Last week-end I watched "I am Legend" and it has played on my mind ever since...
I generally avoid movies that stress me out with violence and in particular horror. I don't like to watch movies that have me alternately watching through my fingers and then holding my breath waiting for something terrifying just around the corner. And yet, whilst it is easy to concentrate on the 'horror' aspect of the mutant humans in "I am Legend" and the fear they instill, for me that was just the beginning. The plot, as I tried to recount it to a friend today, sounds pretty ludicrous. It is flawed in part and yet the real horror for me is it is not totally beyond belief. As I said, it got me to thinking...
What, in the name of medicine, are we doing? What are we doing, leaving so much power in the hands of our scientists and leaders? Can anyone of them be trusted? And if they cannot be trusted, what chance do we have? If we don't trust them, what chance do we have? Do we have any control over ANYTHING?
Imagine being the last person on earth.
The very LAST person on earth.
The last living human, with no knowledge of any other being.
No one to talk to, to see, to touch. Not another living soul.
Given similar circumstances...
Would I have the ability to survive, to be totally (totally) alone?
Would I retain the will to live or would I just give up?
Would my drive for life outweigh my fear of isolation?
Of what would I be capable in the name of survival?
When I believed there was no-one else out there, would I remain sane or lose the plot? Would sanity even exist?
Would I decide to live or make a conscious decision to die?
Would I live more bravely or more carefully?
Would my isolation drive me to a life of fear or a life of freedom?
How long would it take for the bindings of 'civilization' to fall away?
I suspect not long.
Would I search for possible survivors like myself, or would I wait for them to find me? Would I want to be found or would I prefer to selfishly hoard any means of survival, knowing that sharing them could weaken my own chances?
I hope I will never know. It was only a movie afterall. Fiction yes?
As I said earlier, it just got me to thinking..
2 comments:
You know, I always start out thinking of all the fun things I would do if I was the last person on Earth. I would sit in the Oval office, read in Oprah's library... but then it gets really scary. If I wanted to cross the ocean- how would I do that? I can't fly a plane. I don't know how to drive a boat. Knowing I'm confined because of my lack of ability is scary. And then I haven't even touched on the fact that after a week of frolicking, I would be lonely as all get out.
And the lonliness.....the lonliness......
And you jump....and as you float....a phone rings.....
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