What if there were a type of fiction that -- intentionally -- catered to believers in religious fantasies that predict a coming apocalypse that (according to their dogma) will kill all but the most faithful believers? What would its primary characteristics be?
Well, if you believe that True Believers of apocalyptic fantasies *are* actually focused on the things they tell people they're focused on, it would be about the joys of being "saved," and how their unwavering faith saved them, while so many others perished. But that's not really true. What the fiction designed to appeal to these True Believers focuses on are the Terrible Things That Are Going To Happen To The Non-Believers™. There will be page after page of terrible things happening to people who aren't on the Believer Bus -- bombs going off, planes crashing from the skies, terrorism, floods, riots, etc. These NON-God-fearing people will disappear, be torn apart, be tortured, be blown up, and more. And this will happen over and over and over, so that the True Believers will be presented with a morality tale similar to paintings of Hell by Hieronymus Bosch that supports their group fantasy of being "special," and other people *NOT* being special. In fact, these non-believers are SO not special that they're all going to die in horrible ways. Think I'm exaggerating? Well, welcome to the "Left Behind" series of books. 10 books, which have now sold over 65 million copies, almost ALL sold to evangelical Christians who believe in dispensationalist prophecies, almost ALL of them living in America. (The books have not sold well anywhere else on earth, which says something about the collective religious insanity that is the United States.) Think my title for this post is sensational? The "Left Behind" books are LITERALLY "Apocalypse Porn." And now there's "Left Behind," the movie. It's a remake, actually, preceded by a series of earlier low-budget, direct-to-DVD movies starring evangelical Christian nut case Kirk Cameron. That movie didn't do very well, so Hollywood decided to do what they do best and do a big-budget remake of it, starring Nicolas Cage. Anyone who saw the loathsome remake of "The Wicker Man" starring Cage knows that their choice of star is a tipoff as to the quality of the movie and what to expect. For the first half hour of the movie, it's just tedious, all exposition and introducing characters that you *hope* are all going to die so you don't have to watch them for a full two hours. Then the Rapture happens, and the immediate onscreen action starts switching between a plane in which Nick Cage is the pilot and back on earth, where his daughter is wandering around a shopping center. Daughter is hugging her younger brother, and suddenly finds herself hugging empty clothes. Up in the air, Cage's co-pilot disappears, as do many of the passengers. Elsewhere, there is the very Apocalypse Porn you would expect, as the TBs are whisked off to Heaven in a moment and those considered unworthy of the trip just disappear from behind the wheels of the cars they were driving or the planes they were flying. For a while it looks like the only ones who are going to profit from all of this are vendors of used clothing, because there are piles of it everywhere. :-) Finally people figure out that the Rapture has happened, and that they have been (wait for it) L E F T B E H I N D. No Saint Peter for them. Just life back on earth, which will get real gnarly, real fast, as predicted by prophecies of the coming seven years of tribulation. even if you don't get to see much of it in this first movie in what they obviously hope is a franchise. And THAT'S THE POINT. This really IS fiction for elitist True Believers, to not only pat them on the back for being TBs, but to give them a fictional glimpse of all the terrible, awful things that are going to happen to Non-Believers. It's like an entire series of novels written by Jim Flanegin, in which the only two things the author is capable of are 1) telling people how incredibly "special" he is, and 2) fantasizing about the terrible life that those who are NOT as special as he is are going to face. We've certainly seen a similar 'tude in the TM movement. Anyone who paid their dues and spent time as a TM teacher (meaning NOT Jim Flanegin, Lawson, Judy Stein, Richard Williams and those other poseurs) has been exposed to all of the carefully-planted memes about the terrible things that will happen to them if they ever stopped meditating or (horrors!) fell Off The Program. THAT is Apocalypse Porn, too, just on a smaller level. Suffice it to say that the rest of the film doth not merit a detailed review. It's terrible, and I suspect that even if one were a believer in the coming Rapture it would be terrible. I'm "reviewing" it here primarily for those who are interested in the cult mindset. If while reading FFL you've ever gotten the feeling that some of the TM TBs like Jim, Nabby, and Buck *really* don't like you because of your non-belief, and are actually *looking forward to* the Bad Things they fantasize will happen to you because of your disbelief, this may be your kinda movie. You're getting that feeling because it's true.
