Movies Part 2: Doomsday
we discuss movies that centre around the world ending, or more enthusiastically, Doomsday! The common point for all disaster movies is that people end up getting successful. How convenient. But then again, who would go watch a movie that shows the world was going to end and it did end. Oh wait....
Life's been thriving on Earth since billion of years, despite major changes over time. No doubt we are increasing the speed for reaching the last day, but you still need a lot of fiction to make up the scenario. And so this list is not going to be a ranking. Just more of a discussion, or rant. And spoilers.
First up, from the comments of our last post, is 'The Core'.
Well, well, well. This movie was a big series of 'If...' most of which I don't really see happening even IF we could get past one or two. The star of the movie unobtainium is definitely unobtainable, at least as far as we know now and probably after we know more too. But I'll give the movie one thing. It brought into highlight the geomagnetic field, which doesn't happen much. Hopefully, people knew a little more about the Earth's interior through the movie.
Next up, from suggestions, is 'Armageddon'.
It was not a science fiction. The genre was drama and NASA was in the background playing Cupid. There was friendship, there was love, there was car racing in space, but most important of all, there were drillers. Who trained in 18 days. Because that's possible. And saved the planet. Because why not. When all logic fails you do the next best thing- star studded cast. Now everything checks out.
Okay. For this one I'll be serious and I won't nitpick. It's 'The Day After Tomorrow'.
This movie shows the possible outcomes of climate change, though a bit extreme. But if you thought, 'Oh my!' watching this, you were right, you should think that. Because we don't realise it but climate change is going to blow up in our faces and then we wouldn't be able to do anything. We might still have a chance now. Not saying it was a scientifically accurate movie, but does leave you to think about something that is of concern right now.
We now have the 'world going to end and it did' movie, 'Don't Look Up'.
It's true. Don't look up. You'll end up seeing something you shouldn't. I mean, what's the point of the world ending if we already know about it. It would be fun if its a surprise. But at this rate, everybody would just know the exact time of that damned asteroid hit. I mean the dinosaurs already did it. It's not cool anymore. But alas, history repeated itself in this movie, but with a comet. At least they did not pretend to be a sci-fi. It was clear from the very beginning that it was a satire.
And finally, the 'world going to end and it did but still managed to revive life' movie, 'Knowing'.
This was a very different kind of science fiction which made it fun. Of course like all other movies it had a supernatural element but it was shown as a mystery which piqued interest even if you found it illogical. Though at times you do wonder if you are watching a horror movie. But the real question here is would you willingly go with some random dudes to another world?
Image credits: The mighty Internet (sorry, couldn't find the right credits)
Shivangi Sharan is a third year PhD student at the Laboratory of Planetology and Geosciences in France. Her research focusses on the study of the magnetic field of planets and to infer their internal structure from it. She is an active member of the IAGA Blog Team and can be contacted via e-mail here.
