Perhaps it will no longer be a secret for anyone that any kind of creativity in one way or another reflects the worldview of the creator, his attitude to the world, and it certainly will not be a revelation to say that the worldview of this creator is formed under the influence of the cultural environment in which he is born, grows and becomes who he is.
Cinema is also a form of creativity, art, although Hollywood is trying to turn it into an industry, so the above can be safely attributed to it. Art, in turn, is not only a means of self-expression, but also a shaper of a person's worldview. Art can elevate a person: endow him with pure thoughts, spirituality, the desire to serve people, to live in harmony with the world. It can also reduce a person to the level of an animal driven by the instincts of survival and reproduction.
Therefore, it is extremely important to pay attention to those images, thought forms, meanings that contemporary art reveals to us from plasma TV screens, monitors, from cinema screens. A significant part of this market is occupied by Western products, so we can safely say that the Western "film industry" has a serious impact on the minds of people around the world.
So why all this reasoning ?! Since a significant part of the world of cinematography belongs to the West, I would like to form some kind of understanding about this culture, about what images it inspires its creators, about where it is trying to blaze a path for all of humanity.
One of the images that is actively discussed in Western cinema is the image of the future of humanity. No less interesting are the ways out of those global problems that humanity may face in the near future.
So, what are the scenarios for the future that the Hollywood dream factory and Western cinema in general offer us:
The Apocalypse in its various forms:
- phenomenon of cosmic origin (meteorite fall);
- a man-made or natural disaster (nuclear explosion or natural disaster: earthquake, displacement of the magnetic pole, global flood, etc.); made the biosphere of our planet unsuitable for normal life.
- biological catastrophe - infection of people with a virus, as a result of which they simply die or turn into zombies, vampires and other evil spirits.
- Alien expansion.
- The threat is the people themselves.
Further, these scenarios will be considered in more detail, with an analysis of the most striking films of this genre.
Promotional video:
Apocalypse in its various forms
The phenomenon of cosmic origin
The first point of this scenario, which has become a skeleton for more than one Western blockbuster, is, of course, a kind of threat from space that will erase all life from the face of the Earth: a meteorite fall, the fading of the Sun, some kind of space storm.
Perhaps one of the most striking examples in this class is the film with the telling name "Armageddon", which tells how a huge meteorite is approaching the Earth. The fall of the meteorite will destroy all life on Earth. The American space agency NASA is urgently forming a team that will go to the meteorite, plant a bomb and detonate it in such a way that its debris flew past the Earth. Naturally, a happy ending awaits us in the finale.
The United States and its space agency NASA manage to prevent the catastrophe and death of all mankind, although we all know perfectly well that not a single space program in the world is currently being carried out alone, and even countries such as Russia, the United States, China are forced to enter into cooperation with the aim of developing space. But for us, the inhabitants, a slightly different scenario is put into our heads: in the event of the threat of a meteorite falling, the United States will save all of humanity, therefore it is the United States that should be the leading power on the planet, it is they who deserve the top of a unipolar world.
And the most important thing is that many Americans sincerely believe in this, it is enough to recall the speech of President Barack Obama to the nation on the issue of Syria, in which he explicitly declares about the "exclusiveness of the American nation", about the special position of America. And the sad thing is that not only Americans think so, but also people of other nationalities, who, apparently, are strongly influenced by American culture.
In this direction of cinema there is another branch of scenarios that is worth paying attention to: films where the date of the end of the world is known and the apocalypse is inevitable. These films are remarkable in that they show the audience not the end of the world itself, but how people behave, knowing that the apocalypse has already knocked on the door. What models of behavior are offered to people on the eve of their death ?!
In the film “I am looking for a friend for the end of the world”, people “indulge in all serious”, finally losing their human appearance, drowning in alcohol, drugs, debauchery, satisfying their animal madness. Naturally, against the background of impending inevitable death, all these vices begin to take on the appearance of the only values of worthless human life. And advertisers, of course, could not help but take advantage of such a winning atmosphere to promote their products: are Don Ramon cigars really the strongest ?!
