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rockwall Special user 762 Posts |
I'm noticing an interesting (and surprising) common thread lately in movie villains. Back in the 50's, it was the Nuclear threat. All the monsters were created from Nuclear fallout, etc. We also had a period where invading aliens were the threat. I'm sure there are some great essays on what how the current public fear of the time is used to create the monsters or villains of the movies.
For a while we had movies that the villain was global warming like 'The Day After Tomorrow.' Lately, it seems like that thread has changed. Instead of AGW itself being the villain, it's the progressive doom sayers who believe in AGW that seem to have become the villain. I don't know if this is a trend that will continue but it's interesting that it's happening, especially in Hollywood. I'll give some examples, but why do you think this is? Kingsman: The Secret Service - Samuel Jackson plays a rich internet wiz who decides the only way to save the earth from AGW is to kill off most humans. SnowPiercer: The Earth enters a major ice age because of efforts by scientists to stop AGW. Avengers: Age of Ultron: Not positive this is related to AGW but it appears to be. It appears that Ultron wants to wipe out humanity because "Humans are the disease" destroying the Earth. Those are just off the top of my head. Are there more? |
wulfiesmith Inner circle Beverley, UK 1339 Posts |
Has to be femme fatales ...
Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity Joan Bennett in Scarlet Street Jane Greer in Out of the Past Rita Hayworth in Gilda to name but a few ... |
balducci Loyal user Canada 227 Posts |
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On Feb 24, 2015, rockwall wrote: I'm not sure I accept your premise. Of your examples, I think just 1 of 3 may be valid. 1. I won't comment on Avengers: Age of Ultron as the movie is not yet released and I clearly have not seen it. But in the comics, at least the ones I have seen, Ultron's traditional motivations have nothing to do with AGW per se. It was more about Ultron becoming convinced that "the only way to bring peace and order to the world was to destroy humanity". 2. Snowpiercer the graphic novel dates back to a French graphic novel from 1982. The original story has nothing to do with AGW. It is about the result when governments and politicians use weather control as a weapon. What happened next (according to the comic) is unclear, but the elites (politicians and the super-rich) just happened to have an escape prepared when the weather went bizarro. I'll include a snap of the relevant graphic novel page below. Sorry about it being sideways but I cannot seem to post the corrected image. You can save it and rotate it yourself if you like: Snowpiercer the movie does change the premise. Again, it has to do with weather control, but IIRC the reason has to do with guarding against climate change. I don't think the bad guys are meant to be the scientists, or AGW believers, though. I think the bad guys are the corporate elite and the politicians who waited until the last minute to try and do something, and then (as in the novel) had an escape route prepared for themselves. In any case, in both the novel and the movie the cause of the weather change is pretty much irrelevant. After the introduction and set-up, it never enters into the story again. In both the novel and the movie, the "villians" are the members of the elite in charge of the train. 3. As for the movie Kingsman: The Secret Service, you may well be correct about the villian's motivation. I'll take your work for it as I have not seen the movie. Just in passing, though, I've a couple of comments about the comic the movie is based on. Secret Service, the comic, really seemed to me to be a partial rip-off of Watchmen. In any case, it is not about AGW. It is about population control. Too many people are using too many resources, and the herd has to be culled. Having written the sentence above, I am now reminded of the British tv series Utopia. That has the same premise as the comic, culling the herd, and must have been in production about the same time the comic was coming out. I wonder if one influenced the other in any way?
Make America Great Again! - Trump in 2020 ... "We're a capitalistic society. I go into business, I don't make it, I go bankrupt. They're not going to bail me out. I've been on welfare and food stamps. Did anyone help me? No." - Craig T. Nelson, actor.
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
rockwall Special user 762 Posts |
Balducci, the movie Kingsman, is definitely about AGW but 'culling the herd' is the approach to overcome it so I think we're both right about that. It's true that Ultron's motivations may have nothing to do with AGW and may be more of an ultimate 'culling of the herd'. And I agree with your take on Snowpiercer. The movie does make it clear that the weather machines were put in place to combat AGW but it's true, that is really secondary to the villains in the rest of the movie, those running the train. Although, I would suggest that the implication is that those who screwed up the weather to prevent AGW are also those who are now running the train. It is interesting though that 'culling the herd' is also a major theme within the movie.
It is also interesting that 'culling the herd' is also a theme in many of those who profess belief in AGW. Now, I'm not saying a majority or even a large number, but it is clearly a running theme. It's possible that me picking AGW as the theme was constraining it by too much. Maybe it's simply the theme that Humans are the problem and the solution is massive population control. |
balducci Loyal user Canada 227 Posts |
Eco-terrorism is certainly popular in movies and books, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-terrorism_in_fiction That's not really a new thing, though.
Make America Great Again! - Trump in 2020 ... "We're a capitalistic society. I go into business, I don't make it, I go bankrupt. They're not going to bail me out. I've been on welfare and food stamps. Did anyone help me? No." - Craig T. Nelson, actor.
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NYCTwister Loyal user 267 Posts |
Ultron has been trying to exterminate humanity since 1968.
Long before global warming was even a concept. Any movie in which it wasn't trying to kill us all would just be weird. So, movie writers aside, are there too many humans on earth, and if so what should be done with them?
If you need fear to enforce your beliefs, then your beliefs are worthless.
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rockwall Special user 762 Posts |
Quote:
On Feb 25, 2015, NYCTwister wrote: True, but we're talking movies, not comics. He was also invented by Hank Pym in the comics but by Tony Stark in the movie. Quote:
On Feb 25, 2015, NYCTwister wrote: Well, Ultron has a solution! |
NYCTwister Loyal user 267 Posts |
Quote:
On Feb 25, 2015, rockwall wrote: But do you agree with Ultron?
If you need fear to enforce your beliefs, then your beliefs are worthless.
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
Do you agree with Leonardo DiCaprio?
'You can either make history or be vilified by it': Leo DiCaprio lectures UN on climate change (but no mention of his four homes, private jets and renting the FIFTH biggest yacht in the world from an OIL billionaire) Leonardo DiCaprio has positioned himself as one of the highest-profile climate change activists in the world He told the United Nations today: 'You can make history ...or be vilified by it' DiCaprio, worth an estimated $220million, flew to France twice, London, Tokyo and several trips between New York and Los Angeles The A-list star drives a Toyota Prius and an electric car and bought an eco-friendly apartment building in New York However, even if he took only commercial flights his plane travel spewed 40million metric tons of carbon into the air Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-......SnwqKZsc Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter |DailyMail on Facebook
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
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