"I know but one freedom and that is freedom of the mind." -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Words
"To move people with words it is essential to be true and cutting. If your words are not true and to the point, the reaction they evoke will be shallow-- who would take them to heart?"
--Zen Lessons, The Art of Leadership
Friday, November 19, 2010
The Target Audience for Apocalypse Disaster Flicks
If only the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society had the budget, they'd stop with the bad pamphlet illustrations and start making epic disaster films like "2012." However, in their version, John Cusack's worldy ass would not be getting saved.
Crazy stuff, huh? I haven't seen the movie yet, but couldn't help but snicker at the film trailer. When I was a kid, that was not just a movie--it was really going to happen. We had religious books and pamphlets around the house with illustrations like this:
Other than the cheesy "everyone lives" at the end, and a few parts that there is no way they could have survived, it was a pretty good movie. As expected, not a lot of plot and a WHOLE lot of special effects.
Also, just as an aside, the dome rolling into the crowd was not the Capitol building, it was the top of St Peter's Basilica. That was the scene with everyone praying outside the Vatican. I think the craziest scene is when the Christ the Redeemer statue just crumbles.
I can just hear what the Witnesses would have to say about a couple of the scenes from this movie:
"Well it couldn't possibly happen that way. Jehovah wouldn't allow it. He already destroyed mankind once with flooding and won't do it again. He promised He wouldn't when he invented rainbows and showed one to Noah."
Yeah... I can hear them now--"Just another money-making device from the Hollywood of 'this system of things.'"
The oh-so-realistic depictions in Watchtower literature CLEARLY show that people (and their tabby cats) will be killed by the earth opening up and swallowing them--that and fire raining down from the heavens. Sheesh, Hollywood--get with it!
If the Watchtower ever decides to use the wealth it has earned from donations and book sales to make a movie that depicts what happens AFTER the Apocalypse, I wonder if they will use CGI animation to create the lions playing with beachballs, or if they'll call in stunt lions? (I still laugh to myself about that post on your blog, Joe... Loved it!)
5 comments:
Wow, did you note the capital building rolling down the street of innocent bystanders.
Crazy stuff, huh? I haven't seen the movie yet, but couldn't help but snicker at the film trailer. When I was a kid, that was not just a movie--it was really going to happen. We had religious books and pamphlets around the house with illustrations like this:
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/armageddon.jpg
http://www.jwfacts.com/images/armageddon-watchtower-sep-1-1997.jpg
"Now go read your Bible stories! Good night! Sleep tight!"
I was sort of a nervous child, as you can imagine.
:-)
Other than the cheesy "everyone lives" at the end, and a few parts that there is no way they could have survived, it was a pretty good movie. As expected, not a lot of plot and a WHOLE lot of special effects.
Also, just as an aside, the dome rolling into the crowd was not the Capitol building, it was the top of St Peter's Basilica. That was the scene with everyone praying outside the Vatican. I think the craziest scene is when the Christ the Redeemer statue just crumbles.
I can just hear what the Witnesses would have to say about a couple of the scenes from this movie:
"Well it couldn't possibly happen that way. Jehovah wouldn't allow it. He already destroyed mankind once with flooding and won't do it again. He promised He wouldn't when he invented rainbows and showed one to Noah."
Yeah... I can hear them now--"Just another money-making device from the Hollywood of 'this system of things.'"
The oh-so-realistic depictions in Watchtower literature CLEARLY show that people (and their tabby cats) will be killed by the earth opening up and swallowing them--that and fire raining down from the heavens. Sheesh, Hollywood--get with it!
If the Watchtower ever decides to use the wealth it has earned from donations and book sales to make a movie that depicts what happens AFTER the Apocalypse, I wonder if they will use CGI animation to create the lions playing with beachballs, or if they'll call in stunt lions? (I still laugh to myself about that post on your blog, Joe... Loved it!)
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