The image of the family in this film is crumbled to smithereens: parents and children shout at each other, one of the ladies at one of the parties declares that she wants to go to her stepfather and tell him to die, children at an early age are addicted to alcohol, apparently, they want to show them the "true" pleasures of life.
Looting, anarchy and lawlessness flourish around. Now, on the verge of destruction, human life has ceased to be worth anything at all.
In the film "The Last Day on Earth" the picture is about the same: the main characters are lying in a drunken stupor, drowning in debauchery and in between times trying to understand why all this is happening to them, to humanity. Someone goes crazy, someone commits suicide, someone is engaged in robbery and looting. There is also no image of decent families, where people come together at such a moment in order to enjoy every minute spent together. Only mass psychosis, insanity, the desire to fully satisfy all their desires before death.
Disaster of a technogenic or biological nature
The second scenario in this thread is a nuclear disaster (war), or just numerous wars, or a natural disaster, including as a result of severe pollution of the planet, and, as a consequence, the emergence of a new post-apocalyptic world. This plot is extremely popular with Hollywood: Water World (1995), The Road (2009), The Book of Eli (2009), Rover (2014), 2012, Interstellar (2015), The Last Hours (2013), After Christ (2013), Through snow (2013), Mad Max (all parts), Amber City (2008), Postman (1997), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Equilibrium (2002), The Matrix (all three parts), Dedicated (2014).
Biological catastrophe
The next scenario is a biological disaster. Many films have also been made on this subject: Resident Evil (all parts), World War Z (2013), I Am Legend (2007), 28 Days Later (2002), 28 Weeks Later (2007), Dawn of the Dead (2004), The Walking dead (TV series 2010), Strain (TV series 2014), Spiral (TV series 2014).
For all scenarios of this type, it is characteristic that a total epidemic begins, as a rule, as a result of some kind of secret experiment conducted by secret laboratories. These laboratories are either controlled by the government, that is, the state, or, which is a very important point, owned by omnipotent private corporations! How the leadership and special services of this state, which are called upon, first of all, to ensure the safety of its citizens, allowed such experiments to be carried out by a private company, remains a mystery. For example, in the film Resident Evil, a large private corporation Umbrella conducts its biological experiments on the population of the whole world, and even when the world is plunging into chaos, Umbrella continues her inhuman experiments to create the perfect biological weapon. Absolutely unpunished!
There is another film that falls out of the apocalyptic scenarios, but it is characterized by the same plot feature: a large corporation conducts incomprehensible experiments on people with absolutely impunity, creates new types of weapons, etc. etc. At the same time, such experiments, as a rule, get out of control, as a result of which various supervillains appear, which then must be defeated by one single superhero. This, of course, is about Spider-Man. He fights with villains, defeats them, while losing sight of the more terrible evil - the corporation.
This variant of the scenario will be discussed in even more detail below in the section "The threat is the people themselves".
Alien expansion
Further, the threat of death, or the enslavement of us as a civilization comes from space. An alien race is trying to take over the Earth, destroying humanity. Or, as it was in the movie "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise in the title role, humanity acts as a harvest, and at hour X the harvest time will come.
By the way, I would immediately like to digress on the topic of filming Tom Cruise in such films - he starred in at least three films with a similar scenario: Warrior of the Worlds (2005), Oblivion (2013), Edge of the Future (2014).
More films with a similar storyline: Starship Troopers (1997), Independence Day (1996), Alien Invasion: Battle of Los Angeles (2011), District 9 (2009), Skyline (2010), Sea Battle (2012), Aliens Among Us (1988), Alien (all parts), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1955), The Faculty (1998).
Let us ask ourselves a question: what kind of thinking do such scenarios form ?! The cosmos is not friendly to us. Intelligent extraterrestrial life is most likely hostile. This is a clear attempt to create another threat in the face of humanity. Terrorism is apparently not enough. A more serious enemy is needed, a larger one, before which all of humanity, seized by fear, will unite in a single impulse to defend its home. And the elites, with the tacit consent of the crowd, will begin to create a new superweapon against any space threat, thereby enriching private military corporations and their pockets.
