humanity – Looking to God

One of the tracks from the film The Dark Knight Rises composed by Hans Zimmer goes by the title Why Do We Fall? Not only does the title serve as a great prompt for this week’s Monday Mayhem article, but also provides a perfect lead-in to promoting the film. If you haven’t seen The Dark Knight Rises, what are you waiting for? I recommend it without a quibble.

Getting back to the question, why do we fall? I’ve watched many zombie movies while asking the same question, always scratching my head wondering why none of the film characters listens to that still small voice in each of them that tells them not to do something they shouldn’t.

Reason #1: Stupidity/Ignorance

A good example is in the film 28 Days Later. The audience wants the zombie apocalypse to happen, yet they cringe whenever they see it happen due to human frailty. The audience repeats the telltale phrases: Leave the monkeys alone. Don’t touch the cages. Don’t open them; you don’t know what you’re doing. In spite of common sense screaming at the characters to do the right thing, and the audience tossing verbal insults at them as well, they ignore the obvious and do the worst.

Reason #2: Accidents/Fear

Another example happens in countless other zombie movies, especially the ones where viruses are the focus and scientists are working in a lab. One of the workers always shatters a vial tainted with an unknown disease, breaks protocol and infects others by not reporting it. The other side of the spectrum happens when all the lab’s fail-safes collapse and releases the pathogen into the atmosphere unintentionally producing another undead abomination.

Reason #3: Malice/Rebellion

The last example is my favorite because it has nothing to do with humanity’s ignorance or accident-prone traits. It is the defeat of the heart.

The Walking Dead is great when it comes to showing this. Throughout the series, we meet leaders of groups who think society would be better off following their direction. Only, their direction is—most often than not—twisted. They serve themselves and judge others as rebels who do not follow their lead. One so-called leader kept trophies of his victims’ heads in glass tanks to view at his leisure.

Conclusion

Why do we fall? Can it be we humans have a proclivity to annihilate each other regardless of our incredible potential? Or is it we’re so daft in not realizing whatever action we take has an equal and opposite reaction? Or is the human heart so cunning as to even fool us into believing what we do, no matter how well-intentioned, will always result in good things?

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Why do you think civilizations are prone to failing miserably?

The Crazies is one of those movies that stick with you. Having written a short summary in a previous post, I decided to expand on that summary and give you the real deal. And, since it is Monday Mayhem, what better way to continue the series than with this great movie?

I’ll leave the reviewers to review the movie. I’d rather spend time talking about the film’s fascinating nuances.

Not your typical brain-bashing, gut-chomping zombie movie, The Crazies is an interesting study for a number of reasons. The first thing the audience realizes is the contagion does not come from a virus. The classic zombie infection is the usual virus that gets spread by a bite. Then, humans become their own worst enemies and tear at each other in a cannibalistic frenzy. Not in this story. Remember that saying, when traveling don’t drink the water? If any time that applied, it applies here. The water made the people all crazy. There’s a reason for that, but I won’t get into it.

This is a mind-blowing concept. If anything is true about humanity, it’s that we need food and water for sustenance. If anyone or anything messes with our fuel, we become different people. Anyone can prove this by giving kids sugar. What do they do? They bounce off the walls. Add those same sugars to the foods they eat and what happens? Yeah, they bounce off the walls. The film highlights the fine balance humanity possesses with their life source. Any tinkering with it will jumpstart a catastrophic chain of events that will render society at the mercy of the toxin.

Another point the movie makes, which some may construe as a sensitive topic, is the government’s involvement with mind control. I say a sensitive topic because in some respect, some may feel we’re already under that control (the foods we eat, the entertainment we consume—but that’s another post for another day). In the movie, as the townsfolk ingest the water supply, an all-seeing eye high above the clouds appraises the situation. The audience gets the government’s perspective on the matter, as it escalates to worse and worse levels by the hour.

You see, what the government wanted to know is just how far and how fast would the contagion spread if released in a controlled environment—a town. I won’t reveal anymore of the movie’s plot because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone wanting to watch it. But I will say this: How far along are we in replicating the movie’s plot when last year, the papers reported of those zombie attacks in Miami and the authorities blamed them on bath salts? Sounds far-fetched, right? The film made it clear: control’s an illusion that soon would destroy those who think they can tame it.

The final point the movie made in a less than overt way, is appearances can be deceiving. The zombies in this movie are different. Make no mistake, they are zombies. And therein lies the rub. What the audience expects as the traditional zombie appearance, the movie turns on its head. They do not have rotting flesh. They are not dead. They talk.

However, they have no control over their actions. They have a dead stare. And they have evil in their hearts, which spills into the horror they administer to those who have not changed.

Have you seen The Crazies? If so, what did you think of it? Have you heard of the Miami zombies? Do you know of any other movies that portray townsfolk as zombies? Go ahead and throw in your comment—I don’t bite.

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