we are so obsessed with humanity's demise. Is it our own self-importance to think that we matter enough to be the last generation? About thirty years ago, many people believed that we were on the verge of a nuclear holocaust. Why then? So we return to my initial horror at seeing the commercial on TV. I was not worried because I actually thought the world was coming to an end. My fear budded from the endless ways the other six billion people on the planet will react to this message. Will there be chaos? Suicide? Peace? Are the producers and directors of this movie partially responsible for any harm that comes from their work?
I think people are so interesting in when and how the world will end because it is a complete mystery to us. No one knows how, no one knows when. It's scary to think it's a possibility it could be tomorrow, or tonight. I think we are so interested in what we don't know because it frightens us and we want to make explainations for things to ease our worries.
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ReplyDeleteI am very interested by this subject. I've actually done a little research on this and I read somewhere that it may not actually be the end of the world but actually just a very significant natural event that will change the face of the Earth and the order of things. So it may not be the end of the world, according to the Mayans, but actually just a huge catastrophe. But that doesn't really make it any better does it?
ReplyDeleteI've seen the commercial for this movie too, and I think you bring up some interesting questions on the effects of end-of-the-world movies. Because it is in fact a movie, I do not think the aftermath will be as extreme as to promote chaos, however the movie will definitely raise awareness to the world about the supposed "end of the world". Like Katie said, I believe people are so interested in these movies because they give everyone a chance to witness something they have no information about. Also there are always really cool special effects! Overall this is a very interesting topic to discuss and I'm excited to see what happens when the movie comes out and the date in 2012.
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