Okay, so I’m standing in line at the grocery store. I hate shopping – any type of shopping – so to ease my misery, I think good thoughts. You know, like a plate of food from a Chinese buffet, Battlestar Galactica, chiseled chests, even my future Rottweiler named Tank, anything but the items that burden my arms.
So, I start thinking about movies. Aside from action, comedy and sci fi movies, I just love films that have an end-of-the-world message (upon searching, I discovered that this genre is called apocalyptic fiction). Some disease, alien, force of nature or plague is threatening Earth and it’s left to just 1 or 2 or a small band of people to save all of humanity from the impending destruction.
Films like 28 Days Later, Outbreak, War of the Worlds, The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact and Armageddon are just a small sample of films in this genre that keep me on the edge of my seat. Love it!
Which got me thinking…
Typically in these films, a small group of experts are plucked from society and are hustled to a cave in hopes they will survive the cataclysmic event and lend their expertise to rebuilding society. People with specialized knowledge are marshaled into a bomb shelter in hopes that their knowledge will continue in the new world.
Now, with Time Magazine declaring you as the Person of the Year in 2006 and with all these collaborations tools online that allow both experts and hobbyists to contribute their knowledge to online encyclopedias, dictionaries, blogs and podcasts, who then will be saved when the time draws nigh?
I don’t think they’ll be a cave big enough to save every single human being from the end of the world since we all have the expertise in every given area to be worthy of keeping around to replenish the earth after said apocalyptic event.
Or, maybe I should stop shopping so I don’t have all this time to drum up these complex scenarios.
What do you think?
Tags: films, apocalyptic, movies, social media, web 2.0, experts
“Hello, I am the widow of a Nigerian Prime Minister and would like to offer you a position in the cave at the time of the apocalypse. In order to transfer the coordinates of the cave to you, I will need your bank account and social insurance number….”
Everyone knows that when the end of times come, only the cockroaches and spam will survive. 😛
Cram everyone in the cave. Every single person that will fit. Everyone…except Michael Richards and Mel Gibson.
Wow and I thought MY mind wondered in different directions!
As long as I’ve got Julien Smith, Eric Rice and Mitch Joel there with me I’m good because I know we can talk about music and life till the nuclear winter passes and we can walk around and take photos of what is left.
Wow, what a strange question when you really stop and start thinking about it. I mean really stopping and thinking about it starts raising all sorts of questions. What if you could only save so many. Why would you save? Who? Don’t even get me thinking about the where. My basement isn’t quite big enough. *grin*
Hmmm…who would I want there? Whom do I gawk at? There’s only 1 actor and he’s on the B-list, so no one has heard of him. He’s absolutely delicious, so if he’s there, I know post-apocalyptic Earth will be a better place as I’ll be the first to “sacrifice” myself to repopulate the earth with him. “If I must, but only with him,” I shall remark as we head to the bushes.
Oops…this is about brain-power, not babies. My bad.
Obviously anyone with the name “Lee” will naturally be saved — not only for their wit, wisdom, intelligence and jaw-dropping good looks, but because they are so good in bed (allegedly).
But APART from you, I and Shel there could possibly be room for Catherine Zita Jones over in my side of the alcove…