Commentary: Hollywood's Obsession with Apocalypse

This evening I went to the theater to see the beginning of a potentially infinite amount of summer blockbusters. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I saw "Wolverine." Perhaps this lowers my credibility as an aesthete; for this was not shown at an art house, but rather a 20-plex cinema. Additionally, it was in English; no subtitles here. However, I cannot be blamed. While the plot was rather blurry and mind-numbing, Hugh Jackman's biceps were not. Sharp, taut, tanned, and toned, this conflicted mutant made me croon. Although, his sweet talkin' New Orleans counterpart, Remy LeBeau (played by the Adonis known as Taylor Kitsch shown right), made me howl. Physical manifestation of perfection, right here.

But I digress. In the previews, while the bourgeois chowed down on their greasy popcorn and relished hotdogs, noshing on nachos and sipping their Sprites, I noticed a disturbing trend. Out of the six previews shown, five involved an eventual apocalypse. The one that did not was the overtly cheesy Ben Stiller sequel to "Night at the Wax Museum," however, when forced to watch that with my younger cousins, I wished for the world to end. But that is neither here nor there.

Onward, march. I wonder then what this means. Everything derives from a previous cause, right? Surely something caused Hollywood execs to want to make a plethora of apocalyptical films; the question is what this "cause" may be. An overly critical thinker (it's a blessing and a curse), I ponder what this says about the world in which we live. Are we so jaded that all we have that excites us is destruction? Are we so powerful that we desire something metaphysical and catastrophic to challenge us? Or, are we scared that the end really is nigh, and we are looking for celluloid answers? Or, maybe we are just nihilistic and like watching Keanu Reeves blow shit up. Somehow, I think that the driver of the tomato red Dodge Durango I parked next to would associate himself with the latter theory.

Regardless of which theory you fall into, if you even fall into any of them, they are all rather disconcerting. While pondering these previews and their possible causes, I looked to the audience. Although the theater was dark, I was able to discern some faces. While some appeared quite intellectually devoid, so much so that Darwin himself would study them to see how they managed to grow to adulthood (think: overweight woman resting her large Dr. Pepper on her stomach's second roll of fat, incessantly dropping her Whoppers, putting them on her ample bosom again and again, always seeming surprised when it falls every few seconds), there were others who appeared to be thinking individuals. I wondered what drew them here. Were they vapid reasons like my own, i.e. wanting to see an Aussie without a shirt? Or, escapism? Life is pretty dismal at the moment. We are in a recession, the water is rising yet we have less and less of it, and globalization is now bringing its consequences in the form of suilline diseases.

My qualm, I suppose, is Hollywood's response. Instead of promoting positive thinking, or some kind of healthy diversion, it capitalizes and profits from a nation's fears. Directors know that Whopper queen is scared of losing her job, her house, etc etc, so they make a film that sensationalizes this fear in the form of nuclear war, alien invasion, or a flying object from outerspace. All of these things can cause Whopper to lose her possessions, so of course she flocks to the film. So, big Hollywood execs sensationalize and capitalize on a fear, and what do they provide? Temporary divulsion, distraction, yes; but that does not make them absolved from sin. This doesn't stop in the film world, unfortunately. This strategy of capitalizing on fear runs rampant in all things government, and the fact that this method has made its way into the entertainment realm I find completely grotesque. These are nothing more than cheap, moneymaking schemes that do nothing that a movie should do. They do not challenge and inspire, and the plots are predictable ones that lack any semblance of "escape."

All I know is this: when run-of-the-mill political tactics find their way into the "arts," a lot more is crumbling than the faux skyscrapers that these films portray.