Why, you may ask, would this tie into the theme of this particular piece of literature, well, I’ll tell you but first, a question.  Is the Apocalypse really a genre of movie…or just a theme that can be added?  Well by the time you finish this bit of work you will be wondering this very question.  But let’s start at the beginning, with what every great Apocalypse movie needs: a Hero.

                The traditional hero of any great apocalyptic movie, by right of title, requires some things.  It requires that he be exceptional in some way that would warrant survival as feasible.  He must be capable of defending himself from said event or enemy.  They must be alive in a way that would allow for interaction with the world.  The Hero must have a goal or at least a reason to live.  In most cases that last one is a given’.  In most cases they should be attached to something that has a role in the story or plot.  Usually that one thing dies.  And one more thing, they have to look, feel, and act like leaders or at least someone of good conscience.  That is a stereotypical Hero that we think we see in apocalyptic movies.

                There is, of course, the supporting cast.  I mean what hero would ever survive that one moment where the cast becomes useful?  I thought so.  Ever notice how one of them is always a little nuts?  Well aside from that there is almost always that one dude who can kick way more ass than the main character and knows it but he still fallows the Hero or at least helps out for some reason.  That guy has gotta be the most epic of characters.  He has to look, act, and above all feel like the most awesome compassionate badass (or at least cool dude) in the whole world…and in most cases he isn’t far off considering the apocalypse thing.  Then there is always the helpless victim of a person.  Usually this is of the opposing sex as the Hero and in general they both love each other for some randomly generated reason.  And of course, the comedic sidekick who thinks he’s awesome when in fact he’s going to die about three quarters of the way through the film.

Now don’t get me wrong.  There are always exceptions to the rule but, there are rules for that too…right?  Well here is one of them: Any one character may have up to three differences from their stereotype.  That includes the Hero.  If there is something that they don’t need and doesn’t contribute to the story then it is not going to be in the film.  If something is unexplained it is done so for a reason and if it is important then it will be explained.  If there is any form of doubt as to the effectiveness of the “enemy” then someone has to be killed in a redeeming fashion.  At one point or another, someone must die; whether for the sake of their companions or just because they were dicks.  Those are the basics, feel free to interject at any time, but these are what I see.

Now, in order to see how this might work then one must see a few to understand the rules of survival.  First and foremost: it only takes one person to check some random noise out.  Preferably the most disliked character of the party.  Otherwise the general rules of common sense come to mind.  Always be prepared kind of stuff like carry an extra magazine with you and never go it alone.  Those are the bigger ones.  So, without further ado, we continue to the meat of the situation.

You ever wondered why I introduced this with an example from I Am Legend?  Well if you look at it, it is one of the newer and, in my opinion, better apocalyptic movies we’ve seen in a while.  But you may wish to take note of some things that run very contradictory to the usual doomsday film.  For starters the main character is practically the only person you see for the first three quarters of the film.  No other human.  Granted his entire supporting cast is not but a single entity for almost the whole movie.  That dog had to incorporate every aspect of all the supporting cast in order to make up for the fact that is was the only other good guy.  Does that fit with the previous things?  I think not!  However every thing has a purpose in the movie.  Every scene shows something that is vital, whether it is him losing his mind or the way the virus spread, it helps the story.  Yes, this is what most of them do, but, this particular story does it a bit differently.  If you look very closely you can see that some things had to be explained through the memories of the Hero.  This is becoming increasingly uncommon in movies from what I have seen.

Then there are those that don’t have a material enemy.  There is no objective.  You can only hope to survive and can’t really “fight” the “enemy” in the same way as most would think.  The Day After Tomarrow gives a stunning example from the main style.  It has not one but two heros!  Isn’t that an oddity?  There is both Jack Hall (Dennis Quad) and Sam Hall (Jake Gyllenhaal) portray heroes in this epic tale.  That is a very rare thing and I’ve never seen it in any apocalyptic movie.  Then there is the fact that every plot twist practically has it’s own line to give us the take.  I mean to say that if you watched it you would get a warning that is as reliable as a windows alert screen!  Now does that really go along with the “genre’s” normal aesthetic?  I think not.  But there is no denying that it is a movie about the apocalypse.  Even us real people know about this thing and think we’re all gonna die from it!  But do they?  No.  Hope prevails…just like in every other apocalyptic movie on Earth.

