“I Am Legend”

-
I was snookered into watching a movie this last week. What I mean is I went to a movie with a ground of friends which was billed as an action adventure movie. It was much more like a horror movie instead.

“I Am Legend” with Will Smith was not what I expected. It truly was a horror film. But there is one thing I have always liked about horror films: there is always a bad guy. Not just bad, but evil.

Horror movies assume some standard of good or right behavior in order to make the villains look bad. From Jason to Freddie Kruger, we always know who the bad guys are when we watch horror.

It was no different in “I Am Legend.” The villains were the “dark ones,” people who had been transformed into rabid, wild beings by a virus. They behaved in terrible ways, showing no regard for those not infected with the virus, the world around them, or even for themselves.

Will Smith’s character makes a telling comment into his tape recorder at one point in the movie (pardon me for an inexact quote; I’m going from memory): “The dark ones have now shown that all aspects of human behavior have left them.”
The character assumes that there is some form of objective standard that can be used to judge what behavior is human vs. what behavior is not. Objective standards of right and wrong are at home only in a Christian view of the world. (See my comments here, and comments by others more qualified here and here.)

Was this an intentional element of the story? Some things in the movie suggest that it might well have been.

Would I recommend the movie? Only if you know exactly what you are going to get when you go to it.

Comments

LPC said…
Hah! Bro, I saw it last night. Hollywood is mixing some Christian elements in that movie but ohh it has so much suspense and horror.

Firstly the tampering of viruses, nature. Then the human suffering and quagmire, it was natural for Will's character to express doubt about God and then the character of Anna as if the movie was saying God has not left the world alone.

What do you think? Hey, BTW did you make a commentary on this? Sorry if I missed the links.

God bless you bro on your mission's trip.


Lito
January 11, 2008
J. K. Jones said…
Good to hear from you, LP. You make some great comments about the movie. You have identified many of the elements I hinted at.

I tried to warn everyone of the "horror film" element.

I do not believe God would ever leave His people without the means to discover a cure to any virus or disease. For example, I expect a cure to be found for AIDS if the Lord tarries.

This is the only post I plan to make on the movie.
January 12, 2008
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Face of Terror

-
Osama Bin laden is dead. Since the rest of the internet is buzzing with opinions on that death, I thought I would weigh in. First, this is not the end of global terrorism. Like the Hydra of old, when one head is chopped off, two more take its place. We still need diligence in our fight against global terror. U. S. and allied Armed Forces still need our prayers. We still need a strong military and intelligence community. We have not yet cut off the Hydra’s immortal head. Second, the way to get to the ‘heart of the matter’ is with Christian missionary efforts. We must reach the people who make up those societies and population segments that produce terrorists . To tell a story I have told here before : Early in the twentieth century, Baptist evangelists preached through rural Mississippi and Alabama with such effectiveness that moonshiners could no longer sell their whiskey: All their customers were getting converted! In desperation, the whiskey sellers hired two men to murder on...
Read more

The Canons of Dort

-
I believe that the Canons of Dort are true. This is a statement that came out the Synod of Dort, held from 1618-1619. The Canons of Dort outline the system of theology known today as the “five points of Calvinism.” The problem I have with most “five-point Calvinists” is that the Canons of Dort contain much more than five points. Many explanations of the TULIP (total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints) are gross simplifications of the Canons of Dort. [This is especially true of explanations given by those who oppose Calvinism. It is easier to knock down a straw man than it is to knock down a real man, and so it is easier to criticize an oversimplified Calvinism that the more robust form.] Some of those who teach the “five points” leave out some of the quotes below: This death of God's Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than ...
Read more

Intelligent Design

-
The Intelligent Design (ID) movement makes much of the argument from irreducible complexity. Dr. Michael Behe has become famous for a simple example, the mousetrap. He points out that the mousetrap will not perform its function without all of its parts. The wooden base, the metal hammer, a spring, a catch and a metal bar to hold back the hammer are all necessary parts. One component by itself will not catch a mouse. Mainstream evolutionary science has a counter-argument. To paraphrase Dr. Kenneth Miller, if you disassemble the mousetrap, each component can serve as something useful on its own. If we take away the catch and metal bar, we have something left that can serve as a paper clip. The spring could make a simple two-section key chain. The wooden base makes a paperweight. Evolutionary processes like random mutation and natural selection can combine and retain the useful parts as the complicated evolves to perform the complex function. The useful parts are combined into the mousetr...
Read more