post-apocalyptic loose ends

There are a lot of ways to do post-apocalyptic. However, it is always important to make sure the world is complete. This means that everything must be adequately explained or adequately unexplained. Most importantly, why people are forced to live the way they live and whether or not there may be alternative lifestyles must be fully addressed. If the problem is food it should be explained either subtly or plainly why food can’t grow. Is it because there isn’t water or is it because there isn’t enough light. If there isn’t enough light there are some extra problems to take into account. For instance many edible plants don’t require that much light anyway. As long as there is electricity or fuel, it is also possible to grow plants indoors. It may even be possible to use mirrors or lenses to collect greater quantities of light. Personally, I’m not sure The Road did a thorough enough job of addressing some of these issues. Besides, the film creates the problem of explaining some things outright but leaving other things vague. There is even a moment in the film where one of the characters says “What’s happening?” during whatever it is that happened, but the question is never really answered. Supposedly, things are better at the equator. We never know if there really is a great valley out there. The film uses the analogy of carrying the fire to encompass its philosophical purpose. It is about the journey but without this final destination being proven to be real the journey and the ethical decisions made during are in vain. Unless, as is perhaps the point, you believe that there is some sort of afterlife that matters more than the survival of mankind. I for one do not think that this is good enough. While it isn’t necessary to know whether humanity survives, it is important to know whether survival is possible or not. This makes it possible to judge whether or not the characters’ actions are in vein or not. Many characters in The Road give up. These characters seem ethically superior to those who cannibalize but ethically inferior to those who try to find long term survival, but if long term survival is or is not possible in this world it changes everything. Instead we are left with a half explanation of what exactly is wrong and a vague reason to think that survival is possible. We are told that the world is dying but we are not told why, whether this is absolute, or what can be done fix the problem. In any case, the ethical issues explored in the film are interesting but the world seems incomplete. Children of Men ends in a similarly incomplete manner, but there are some minute but important differences. By the time the film ends we know that survival is possible. What hangs in the balance is whether humanity will destroy itself or save itself. If in The Road survival is not possible regardless, the spark or fire that still exists in at least a handful of humans will die. Nothing matters. We need to know if the hope that manifests itself in the film is valid or not. I don’t think that hope for survival without the actual possibility of survival is valuable. The film in its vagueness may be saying that it is. If the point of the film is supposed to be that ethical acts are still valuable even without the hope of long term survival I think that the analogy of carrying the fire was the wrong the wrong one to use.

Here are some films that it satisfactorily. Zombie Land has a promised land and conclusively answers the question of whether or not it actually exists as well as whether or not survival is possible. A Boy and His Dog shows that survival is possible and makes ethical issues more important. Many others such as Mad Max, 28 Days Later, etc explain that survival is possible and explore the ethical issues involved. The Road appears to be the same type of film as The Land Before Time, where survival is at stake as well as the quality of character of those that survive. For films about individuals carrying the hope for their species, it is important to establish whether or not it is possible for them to succeed. If it isn’t possible for them to succeed, the film should not end or depend on messages of hope and survival. Instead it should do justice to the entire legacy and attempt to survive all the way up until the death (or supposed death) of the heroes as Cloverfield does. Lastly, I think that in general it is best to leave God out of the apocalypse and leave science in.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that over the course of a film a point or question is necessarily developed. It should be definitively answered or defined as unanswerable. Leaving answerable questions unanswered or leaving the established world arbitrarily undefined in some vital aspects but not others is annoying. I know that in The Road we are only closely following a few characters, but it seems that there should be a lot of useful information available to them and to us about what is happening to their world that simply isn’t shared for no apparent reason. Are they plot holes?

Hell Rising

There are two meteorological events at present that deeply alarm me. The Earth’s magnetic field has shifted and sea levels have begun to rise. As you all know, the only reason why these two events should occur simultaneously is if there is a change deep in the earth’s mantle. I believe that current events signal that Hell is rising up from underneath us. We may have a war on our hands, and somehow I don’t feel sure that we will be receiving any foreign aid from on high.

A Happy Society

An exorbitantly wealthy scientist once wished to create a perfectly happy society. Genetic engineering would be its key. The first batch of people all died during infancy. The tolerance levels for the poisons that their brains had been programmed to release with negative emotions were simply too low. As soon as an infant began to cry, it would die. After the sixth batch or so, the strategy was perfected. Sadness, anger, and other “negative” emotions would cause severe pain or even death. The scientist created a perfectly happy society.

Every year there are inevitably a few dozen deaths, mostly children and adolescents. If a person can make it twenty years or so without slipping into a fetal depression, they tend to keep the healthy habit of happiness up for life. Those who are not so brave, or so cowardly, die a slow and painful death. Poison secreted from their brains creeps down the veins in their arms and back, chilling the tips of their fingers and toes. They die a lonely death, clenching groin and buttocks. A tear-stained corpse will be found shortly after on a hard street or a soft bed.

Only one murder has been committed since emotional conformity was actualized. The science was killed in cold blood. Nobody stopped the murderer, there were no police because there was no crime. Some expected the assassin to die there next to its maker, but the assassin simply walked away. Apparently the perpetrator not of a crime of passion, but one of simple necessity.

Two generations after the assassination the trait still persists, a cursed cancer of the heart. One can only hope that their descendants will be truly happy.

Words from the Heart

My best friend Jan was different. They took her away. I don’t know if I’ll ever see her again.

Growing up, we were just like any other kids. We talked about things we liked and things that scared us and things that made us angry. We built forts and had sleep-overs. We played games and laughed. We went to school together and sometimes we had the same teacher.

In fifth grade, Jan tried to call home from our phone. Her parents couldn’t hear her very well. It didn’t seem strange at first. It just seemed like something was wrong with the phone, because I was right there, and I could hear Jan fine.

Later that year, Jan tried to leave a message for me on the answering machine. We got in a really big fight the next day. She was really angry that I hadn’t responded to her message. There was nothing on the answering machine except silence.

We started to do some experiments that week. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t record Jan’s voice. We could both hear it, and so could everybody else, but for some reason, her voice couldn’t be recorded. It was really frustrating.

When we showed Jan’s parents they didn’t believe us a first. Grown-ups can be real jerks when they think they know everything already. Eventually we got them to let us show them. They believed us once they saw for themselves.

Jan’s parents got scared and started talking to professionals. None of them knew what they were doing. Then Dr. Helsbourg came. I saw $ $ in his eyes from the start. He had a case filled with strange spinning devices with lots of knobs and wires. He said, “It seems that your daughter doesn’t use her vocal cords to speak. My sensors indicate elevated levels saratonin of in her brain. She may be using telepathy.”

My parents thanked Dr. Helsbourg and paid him for his services, but indicated to him that they did not wish to perform any further testing. Dr. Helsbourg was furious. He told Jan’s parents that they were wasting on of the greatest discoveries in human history.

Dr. Helsbourg came back the next year. The government was with him. I heard a rumor that they want to weaponize Jan’s telepathic abilities.

I miss you Jan.

Jan breaks out of a government facility years later while I am in high school. She takes me away. I will convince her to use her abilities to make the world a better place. She will never really feel like she belongs with other people, except perhaps with me. Before she dies, she transmits a dream that she has to every member of the human species. It is a dream of peace. We all see it for a time, in our minds eye, then the moment is past.