"2012"

I admit that I have a penchant for doomsday movies - anything from Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' to 'Day after Tomorrow'. I am, at heart, a pessimist, or maybe just a bit of a fatalist. I believe that climate change is something we're experiencing, and I believe it spells the end of civilisation as we know it. Quite why, or when it's going to happen, is still up for debate.

I accept that part of the reason is that there are simply too many human beings on this planet. Part of the reason is that we eat too much meat. Part of the reason has, however, nothing to do with humans. It's just about our earth being where it is in space and time, and this is part of the natural cycles of life.

I was therefore rather excited when DH brought '2012' home from the library - by the same director as 'Day after tomorrow', as it turns out - Roland Emmerich. For those who haven't seen it, all I will say about the story line is that the movie is based on the premise that a particularly large solar flare disrupts the earth's core, with disasterous results for all species on the earth.

The special effects are incredible! I would have loved to see it on the Big Screen - just for that. However, I found the story oddly disturbing in a way the others haven't been. I was touched by the human element in this movie. Throughout it I found myself wondering how I would cope, what I would do, especially as far as my kids were concerned, if something like that really started to occur. I was struck by the immense suffering and tragedy that would occur. I was traumatised by the thought of all the kids who would die in terror and pain; of the thought of my own kids dying in terror and pain.

I suppose that, so soon after 15 Oct (International Stillbirth awareness day), and having been so ill so recently, my emotional defenses were down. I was very upset though. Maybe, though, this movie just paints a more realistic picture, in this regard - maybe it's just better at the human element than previous movies in this genre.

It didn't help though, to have my hubbie at my side laughing with derision at various of the special effects - he tends to be very skeptical about things. For e.g. where the rest of us might have seen the crack appearing between God's finger and Adam's, in Michelangelo's 'Creation of Adam' frescoe on the Cistene Chapel's ceiling, as a nice touch, he laughed with scorn at how cheesy he thought it was. On the bright side, I guess it kept me from becoming too morbid about things.

[But of course, for that, there's always chocolate. YUM! My friends know me well - earlier in the evening one had dropped by to bring me some, as a 'get well soon' present. What a lovely lady she is!]

Yet, my dreams last night were troubled by collapsing buildings, pathways, and roads up at UCT, where I was a mature student. If I remember correctly, in my dream I'd gone back to study my masters. (My hubbie had also gone back to studying full time, but I can't remember what.) In the midst of the dream, I knew I was dreaming, and was surprised how unafraid I was of the world caving in around me. Maybe, in the dream, because I knew I was dreaming, I felt invincible. Maybe I was just too wrapped up in my story line to really care about the buildings falling down around me. Or maybe it's just that fatalistic edge in me coming to the fore.