 Which brings me to my next point; is there any way a movie would be watched if there wasn’t hope?  Just look at Virus.  It’s set on a lone ship.  The whole point of the movie is the small party of random sailors trying to escape from this lone “ghost ship”.  That may not seam apocalyptic but the way it was portrayed did it justice.  If that ship had made it into harbor anywhere then the world would have gone down the proverbial shoot.  However, the virus would have no problems using the entire radio farm on the top of the ship.  So why would this be simple apocalyptic film if there is no hope for the rest of humanity?  Sure the two survivors are alive and I might add stranded in the middle of one of the coldest bodies of water this planet has to offer.  Yeah, I don’t see hope anywhere.  Yet it was still a good movie. 

                Even Batman Begins has a large part of Apocalypse.  The huge town in danger of being destroyed by its own population, yah, that is an apocalypse by most standards.  But we all know that it isn’t an apocalyptic movie!  It’s about the most epic superhero ever conceived and how he thwarts an enemy.  But, there’s an apocalypse, so…what does that mean?  It means that it proves the point.  That an apocalypse is something that can be added to a movie!  It isn’t the movie itself and there is no such thing as a set form for it.  Instead there are only a few elements that must be added to put these dramatic creations into a good film.  Yeah sure, the apocalypse can be a big part and in some cases even the main point of the story but ultimately it’s the people and plot that make the movie and not the event.

                I think that you would agree that all these movies have apocalypse in them in some way.  And all of them have hope of surviving or preventing said apocalypse.  And if this hasn’t shown you that that is all you need to add to make such an extra then I would like to, one day, have a talk about it.  But until that time I think you should get your own argument together and, in the words of a great actor, “Make it so, Number 1.”

http://www.pierce.ctc.edu:2061/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=LitRC&userGroupName=puya65247&tabID=T001&searchId=R4&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA55251114&&docId=GALE|A55251114&docType=GALE&role=LitRC

Rambo and all that he stands for.  I love the film for many reasons.  First of all it shows the way that our nations great warriors were treated upon getting home from such a bloody conflict that they had to do.  Our heroes weren’t even considered human in some cases and all they were looking for was a place to call home (or in Rambo’s case his actual home and a bit to eat…).   That is one reason; the connection I can make as far as careers go.

I can’t say the combat didn’t help, a lot, because quite frankly it was awesome.  I have always read survival manuals and my most favored sport is combatives (until Jeet Kune Do starts!) and this brings them both together!  All I need to be happy is the Rambo series and a bucket of popcorn!  All the awesome of my favorite activities and an awesome background that comes into light throughout the whole movie just makes it worth it.  I even learned a few things from it and tested some of those I thought would be useful!

The only thing I didn’t like was the antagonist.  He was stupid, arrogant, and under qualified to be a good “Bad Guy”.  Just look at it!  A average police officer in a city gains training in personal relations, Basic Handgun Marksmanship, Basic Problem Evaluation Skills, and a very crude defense course…does that even compare to a Green Barret (a Battle Hardened Green Barret) who has gone through literal hell and then some for the pure training and quite possibly for fun?  I thought not.  In reality I did really like the realism it showed, at least for the first part of the movie, as far as truth went.  After that the extra super human bits were only believable in the movies.  All in all though…one of my favorite series!

                Now if you ask me, all those people who are thrown out are ejected for a reason.  They are not productive enough to warrant any health care from our system…that is how our system works…by who is the most productive.  I mean look at it.  Our society is based on who is the best.  Not who deserves the care, money, or power.  It is made so that money is the deciding factor in almost anything.  Money has become a form of show that makes your value numerical.  That is why many say what their annual income is; to show you just how much their worth. 

