I Am Legend and the Post 911 Pysche (Part 2 of 2)

Let's continue the I Am Legend insightful review...

11. I loved how the hell hounds had to wait for the exact moment when the line of sunlight subsided. That’s one of those moments that is simultaneously symbolic and aesthetically riveting. There is a lot of symbolic crossing of lines - morally, ethically, and scientifically for example. It brings new meaning to ‘doing the right thing when no one else is around.’

12. Neville is judge and jury when it comes to deciding whether beings are human or inhuman. Strangely, he is trying to save the mutants and even lives to see one of the return to human form - physically through appearance and at least partially on the inside. The symbolism might be that the most evil person can be ‘cured’ of anything. But as we see, the mutant ideology or vision, is stronger. They want to feed on Neville and they can’t see the light that he sees so clearly. Religion can seem that way sometimes.

13. When people who stand by some principle, be it biblical or otherwise, they have to draw a line. We decide when to love thy neighbor. And usually, he must first become “other,” stamped “evil,” then comes an eye for an eye. The line is made easier in this movie, but in life it can be clouded or very subtle.

14. When Neville first enters the mutants’ lair, the pod of ex-humans seem uninterested in attacking him. Only when one of them is caught in a human trap do they become bloodthirsty and risk their lives to attack his home. If the mutants symbolized terrorists, leaving them alone, instead of ’spreading’ the cure that was incompatable with their reality, might have been the best thing. Fortifying his turf might be a good option. -

15. After many mutants die in the attack on Neville’s home, they keep coming. Not unlike the behavior of terrorists. Unfortunately though, like with the terrorists, we are not offered any substantial insight into why they attack. Osama Bin Laden’s positions are deeply rooted in philosophy and political ideology – it’s more complicated than just religion and interpreting the koran.

16. His faith in medicine, virology as it were instead of religion, was his radicalism. He did things in the name of good while the other side had no such ethical stance. They couldn’t be reasoned with. The terrorists of today also invoke faith. If they are teaching hate I shouldn’t the “good” side be teaching peace - isn’t that the lesson of Bob Marley? This line of thought brings up a big question: Can you hold nonviolence in your mind, practice it, while trying to protect your country?

17. His his belief in spreading a cure is not unlike the U.S. spreading democracy. Right now, it seems only civil war is spreading and local not universal government control is the only viable outcome. Is it OK that it was in the name of good? Think about Neville’s determination to his cause and non-questioning unconscious obedience to the to science (a lifelong ideology that permeates his every move, and usually without conscious awareness). More to the point, he has a bunch of failed antidotes and yet decides to still stay the course. Interestingly, one of the antidotes eventually works, but is unwanted. Neville tries to overpower the mutants’ will justifying his actions in an ex post facto way. Yes, I am speaking in code about invading Iraq on the grounds they had WMD and an Al Qaeda infestation.

18. On radicalism. The mutants’ motives stay simple, unfortunately. Just as Al Qaeda’s motives do. Both are limited to a simple narrative about a violent text. Hence the bumper sticker logic of “these colors don’t run” or “support the troops bring them home.” But appropriately, that is not explored, since we aren’t interested in motive, only good versus evil andthey are blood-thirsty mutants after all.

19. Legend – so let’s start wrapping up with the show-stopper. Neville gives Anna a beautiful lecture on Bob Marley. A great analogy between music and virology (See part 1 for link) Now, here’s maybe the stickiest part. We get a sense that maybe science isn’t his religion after all, but rather that you can spread love automatically. Bob used his lungs, Neville uses a syringe. He named his daughter after him, Bob is his God. So now we ask, can something like say a bible or a nonviolent rhetoric or the Prince of Peace or even Buddha be spun into “evil” behavior, like that of the mutants.

20. I must not forget Neville blowing himself up. There he was yelling at the “other,” the mutant-terrorists: ‘I have a cure!’ Blinded by their mutantism just they way he was by science, whether fervor or ideology, there was no way for the two sides to meet. Screaming louder only gets the lead bad-ass mutant to smash his head harder into the glass barrier (symbolism, hmm). Sharing the wonders of science (or democracy) makes things worse, which is why we don’t talk about spreading democracy anymore. Hope can’t conquer all. If that is true of the war in Iraq, then how many will have to die to win.

The movie does lead to some wide-eyed action verging on horror show, but the slow pace does more than just build up anticipation. It puts you in the mind of smith. Sci fi is often ships and more stimulus but you get to walk in smith’s shoes through the deserted hellhole long enough to feel the primordial spasms he does. The last movie I saw that asked for so much patience was the vampire movie After Dawn with george Clooney and Harvey Keitel. The slow pace, including a traffic jam in a camper, leads up to all out vampire pandemonioum in a hell on earth setting. This movie had a lot more stickiness and is worth the slow build up.

Let me here from you.