The threat is the people themselves
Another scenario that is actively popularized by Hollywood is the overpopulation of the planet. And this is a very alarming bell. Often the problem of overpopulation, limited resources began to flicker in TV shows. From the latest: Spiral (2014), Under the Dome (2013, season 2), Utopia (2013).
The essence of this plot is reduced to the theory of the "golden billion". According to this theory, the population on Earth is growing very rapidly (there are already more than seven billion of us), the planet is physically unable to provide such an amount of natural resources, food, even air, despite the fact that the number of people continues to grow, and the level of consumption too. Some globalizers see the way out in reducing the population of people. So, according to their calculations, for a comfortable living on earth, there will be enough natural resources for only one billion people, this very billion "has the right" to remain on earth for 100-150 years. This "Golden Billion" includes the population of the USA, Canada, Western Europe, Israel and Japan. And, for example, according to the statement of Margaret Thatcher: “On the territory of Russia it is economically expedient to leave 15 million. person".
How do you plan to reduce the population? In general, this is a topic for a separate article, but something can be learned from the above series, as well as from the statements of some prominent figures.
For example, in the TV series Under the Dome, a group of people was cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible dome that does not even take nuclear weapons. People exist in conditions of an acute shortage of food, necessary resources: electricity, gas, water. In the second season, a new character appears - teacher Rebecca Pine. She explains to Big Jim that soon people will start eating each other due to lack of food, so there is an urgent need to reduce the population.
To implement such a plan, the teacher proposes to isolate the strain of the virus from which pigs die in the town of Chester's Mill (everyone knows the swine flu), improve it a little and poison the water with them. To make it all fair, all the inhabitants of the territory under the dome will drink this poisoned water, and let the virus decide who is worthy to live and who should die. In the end, Rebecca and Jim do not dare to take such a step, besides, additional food supplies appear out of nowhere …
What is also remarkable about this series is that a different path is proposed. Julia and Barbie (Dale Barbara) offer it. The bottom line is that all residents of Chester's Mill must voluntarily donate all their food supplies to the warehouse, and all these remaining food will be distributed in portions, with maximum savings to people. But they set arson in the warehouse with the aim of fighting for power and control over people. After all, the one who manages the food, in fact, controls the population. In the first season, Big Jim fought for power in the same way: he wanted to establish control over the water wells, as well as over the remaining gas reserves. In other words, they explain to us that it is also impossible to solve the problem in this way, and only by chance (the appearance of new food supplies) are we able to survive.
Another interesting series "Utopia" is entirely devoted to the topic of overpopulation of the planet. Utopia tells about a certain virus, developed by a scientist named Philip Carvel. A virus called "Two-Faced Janus" will sterile 95% of the world's population, only one out of twenty can produce offspring. Some secret organization, headed by Mr. Rabbit, plans to test this virus first on the population of Britain, and then the whole world. So, according to their forecasts, in a hundred years the population of the Earth should be reduced to five hundred million people, then the normal birth rate should be restored. "Two-faced Janus" will be introduced through vaccines against Russian flu (why exactly Russian flu, and not Brazilian, American, Chinese, German, Indian ?!), another way of introduction is through food.
This series is interesting in that it offers a fairly convincing argument for such a plan for all of humanity. Here are some examples:
As a result, one of the heroes of Utopia, Wilson, even goes over to the side of this organization, and this despite the fact that they killed his father, and Wilson himself was tortured, and because of their torture he lost one eye. He does not look like an idiot, but nevertheless, he agrees with the arguments of the "saviors of mankind". And, importantly, he agrees with their methods !!! Wilson is so selflessly immersed in this theory that he kills his comrade's brother, with whom he opposed the spread of "Two-Faced Janus", Ian Johnson, and then falls into the chair of Mr. Rabbit. Scientist Philip Carvel sewed a certain system of individual identification into the virus. Thus, the virus does not affect all people. Wilson, having learned about this, slightly transforms the plan to save humanity. Now his organization will arrange small epidemics in remote areas of the Earth,in territories more or less airtight from the rest of humanity, and under pain of a dangerous disease, vaccinate all people.
