Introduction
In recent decades, apocalyptic films have become especially popular since they reflect people’s beliefs and explain what society looks like. The movies presenting threats and conflicts after apocalypses allow viewers to explore unknown territories and reflect on how they would act in such situations. Such curiosity is also supported by continuous progress, including technological development and human personal growth. In many cases, people try to improve the world and create technological advancements, which turn into a catastrophe. This paper focuses on two movies, I Am Legend and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, to analyze the progress and disaster that often come together. Although technology is a driving force of humanity, it is critical to be attentive to newly introduced progressive ideas to prevent an apocalypse.
Brilliant Idea Turning to Catastrophe
I Am Legend
With the outbreak of modern technologies, scientists have significantly advanced medicines for treating serious diseases. A range of films presenting the invention of vaccines and future catastrophes appeared. I Am Legend by Francis Lawrence is a horror and sci-fi movie that tells the story of Robert Neville, the only survivor in an artificial catastrophe.
Scientists developed a vaccine for cancer treatment, which turned people into zombies. The main character, played by Will Smith, tries to survive in a world where all people are affected by a plague that makes them bloodthirsty zombies (Lawrence, 2007). The action takes place in New York, Manhattan, a place familiar to many people, making it closer to the viewers.
Until recently, technological progress was strongly associated with social well-being. New inventions and technologies went hand in hand with rising prosperity, narrowing the gap between rich and poor, and bringing other social benefits. At the end of the 20th century, doubts that the Internet, mobile communications, robotics, and growing computing power could lead humanity somewhere in the wrong direction were like conspiracy theories (Hamonic, 2017). I Am Legend shows that the danger comes from technology and the people who manage it. According to this film, if society learns to control the special services, the army, politicians, and corporations, it should be enough to protect itself from the dangerous consequences of the emergence of technologies.
The good and evil dichotomy about technology and scientific progress is incorrect. Such a division seems to be far-fetched; for example, a microscope can kill a person, and one knows how dangerous a peaceful atom can be. A well-trained computer vision system can detect cancer on tomograms months earlier than a highly qualified doctor with a dozen years of experience can. At the same time, a similar system can hunt people from an autonomous strike drone.
Accordingly, in I Am Legend, the main character tries to correct the situation by creating another vaccine, meaning he uses science against science. Progress is impossible without disaster, as the development process always contains risks. Moreover, it is tough to foresee all the risks since many factors affect technological advancements. The scientist who created the vaccine in I Am Legend acted with her best intentions to help humanity survive, but the results appeared devastating.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Global warming, nuclear war, and genetically engineered viruses are some of the scenarios that apocalyptic films cite as the cause of humanity’s eventual extinction from Earth. They state that progress in science and technology will create more and more new threats, so every year the risk increases (Hamonic, 2017). In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, an unfortunate inventor, Flint Lockwood, creates genius and unusual inventions, but no one needs them. Moreover, his practical experiences with his crafts often end in small tragedies for his hometown.
Despite all the failures and sabotage that Flint was responsible for, the boy is moral and kind. Therefore, he seeks to help people, and one of his experiments succeeds. Flint uses water from the atmosphere and throws hamburgers, stuffed pies, and other American food from heaven, turning the city into a glutton’s paradise. Likewise, in I Am Legend, the initial goal of this invention was positive, while its results made people suffer rather than enjoy it. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs also proves that progress goes hand in hand with some harmful outcomes, which is inevitable.
Everyone respects and praises the inventor, while the city becomes a world landmark and opens its amusement park. However, the machine for producing manna from heaven is steadily mutating, giant pancakes are falling on the city, and pasta hurricanes are approaching. Flint and his girlfriend have to stop the machine and save the world. In addition to the undeniable entertainment effect, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs raises many vital questions.
The problems of coming apocalypses, technological disasters, and challenges of mitigating the benefits and drawbacks are reflected in this cartoon. The morality laid down by the authors in the story is put in the audience’s minds (Lord & Miller, 2009) after learning about the adventures of Flint, and the desire to make this world a little bit better appears. The movie translates to the idea that one can always start with oneself and one’s environment. The moral here is mostly straightforward, but it hits the most essential message right on target.
Notably, the creators of the mentioned picture gracefully spin it around a crazy and funny story, which makes the picture even more interesting with the implementation of the latest discoveries in animation. The abundance of pasta tornadoes and asteroid-shaped meatballs is an ironic travesty on the disaster movie genre. Nevertheless, such an approach chosen by the movie director is helpful as it amplifies the catastrophe’s effect.