                Without it you are nothing to these people.  Because the skills that they possess make them more valuable to everyone and they are going where they can to get more of it.  Not to the charity cases but to the rich and powerful people who probably can afford their care.  As Mr. Moore pointed out, if we weren’t so concerned about money and our own power and were more concerned about the well being of our fellow humans then we would have a much better system.  But wait, there is more!

                Moore forgot to mention what these charity cases do for our society.  Oh that is right…they mostly do nothing.  And, don’t even get me started on the homeless.  Kind of like giving handouts out.  They don’t come back, they don’t help anyone, other than people who can’t afford to keep in decent shape, and will probably wind up back where they are right then.  And above all, it is a waste of time.  Now don’t get me wrong, not all of these cases are like this.  As a matter of fact I was appalled that the “nine eleven” rescue workers were neglected.  Some truly decent human beings and they were shunned because some idiot thought that saving lives in the time of need, lives of true Americans who fought to make our country stronger, was not enough to give them a little medical treatment.  How tragic.  Why this would happen is simple: money.  They did it and they were in no legal contract to do so was all they had to say.

                Again, this is what should have been.  If we conformed to the way that the socialists did it with their medical care then we would have just one more thing the government would have to do and one more reason that Americans would not want to pay taxes.  And besides, we all know how efficient our government is!  They are only the ones that are allowing this system to be in place.  I guess they must be good people, not at all consumed with greed or power, right?

                I must say, though, the entirety of the insurance reclaiming its money and trying to frame people and such; I thought that was thoroughly un-American.  WE go through this huge deal about how we are always trying to help people.  Pictures of Soldiers in Iraq, National Guardsmen in disaster areas, and Firemen carrying people out of a dyeing building and yet you can’t get insurance companies to give a little of the huge amount of money that they already have, and are not losing, to help someone out. I can see the good already!  That must be why they gave all those people a free ride to one random place in their city.  I mean come on, maybe adventure is the key!

                But on a more serious note; we never find out what these other people did for society.   As far as I could tell most of them did nothing!  So what are they complaining about?  “Oh, I am useless to society now give me your valuable time and resources so that I can continue to be useless,” I’m sure that went over well.  Even if you look in the movie you see these people do not get job titles unless they say it.  Manny such as the woman living with the cats did not have an occupation to speak of.  So why then is he so adamant about saving these people?  In truth, I have no idea.  If it were me; I would be more worried about those who are being more productive than those who are not being at all efficient.

                So those that are helping or those that aren’t?  Hmm…tough question…or is it?  I don’t think so…anyone in their right mind is going to choose the productive guy who may be able to pay you back!  That is just common sense something many in our time need, and are currently missing, and should regain as it would help show people the things that this documentary implies.  It shows that even thought you may never regain the use of your hand, you weren’t using it anyway.  That woman that he interviewed for being dropped off in the middle of nowhere, remember her, she didn’t have any profession (Moore, Sicko).  They made certain to work on the pity while not saying that she was a leach on our community.  A complete and total waste of our powerful countries resources.

                Why would we spend our precious resources on someone that is giving nothing back to anyone?  Actually, I wonder how she got into the hospital.  You would think they could at least screen their n full you would think that this is an act of cruelty but in fact the act is done by the people who are not useful enough to help our great nation.  This is the way it should be.

By-Hungry Seal

                If you were shown the countries that are considered by most Americans lower than ours and they have way better health than us.  Can you believe that?  Better health than US?!?!  We are so over obsessed with ourselves…sad really.  He shows us these, specifically the normal people, to show us just how poor our health care really is.  So you gotta’ think that, if this were a normal scene of people, this would be the norm; no money needed, no insurance crap, no “we can’t help you because your poor”, no more of this dumping off people in the side of streets cause they can’t pay.  No more!

