25 October 2009

GRAVEN IMAGES

I learned today of a local billboard advertising the new "We Hate Humanity" movie 2012, which shows up in theaters on November 13th.  The image on the billboard is both disturbing and offensive.



The ad on this very way high-up billboard is depicting the Christ the Redeemer monumental statue that stands in Rio de Janero, Brazil, falling down on thousands of hapless victims below.

Amazingly, what I have always called the "Rio Jesus," the monument is one of my favorite images of Him.  I have often thought if I ever had religious yard art, I'd want a Rio Jesus.

Though this may seem like an ADD moment right now, it really isn't.  Back 0n September 1st, the WWF Brazil ran an ad about how awful us humans are to the environment by comparing our horrid emmissional behavior to that of the impact of hundreds of jet planes slamming into the World Trade Center buildings .  I was so disgusted by it I did something about it, which you can read more about in my blog post here.  And so I really can't very well have America depicting the destruction of this beautiful monument, can I? Well, no...but it's a lot deeper than that.

 that's L.A. in the background!One 2012 movie trailer had me somewhat curious, but I do not plan to see the movie.  The trailer showed California sliding into the Pacific Ocean, which was (and likely still is) our sarcastic folklore that echoed about the Southland whenever we had an earthquake.  The scene actually depicted our not-so-funny-fear that we always made sound funny! So I laughed at the trailer and thought what a GREAT movie this would be if it were some kind of dark comedy, a la Idiocracy.

I did research why the scene on the billboard was being used as a means by which to promote 2012.  How much more effective might an image of an aircraft carrier running into the White House might have been (really, that's a scene in the movie, too)?  I mean, it's not like Christianity is under some kind of rancorous mordacity or anything these days, right? Right. So, my suspicions were up, yeah. And frankly, I'm tired of the societal message that seems to say, "Christianity is a crime."



The only information I could find referencing the scene was an interview with filmmaker and 2012 director Roland Emmerich.  Emmerich brought us "The Day After Tomorrow," which I didn't know was a "global warming"  "climate change" movie until well after I saw it via Netflix. (good thing, or I would never had seen it). In an article in the UK's Daily Mail Online , Emmerich was interviewed:

Q: How do you balance the religious and scientific aspects of 2012, with arks surviving the floods?

Roland Emmerich:  Well, there’s a lot of like religious symbols that gets destroyed in this movie, strangely.  There’s not a comment in any way, it’s just people, when bad things happen, they kind of turn to God.  And then you kind of destroy like kind of the Vatican, or the Jesus in Rio De Janeiro. You tell people, “Even God can’t help you.”  Then it becomes like very philosophical in a way, then it comes down to what should people do in a situation like that, what is morally right to do, and all these questions occur.


So is 2012 The Year After Tomorrow? Is this where we've all been such horrible CO2 emitters that we've caused the end of the world?  Or is this another over-production and budget buster piece of propaganda put out for the human-haters of the earth? And then you kind of destroy like kind of the Vatican, or the Jesus in Rio De Janeiro.

In my research, one thing I ran across frequently was that the film is at the very least a flop and at the very most "complete bullsh*t of a film." One blogger titled the trailer "Apocalypse Porn." You tell people, “Even God can’t help you.”


½ an ADD moment: Earlier this year, I helped contribute to a fantastic idea set in motion by a local non-profit group here known as RagingElephants.org (please check them out online!) a group to which I also belong.  The group's Chairman, Apostle Claver Imau-Kamani set forth the goal of raising a billboard on Martin Luther King Blvd that said "Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican" in order to raise awareness in the Black community that perhaps they might consider examining their beliefs next to those of the Republican party (amazingly, they are similar!).  People went nuts. Though we paid for thirty days of billboard time, the sign came down in ten.  Do you see where I'm going with this?


I want the billboard sign to come down. Not because of what happened to our MLK sign, though the challenge of standing up to the double standard is intriguing.  Not because of my crusade against the WWF and it's message with the airplanes.  Nevermind that I think the story behind the movie is deplorable. I am truly offended by the image and the many possible negative messages. I personally took these photos, so standing underneath the towering billboard and seeing the details in the image gives a strange vibe.  This picture is abhorrent.   
Then it becomes like very philosophical in a way, then it comes down to what should people do in a situation like that, what is morally right to do, and all these questions occur.
I'm on a crusade. And the billboard is coming down.  Stay tuned.





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☑Survey: watch THIS, it's a cut from 2012, and then tell me if this movie isn't funny.






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