Compared to standard apocalypse films, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is more appealing to adults, children, and adolescents. While many disaster movies are shot in grey and black tones, this cartoon is colorful, engaging, and as if touching the viewers’ hearts directly. It calls on people never to stop and to use their unlimited potential.
Messages Translated by Apocalyptic Films
Danger of Technology
First, the key message translated to the viewers of both films is that technological progress often leads to catastrophes. According to Hanna Arendt, “the sciences, taught and learned by this generation, seem not merely unable to undo the disastrous consequences of their technology” (Young-Bruehl, 2006, p. 149). For example, environmental disasters, nuclear war threats, and autonomous fighter jets are widely recognized issues. They cause many threats, but also lead to significant growth of societies. It should be stressed that although every culture develops at its own pace and time, any progress drives movement, a recurrent cycle of growth and stagnation (Young-Bruehl, 2006). Therefore, scientists, biologists, and other specialists at the forefront of human advancement must be aware of this progress-disaster connection.
Complexity of Human Nature
Second, science and technology cannot save a person from themself as they cannot solve their internal problems. A person seeks to get away from these problems by declaring them insignificant. Consequently, technology and the cult of material well-being have decreased individuals’ spiritual level and creative abilities (Young-Bruehl, 2006). The mentioned movies claim that modern people have lost a proper understanding of life, replacing it with the spirit of scientific progress. Against the backdrop of the dominance of such a mindset, the moral choice of a person acquires special significance.
The critique of the current social order is vivid in the disaster pictures. The message is that it would be better if the public paid more attention to mitigating social problems. For example, world hunger, healthy food choices, vaccination safety, or well-being awareness can be noted. The analyzed catastrophe movies warn people to adjust their lifestyles to avoid the uncontrollable and devastating outcomes.
Role of Humans
Third, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and I Am Legend emphasize the importance and fragility of human life. The invention of only one person could wipe out all the people on Earth. Robert Neville has no companions except his dog, and the film presents his daily routine, which is full of loneliness. Flint Lockwood has only one friend, while the rest of the city considers him strange and crazy.
Hamonic (2017) claims that disaster pictures motivate the viewers to reflect on their own lives and deaths, also paying attention to their place in society. In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the situation can be identified as pre-apocalypse, which allows its director to make sense of human life. I Am Legend is a post-apocalyptic world that focuses on how individuals experience hope and fear in critical times.
Not Only Technology Progress, but Also People Develop
Caring about humanity’s social, economic, and political well-being is one of the key global agendas. In I Am Legend and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the newly invented technology was devoted to improving a social problem. I Am Legend reflects on the healthcare problem of curing cancer and handling the related burden.
In turn, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs shows one of the ways to resolve the issue of world hunger. However, it brings environmental carelessness and a lack of healthy food choices. Even though the viewers observe how characters eat hamburgers and other fast food, the cartoon does not teach them how to select responsible food. On the contrary, I Am Legend states that the situation can be improved, meaning people can make their choices more concisely. Therefore, these apocalyptic films show that not only is technology developed, but people also tend to progress.
Robert Neville progresses as a person while he tries to find other survivors by waiting for them and using the radio. As a scientist, he also attempts to create a new vaccine to turn the infected zombies into healthy people. Likewise, Robert Flint follows his dreams, but discovers that achieving the stated goals can be highly complicated. However, both characters have to overcome various difficulties, requiring time and effort.
In this connection, there appears to be an assumption that progress cannot be achieved without problems, and only those who meet and overcome difficulties can succeed (Hamonic, 2017). Even though Robert fails to cure zombies, his character points to the possibility of doing so. Seeing the ultimate goal and moving towards it are their life principles since survival is critical. Every person should have a goal to which they aspire. A unique goal is a forward movement involving all the forces released to a person by nature and society.
Conclusion
To conclude, I Am Legend and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs are two apocalyptic films that present the world after artificial disasters. Both show scientists who created technologies expected to improve human life by addressing health and social problems. However, it resulted in catastrophes with the full or partial extinction of people from the planet.
The key message of both pictures is to show that progress and disaster go hand in hand as integral parts of each other. Moreover, both progress and devastation serve as driving forces of change. In this essay, it is discovered that not only does technology develop due to human efforts, but also people progress significantly when they face disasters.
References
Hamonic, W. G. (2017). Global catastrophe in motion pictures as meaning and message: The functions of apocalyptic cinema in American film. Journal of Religion & Film, 21(1), 1-37.
Lawrence, F. (2007). I am legend [Film]. Warner Bros. Pictures.
Lord, P., & Miller, C. (2009). Cloudy with a chance of meatballs [Film]. Sony Pictures Animation.
Young-Bruehl, E. (2006). Why Arendt matters. Yale University Press.