Sky Mean

Disaster movies, a type of film where the hero is in a life and death confrontation, are one of the most popular modern-day genres. Complete with special effects, they tend to show us our world on the brink of collapse. Another type of movie that shows the world at the brink of annihilation is science fantasy movies. The typical plots in both these types of movies include the lone hero who saves the helpless woman and/or child or children from earthquakes, volcanoes or the whole world from aliens.

The natural disaster movies continue in abundance. There are the geological disasters such as, “The Core” (2003). Then there are the usual earthquake plots – there were at least 7 of these that were best sellers between 2006 and 2011. Slightly less popular are the avalanche, meteor, asteroids and crashing comet plots. Then there are the volcanoes, floods which mainly feature the all- powerful tsunami, and the fire movies. But climbing steadily to first place are climate and epidemic movies. These are obviously the topics of the moment and to know that a scientist can and will single-handedly solve these problem is the inevitable end to the movie.

Yet how many of us are prepared to think about potentially real-life disasters? On the small island of Las Palmas in the Canary Island there is an active volcano, Cumbre Vieja, which scientists are certain will erupt. They are worried that this eruption will not be the usual limited disaster but a world catastrophe. The volcano has some unusual geological traits which could cause a section of the island to collapse into the ocean. This would then set off a mega tsunami which would hit and wipe out the east coast of America, including New York and Miami. What a great movie that would make! Of course there may not be too many New York cinemas left to watch it in, so in the meanwhile let’s not make a movie about reality and in this way we can pretend the danger isn’t out there.

But volcanoes are not the only Natural disasters. The earthquake in Japan in March 2011 was one of the most powerful to have ever been recorded; it reached a phenomenal 9.1 on the Richter scale! It also unsettled the Fukushima nuclear power plant. This has created such a level of fear about nuclear power stations that the Americans are reviewing the structures of future nuclear power stations. But we all know that doesn’t help with the existing power stations. And no disaster movie has ever been made on this subject.

Science Fiction movies where the planet earth is invaded by aggressive aliens are sometimes classified as disaster movies. This makes sense when one considers they are relating a disaster for the human race, which is pretty much what disaster movies are about. What I have never understood is if these beings that come from outer space are intelligent enough to get here, why would they want to kill us off. One tends to associate intelligence with being able to communicate rather than merely taking out a big gun and shooting. And what about when the aliens are super intelligent and can assume human form but in reality they are disgusting creatures. “V The Final Battle” was made in 1984 and remade under the name “V” in 2007. It must have been a fairly successful series to do a remake but why would one image that giant lizards could fit into a human body, let alone one as thin as that of the evil protagonist, Morena Baccarin’s. And why would giant lizards want to kill us? They wouldn’t of course it is merely a matter of projecting onto reptiles human behavior.

During the 1990s, the world witnessed many civil wars: for example, the Burundi Civil War in Rwanda in Africa and the Bosnian war and the Chechen uprising in Europe. Parallel to these events came movies like Men in Black, Independence Day and Invasion from Mars. Although the battles in these films take place between men and aliens, the basic theme was merely a reflection of what was happening on earth all around the planet. The alien block-buster movies do not portray reality. But as the world disintegrates and we see an increase in violence movie makers are making some concessions to the real world. For example Spielberg’s new series “Terra Nova” showed humans not only battling aliens but also each other. But then this series never made it past season 1. Was it too close to reality?

The movies are about entertainment, but we all know they can do so much more than that. Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” is a perfect example of a film that went way beyond entertainment and educated as well. It also made us reassess our own humanity. But it is easy to think about these things which happened in the past but rather harder to contemplate why we are doing nothing to prevent such recurrences in the present. And this is the reason that makes disaster movies so popular. The majority of us feel helpless in the light of a disaster like an earthquake in Haiti. And when we see that the government and people in Haiti cannot get their act together it accentuates those feelings of helplessness. The movies on the other hand give us the comforting illusion that we will be able to control our own destiny, even when a disaster of massive proportions such as a volcano or alien invasion is occurring. It is so comforting and we all need those moments of comfort and the momentary feeling that life can go right, since at heart we know the real world is not like this.

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