In the series "Spiral" there is a certain clan of people with silver eyes, consisting of five hundred people, which in the Arctic is developing a special virus called Narvik. The virus is created for good intentions: to defeat some incurable diseases. In practice, however, the Ilaria corporation appears to pursue other goals. For example, scientists working for this company create two versions of the Narvik virus: Narvik A, which infects and then kills its host, and Narvik B, which turns its host into a zombie seeking to spread the virus. These zombies do not touch the people with silver eyes, they bypass them, and, obviously, the uncontrolled spread of the virus at the base in the Arctic was not so spontaneous, but rather carefully planned.
The first season of the series ends with an epidemic of an unknown disease breaking out in the city of Lares in Puerto Rico, which is very similar to Narvik A. The main character of the film, Dr. Alan Farragud, explains that this is a "test run", and the city of Lares in Puerto Rico was chosen because he is ideal for testing the virus in an urban setting.
The finale of the first season itself is of particular interest: the one that fought against the Narvik virus, stood in the ranks of the fighters against the criminal corporation, from which this corporation stole childhood and "mothballed" its own mother in a container, eventually joins Ilaria, and is part of her advice. Doesn't this remind you of Wilson from Utopia ?!
The idea of launching a total virus that will bring humanity to the brink of extinction is not so new. One of the founders of this scenario is the "Resident Evil" project, which at first existed in the form of a game, and then appeared on the screens of cinemas. At the moment, six parts of this picture have already been released. One of the main slogans of the film: "Fatal mistake". It is carried out by the large and almighty corporation Umbrella, and, as it turns out later, it does it deliberately, that is, it is not a mistake at all, but a purposeful experiment on all of humanity on the planet. But for the heads of the corporation, this fact is of little interest, and the only important thing is the prospect of creating an ideal weapon, which is Alice (Milla Jovovich). Alice, as in the case of Spider-Man, is not fighting the corporation itself, which is the true evil in this case, but is fighting monsters,created by Umbrella to test her ideal weapon, as mentioned earlier.
Drawing a line under the question raised, I would like to note that in all the above series and films there is a certain group of people who could be called the chosen ones. Their problem of overpopulation is very worried, but at the same time they are not going to pacify their numbers as a group and their appetites, which is important. Their goal is to reduce the population, or at least learn how to manage human capital so as to leave their own consumption at the same level. Against this background, the statements of some prominent figures on vaccination look remarkable:
In light of such statements, you must agree that the above series and films take on a completely different color and do not look so utopian. Bill Gates and others like him are trying to justify their actions by any means, and the worst thing is to convince us of this. The origins of this theory of overpopulation of the planet are rooted in the views of Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) - an English priest and scientist, demographer and economist, who argued that uncontrolled population growth should lead to hunger on Earth.
However, there is a different opinion about the overpopulation of the planet, according to which 25 billion people can live on Earth, but only with the competent use of resources, with significant costs of production forces to maintain the biosphere of our planet in proper condition, to restore it, where required. People should be united, should cooperate to solve these problems, and not drown in civil strife in the struggle for living space. The videos attached below examine in detail the issues of overpopulation and the demographic situation in the world in general.
What is the way out of this situation? Obviously, we need a different approach to the construction of our society, to the organization of our life, to our cultural and informational content. The video "Low-rise Russia" suggests a different way of arranging living space, a different way of building cities, in order to form a normal environment around a person, to create harmony with the biosphere of the planet.
Post apocalyptic world
Now we turn to the most burning question of Western cinema on the topic of the future, namely, to the question of what the future post-apocalyptic world will look like. Western cinema offers many pictures on the theme of the apocalypse, which show us not the cataclysm itself, which led to the destruction of the usual world order, in fact, to the disappearance of our civilization, but tell about the surviving people, about the structure of the new world after a catastrophe on a planetary scale, and it is this image that is of the greatest interest. Let us recall that this image was formed on the basis of Western culture, Western worldview and attitude to life.
