"A Helpless press of Men"

         I have come to realize (in my ever so short amount of time grappling this subject) that there is at least one comme theme in apocalyptic literature: Hope. The theme of hope is obvious if the hopeful's vision is well articulated, but it is sometimes not. In the Koranic version of the Apocalypse the hope is clear: do well with all of God's creations by giving zakat (charity) and by other means of community-building and you will be judged well when the day of judgment arrives. And the day of judgement WILL arrive. In modern apocalyptic cinema, the hope is not as clear, perhaps because an entire feature length film can revolve around the utter annihilation of human civilization (and all the "booms" accompanied by the process). However, the constant image of destruction in modern cinema does share the same hopeful theme as the Koran (saying this isn't shirk, I swear). For example, the image of the demolition of the statue of liberty in movies like "Deep Impact" and "Cloverfield" (about which one student had brought up in class). Try, for a moment, not to think of the Statue as a symbol of freedom and liberty, but one of our technological advancements in the last 500 years. After all, this monstrous monument was successfully shipped all the way from france in the end of the 19th century, a century famous for its celebration of science and ideas. The image of the destuction of man-made wonders is perhaps projected in the hope that man will A) realize his futility, even in the midst of all his tangible achievements, in the face of natural disaster and B) Man may reflect on his priorities and ask "is this hunk of junk really that miraculous?" and, "Is this all we've achieved throughout human civilization?" Then, "we can't save ourselves with buildings...how can we truly save ourselves?"

          In Revelation 6:15, the prophet's description of the state of the earth before its destruction is quite similar to the end of "Deep Impact" when the young main characters settle on a mountain after the matter.  My NRSV reads, "Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slaves and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks and mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand?" The image of a bunch of kings and their servants congregating helplessly under a rock, trying to flee the wrath of God, is a bit of a humorous one, but I believe the purpose of the author is, as I've said earlier, to coerce us into getting our priorities straight. How can we find salvation in a rock, no matter how large? and if we do not find slavation in something eternal, then we will surely perish.