cloverfield – civilisation at war

I answered a post on another forum, where the topic was the movie “Cloverfield”. All the replies revolved around the theme of confusion, and it seemed nobody was looking to grab the bigger picture, as if to say that all entertainment is created just to tickle the senses for an hour or two, and then we get back to living the norm.

I read an article in the Creation magazine where the author says that the problem with Christianity today is not that people do not believe, but that people keep belief in one compartment and life in another. He says that this alone is the biggest threat: people fail to see that all of life, be it on a Sunday, or in the queue on a Tuesday, is where faith is to exist in order to be real. His conclusion, a very valid one I believe, is that by having bought into an essentially humanistic world view, people approach Christianity in the same way they approach movies: something to do on Sunday, to be forgotten by Monday morning.

It is interesting that the world itself believes in a holistic approach – all of life contributes, and all contributions are driven by their worldview. The greatest threat is not Islam, or Satanism, but the convenient compartmentalism of apathy we call modern Christianity. Even God states that you need to make up your mind whether you are for him or just playing in the puddle of life called “me”. Lukewarms gets spat out.

Anyhow, here is my reply on the topic of Cloverfield: a piece I have entitled “civilisation at war”:

confused?

I thought it was the most awesome movie EVAR filmed in that style. The beginning was a bit like “wow” but really was cool.

Especially that whole “jumping from one building to another” thing. I hate heights!

Cloverfield is a cynical look at what America thinks is important (and by implication western civilisation).

At the start we are faced with the girl-guy thing, the drugs-alcohol thing, the petty jealousies thing, and the so-what-if-you-want-to-be-my-friend thing. The idea of using a hand-held camera is to emphasize the personal issues, it brings us right into the social circle.

The shock of moving from such intimacy and identification into the street emphasizes the idea of the gap between reality and American norm. Reality is what the rest of the world face daily on their way to whatever job they could get, and American norm is where Maslow’s pyramid is so past-tense that life consists of banality elevated to eminence.

The rest of the movie takes you from this unreality to the real reality where the American tax payer  lives under the illusion of protection by the system he pays tax into, despite there being laws in place based on an exact opposite premise; that it is better for a few to die (relatively speaking) than lose an entire country.

You, dear citizen, are expendable.

The monster represents any external force not commited to the great American dream. It had its own motive, it was virtually unconquerable but in the end the great American might cowered it into the ultimate submission.  Might that is assumed to be on our side. The same might used in Iraq, the same might that will ultimately be used against you, if you don’t follow that great Western, One World dream, no matter where it goes, no matter  where you lose.

The interaction between the helicopter and the monster serves to warn that going too close to the “enemy”   , even if it looks benign at a distance, can have disasterous results. Bugs spawn bugs. Trust no-one.

The theme of the movie is introduced by the fall of the statue of liberty’s head into the street.  The loss at the outstart of all that America believes it stands for: a headless freedom,  freedom lost.  The cry to change the policies of China whilst the policies of the US of A are far more intrusive, far more bloody, far more  invasive. Smoke and mirrors. Look at the speck in the other guy’s eye whilst not even seeing the forest in your own perspective. The downfall of America is not the enemy out there, although that is the  Western world’s  plug that everybody (and every Western tax payer) falls for. The enemy is actually the West itself – after all,  you (the citizen) can survive all that the movie throws at you, and then be legitimately blown to bits by the very government you thought you elected to serve you.

Cloverfield is an extremely clever movie. In the realm of everyday life they are able to confront you with the banality of a normal day (MXit etc) and move you quickly into a place where you have no idea what is coming next. You are drawn into that soppy place where we identify with family members and girlfriends, and then ripped out by the loss of these. Even at the end of the movie we see the hero return to collect a girlfriend, a contrast of the bonds of humankind versus the impassivity of the remote connection of the all powerful government that has the power (freely given to it by the electorate) to eradicate you.

The message?

Not all is what it seems, don’t give away too much power, and look after your own back – no-one will do it for you, but ultimately human bonds will prevail, even if it is to no avail!

and thus ends the sermon.