--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <noozg...@...> wrote: > > TurquoiseB wrote: > > > > I just watched a bad, pirated, fuzzy CAM copy > > of this flick, and it only adds to the feelings > > of dismay I felt when I first read Robert's post. > > > > When I first read it, my first thought was, "What > > you focus on, you become," and a sense of sadness > > that someone who had spent so long on paths of > > supposed self discovery could focus so intently > > on The End Of The World, in all its supposed > > manifestations. > > > > Then I saw this movie, and that sadness heightened. > > This is NOT a good film. But it's going to be a > > popular one (it is now currently the most popular > > film in America) because it focuses on what many > > people WANT to happen, and WANT to become. > > > > They want to become pawns in the game of Gods, who > > KNOW WHAT THE PLAN IS. > > > > They want aliens or God or gods and goddesses or > > Big Verginas from the Pleiaides to KNOW WHAT > > THE FUCK IS HAPPENINGS, AND TELL THEM. > > > > They want to be special, because they "know" what > > is happening, and no one else does. Like the char- > > acters in this film, they don't even CARE if the > > world goes to hell in a firestorm, JUST AS LONG > > AS THEY ARE CONVINCED THEY KNOW WHAT > > IS HAPPENING, and no one else does. > > > > Ego. What monstrous ego. Maybe the planet really > > DOES "deserve" to become a cosmic crispy critter, > > if this is all the creativity its inhabitants > > can muster up. > > More importantly if the Sun winds up belching a flare and > the Earth is in the way there is no "guy in the sky" that > is going to save living creatures on Earth. But you wouldn't > believe how many times I've mentioned in this scenario in > the past that people wanted to believe the "guy in the sky" > would save them. And also hated me for mentioning the > scenario. :-D
Yup. It reminded me of a post that Stu made here a while back in which he complained that a LOT of the plots of movies and TV he was seeing around him involved "deus ex machina," the Unseen Force that "really" runs things and "makes everything work out right." At the time, I didn't quite agree. But since then I have watched more of Lost, watched the ending of Battlestar Galactica, watched the beginnings of Kings, and watched this movie, Knowing. ALL of these stories are "deus ex machina," and involve the belief in some Big Guy or Big Aliens who are "looking out for us," and who "know better than we do," and are "taking care of us." It's the cinematic counterpart of Nabby's belief in the fictional Maitreya and the aliens who are going to come someday and "make everything right." It's an ABDICATION OF RESPONSIBILITY FANTASY. IMO, of course. Some obviously *like* such fantasies, and have for centuries. "God will take care of things; we don't have to," and all that. I just tend to shake my head when I see more and more and more of these fantasies arise when times get tough. It's like "When the going gets tough, the tough hide under rocks and expect Daddy to come and save them." Not my kinda plotline. Why can't we have more plots in which the human race saves ITSELF? Through nothing more mysterious than using its gifts of free will, intelligence, and getting off its collective butt to DO SOMETHING?
