This was my table last wednesday, the day before I handed in my last essay for the sem. Its freaking 3500 words long! But I'm happy about it. This sem I chose assignment topics based on my interest more than anything else, and even though I'll still feel the angst, feel that mental rut, feel that I'm running out of time, get lesser than expected results (for one essay), get more than expected results (for another essay), but I'll still be glad I went through that process. Now study week is here, but somehow I'm not that stressed, maybe not yet. haha. I'm really just taking it easy. Hopefully it is because I can handle stress much better now, and not because I care less about studying! haha. But one thing's for sure in this sem, I really enjoy school! And everything I'm learning.
I watched 2012 last thursday. I thought it was an amazing movie, and its not only the effects that are amazing. There were so many moral lessons to be learnt from there. *spoiler alert!* The most fundamental question that I walked away with was, What does it mean to be human? What does humanity, or human civilization really stands for? And there are also other very poignant scenarios, that those who survives ultimately are those elites, and how the powerful can withhold information 'for the sake of the people' but eventually depriving them a chance to survive. Even though the human race is resilient enough to save part of humanity, how does one wants the children to read about the history of mankind? That the new civilization began with selectively determining who survives and killing everyone else in the world? Moreover, this kinda stellar (or solar in our case) radiation outbursts are probably commonplace in the whole universe, yet we experience it as an apocalypse, and scrambles to keep ourselves alive. Our civilization, no matter how powerful, or intelligent or adaptable, are merely a infinitesimal speck in the whole comic evolution. How humbling is that. No other movie has made me think about such broad issues before, not even other disaster movies that also speculate the end of the world. Weiliang wasn't as impressed as me though, although he also agrees with the moral lessons. So I strongly recommend this movie!
More than one friend has told me that The Day After Tomorrow is nicer, or that 2012 is really boring etc. So I went to buy the dvd for TDAT and watch if for myself. The director is actually the same - Roland Emmerich, who also directed Independence Day. I would think that 2012 is still better than TDAT, because the former really struck a moral and emotional chord, while the latter doesn't provoke my thoughts in the same way. Also 2012 has a more global, pan-humanity perspective (though still US-centric), whereas the latter is really confined to the US. I also liked 2012 because I found its scientific reasoning to be more convincing than TDAT. But of course, WL was right that solar radiation would also cook the people on the ground, and not just the lava below earth's crust. But still it is more convincing than the rapid change of thermal currents, which usually doesn't happen such rapidly, and even it if does it should already be predicted by the desalination in the sea. Alright I have not much scientific knowledge under my belt too, but perhaps taking Understanding the Universe does aid me in better understanding 2012. Haha. Gems are quite useful after all.
Interestingly, there are some parallels in both films:
1. Both films start off with the main scientist delivering or discovering a scientific issue in New Delhi.
2. The main lead in TDAT and one of the main leads in 2012 are scientists, signally the faith in science to explain or resolve problems.
3. Both the main scientists encountered initial resistance from someone in the bureaucracy to deliver their message.
4. Both lead characters have a divorced family and have issues with keeping up with promises to the son.
5. The first city that gets struck is LA. Washington seems always to be quite safe in the initial stages of the disaster.
6. Both presidents are depicted as noble, wise and visionary. And they both died in the disaster. The 'bad guy' in the government are always the second man or someone down the line.
Nonetheless, in terms of cinematic flow and maturity of script I do think that Emmerich has grown from TDAT to 2012. Alright. enough of reviewing 2012 and TDAT. hah.
