I went to see the excellent I am Legend last night. Paul Trathen in his post on the film mentioned the links with the story of Job. These are clearly there in the way that the central character, Robert Neville, loses his wife, child and livelihood but the story references the imagery and narrative of the atonement more fully than it does the story of Job, particularly in that blood provides the resolution for the story. The film contains a strong example of the power of self-sacrifice, something also discussed in the film in its references to the music and life of Bob Marley.
I am Legend has the look and feel of Children of Men, another collapse of Western culture apocalyptic with Biblical under and overtones. Interestingly, in both, science is implicated in the cultural collapse that trigger the stories they tell and it is spirituality that provides resistence and resolution. In science fiction, it seems, the reality that science is not neutral and is not always benign can be explored in a ways that often seem to be ruled out of play within Western culture, given our addiction to technological development despite the issues raised for us by materialism, militarism and environmental damage.
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Bob Dylan - Jokerman.
3 comments:
Yes, I think you are right about both the threads of atonement and the strong critique of scientism. Stirring stuff.
This is, of course, not a new story, being based on an earlier novella (from the late 50s?) and subsequently made into feature film both in the 60s and 70s ('Logan's Run').
This time around, though, it has a greater poignancy, it seems to me.
BTW, the one feature that does not easily 'fit' with either a reading through the Job-paradigm or the atonement-paradigm, is the centrality of the Neville/Sam-the-dog relationship. I am sure that acting folk would want to talk primarily about the need for Will Smith to have something/someone to 'act against' as key rationale for the dog, but her presence (and the developments of the relationship between the characters) is significant.
Interestingly, I had 'Sam' down as a MALE for most of the film, and was somewhat surprised, approaching the dog'd death-scene, to discover that she was 'Sam-antha'.
What kind of relationship is this and where does it belong in the story?
Interesting to think about the atonement elements. I don't know what the significance is of the dog except that the climax of that relationship was horrible to witness.
Sam is the one live link to Neville's family, having been given to him by Marley after she had got into the helicopter. This fact, coupled with all that they have shared together, is sufficient dramatically for us to believe that Neville would try to get himself killed at the docks following Sam's own death. So, Sam, I think, represents his link to his family and it is, therefore, all the more appropriate that Sam turns out to be Samantha.
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