So:
- In the post-apocalyptic world, people do not engage in any creative activity. At all! Everything they do: they wander around the world and collect everything that is left to them from the past life of mankind - this applies to food, weapons, clothing, household utensils, and energy sources (Book of Eli 2009, Water World 1995, Rover 2013, Road 2009).
- There is no order in the world of the future, chaos and anarchy reign. Normal people do not try to organize some kind of life together, even if only for the purpose of ensuring safety. Criminal gangs, on the other hand, are well organized and successfully kill and rob the rest (Book of Eli 2009, Mad Max all parts, Water World 1995, Rover 2013, Road 2009, Postman 1997).
- If the humanity of the new world has managed to organize itself in some way, then this is certainly a totalitarian society with all the injustice that follows from it in relation to the individual, his development and self-realization. (Equilibrium 2002, Dedicated 2014, Maze Runner 2014, Postman 1997).
Such plots try to form the following model of thinking: the existing system of life, despite all its injustices associated with crowd-elitism, with the inequality of people, is still the most suitable for a person. Having destroyed this model of building society, humanity will plunge into chaos and anarchy, where there will no longer be order, where the strong will be even stronger and more viciously exploit the weak, where the law of the jungle will rule, where the main purpose of existence will be only survival and struggle. They are trying to explain to us that without the existing system we will turn into a herd of wild animals, which for the sake of prey will devour each other without any attempts to organize themselves, agree, establish a life and work together for the good of the world.
Can't even a global catastrophe force people to become different? Don't people, even after the apocalypse, realize that the main causes of the tragedy of our civilization were just anger, selfishness, the desire for enrichment, for undivided power? Are people really incapable of learning, drawing conclusions? In the opinion of Western cinematographers, apparently not.
Future Earth 2015
This film stands out from the crowd of films about the future. First, he considers another scenario of the development of events, when the future appears in a completely different light: people did not die as a result of the apocalypse, life did not disappear as a result of wars and epidemics, there is no problem of overpopulation, people have learned to overcome large cosmic distances, defeated earth's gravity created a high-tech way of life. Secondly, in the film, we get some answers to why the theme of the end of the world has descended on our heads:
It is noteworthy that all these ideas in the film descend on our heads with the help of a special control unit, which looks like this:
Let's not draw analogies - decide for yourself what it looks like. With the help of the control unit, you can see any point on Earth in the present, past and future. However, the bloc is nevertheless destroyed, since they come to the conclusion that the constant broadcast of the end of the world PROGRAMS this very end of the world - this is just about the role of the mass media and all kinds of predictions, about their impact on our life. The destruction of the control unit may well indicate a change in the course of the Western management elites, a change in the biblical scenario of the development of events: without the end of the world, without the death of most of humanity, without a final judgment.
However, the path offered by the film, in many respects, repeats the path of the already formed Western culture: for example, it is proposed to re-assemble a group of “chosen ones”, which secretly from the rest of “retarded and mentally limited humanity” will work to improve the world; it is planned to create a brighter and more perfect future only through the development of technologies without solving KEY social problems.
In general, if we consider the plot of the film as a whole, then Western culture has not managed to get rid of the idea of being chosen. The hero is special by birthright, and not at all because he studied hard, worked on himself, and eventually became an ace in his field. Yes, the main character, Casey, is the daughter of a NASA engineer, and therefore knows a lot about electronics, yes, she loves to dream, believes in the possibility of realizing an ideal, but does that really make her any very special ?! Are there really few such people living on Earth ?! The question is rhetorical, but in the film the people around constantly repeat like a mantra that it is special.
The only recipe that can and should be taken into account from this film: children are our future, and we need to educate them so that they believe in the possibility of implementing any of the most daring plans, so that they are real dreamers who are ready to follow their dreams anywhere … It is necessary to prepare them for the fact that the work of creating a bright future will someday fall on their shoulders.
This film can be regarded as an attempt to change the management paradigm, which has led us to death until now, as an attempt to pose the question "what if …": what if humanity manages to solve its problems without a global catastrophe? What if the future is really bright and good? But what if in the future it will be possible to achieve universal happiness?
Author: Oleg Ishchuschiy