                No more of this could have been given without such visuals as these.  If it had been written as an essay then you would have practically no concept of what he was talking about.  You can’t put the kind of emotions, pain, and suffering that these people show on their faces and in their voices.  Words would not be able to do this nearly as well as showing you their actual emotions.   The way that people sympathize with others through emotion is remarkable and in an essay just not possible.  Even with pictures you can’t show such a great array of emotions with such efficiency.

Fin

1.          Toplin points out that Moore’s unusual treatment of primary sources combined with his comic approach helped spawn the political firestorm of claims that he “manipulated and distorted evidence to promote his radically partisan agenda.”

2.         But hindsight, as they say, is “20/20,” which makes Toplin’s book all the more relevant as an example of how films with obvious political leanings should be analyzed in the future.

3.         Toplin notes, it is not the reality and argues that Moore is merely following the tradition of earlier documentary filmmakers by “producing hard-hitting, opinionated, ‘committed’ films.”

4.         Whether they had an impact on the election is, as Toplin’s investigation shows, more difficult to prove.

5.        Why were they ignored? Perhaps, because as Toplin notes, the books had a limited audience due to the elitist language and the medium used, while a film, by its very nature is “capable of delivering [a] … message to the multitudes,” especially if it is packaged, as Fahrenheit 9/11 was, as “a highly entertaining” albeit controversial movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkWWWKKA8jY

Who says that cats aren’t pack animals?  Then the “WTF” factor as I like to call it.  When you see something as offsetting as cats being herded by men on horses…that will give you a big “wow, they are good” kind of a thought.  Maybe that was just me…but it still was a big thought!  You got to’ admit that it was a very hard task to get that many cats together to go even in a commercial.  I don’t think I want to know how they got the cats to go in the same direction like that…across water.  In any case it was chosen for many a reason but the informational is what has been presented.  It just was something that showed how hard they worked and how good they were.

If you look at the worst parts then you wouldn’t see much either.  The fact that it doesn’t show any of the technology in it caused very little problems as it shows how most of the company focuses on the way it isn’t about technology but about how you use your resources and try then you can find a way.  Even if you don’t necessary have the right equipment for the job.  That would easily translate into “we stay on top of technology but that isn’t what we’re about, we are about you!” kind of thing.  Very “We want you!” from the old army recruiting posters.  Almost like they are trying to say that no matter what happens they’ll be there!

Even the way that the commercial ends causes a very “homey” feel.  Gives you that nice touch at the end with a little speech about how they are there for you and such.  Ultimately a very compelling way of getting one’s attention.  It grabs you with the crazy cat herding scheme and then right before the end BOOM it is all connected to EDS.  Like a neatly wrapped package with a funny card attached!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE

The commercial was chosen because of the fact that it worked.  If you look at the approach that it came with it shows everything that it is trying to sell short of the technology.  It shows just how creative it’s staff can be I mean when you look at it who would think of cat herding other than a creative person?  Really!  It gives metaphors to its dedication and hard work through the cattle herding example…these are people who are giving more exertion than many others for one cause and that cause is your company!  Your employees are the cats (YAY!!) and you are the one who needs them to work together; also known as the city.  Now who is herding them?  EDS is getting them together in ways that nobody else can…granted they are being herded but still it works.  Now look I see nothing but a good networking system that they are trying to implement and they show you that it can make anything (even the independent cats!) work together; now that is progress.

Who says that cats aren’t pack animals?  Then the “WTF” factor as I like to call it.  When you see something as offsetting as cats being herded by men on horses…that will give you a big “wow, they are good” kind of a thought.  Maybe that was just me…but it still was a big thought!  You gotta’ admit that it was a very hard task to get that many cats together to go even in a commercial.  I don’t think I want to know how they got the cats to go in the same direction like that…across water.  In any case it was chosen for many a reason but the informational is what has been presented.  It just was something that showed how hard they worked and how good they were.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE