The end is in the beginning

Children of Men (2006)
Director: Alfonso Cuarón

From being cave dwellers, homo sapiens slowly evolved to learn to live in communities and eventually became the most successful species on Earth. Many related species, like the Neanderthals, lost out in this rat race.

After leading an agrarian life, Man evolved to lead one of entrepreneurship and mercantilism. Schisms developed within societies between the masters and slaves. One per cent of the population came to rule over the remaining 99%. The survival of the former depended much on the toiling of the latter and their consumption. The population had to increase at a rate of at least 2.1% to maintain this status quo. Anything below that level would spell bad for business and the collapse of a population. There would be nobody to work or buy to spur the economy.

As the working class became more affluent and more educated and started disbelieving the existence of Divine powers, they became less interested in having big families. Immigration of foreign workers came to fill the void of dropping numbers. Trouble brewed when the newcomers were not accorded the same status as the original inhabitants. In our civilisation, we are at this crossroads. All the progress we have made thus far as human development has stagnated and stands the risk of regressing as the world economy reaches a standstill. Mayhem is the only logical sequelae of this, as everyone exerts their dominance over the other.

This is the impression of the 2027 view of the world where global collapse has occurred, and the UK is the only country with a functioning government. Infertility has made no made pregnancy impossible for the past 18 years. There is hardly any economic activity, and immigration is illegal. Against this dystopic background, an illegal refugee conceives and gives hope for humanity to continue. The story is based on P. D. James' novel of the same name (1992). 

Whichever way we look, humanity seems to be leading to self-destruction. They either annihilate themselves with destructive devices or ill-thought actions because of self-interest. 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

We dig our own grave?

The Eternals (2021)
Director: Chloe Zhao

The story is actually an amalgamation of many stories, folklore mainly. After all, most world mythologies have almost a similar theme. See how often babies are left to float in a vessel by a river to escape persecution. Moses survived Pharoah's persecution and was adopted by the Pharoah's daughter in a twist of fate. Karna was left off by his unwed mother in Mahabharata to escape humiliation, only to be adopted as a charioteer to fight his younger brothers later! And see how everything comes to an end, in Armageddon, or when Kalki descends from his horse at the end Kaliyuga.

Gilgamesh

So, how did Judea-Christian mythology get intertwined with Hindu mythology? Simple. After destroying the First Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, Jews were taken as slaves and brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar and subsequent Persian conquerors. They spend 48 years in Babylon imbibing the Indus culture into their, hence, the cross-overs. King Cyrus freed them from Babylon and helped them rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. So, one can see many cross-over influences in the Judeo-Christian stories.

The Sumerians have their own past stories of glory. Annunaki was an extra-terrestrial king if we believe what our ancient alien theorists say. He thought homo-sapiens were not too intelligent workers and frequently fought amongst themselves. Annunaki decided to infuse extra-terrestrial DNA to make humans into productive workers. Gilgamesh, one of the characters in this movie, is a long-forgotten Mesopotamian hero. In the first half of his life, he was a king who fought fearsome battles and spent the remaining half pondering the meaning of life. His adventures are depicted in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

In this movie, the Eternals are a breed of near-immortal of ten alien superheroes sent to Earth around 500BCE by Arishem to protect the planet against Deviants. Deviants are Arishem's (The Creator) creations who have gone rogue. They are hell-bent on destroying Earth, and The Eternals are assigned to protect Earthlings from them. Periodically, the Eternals infuse knowledge into Mankind. With this knowledge, Mankind made periodical monument jumps in their civilisation. The Eternals were strictly told not to interfere with any conflicts that arose from within humans. The last of the Deviants were slain, so they thought, in 1521. And the Eternals awaited further instructions from Arishem, which never came.

In the present time, the Eternals had to re-group when a Deviant re-emerges. Their leader, Ajak, is killed, and Sersi assumes command. She communicates with Arishem telepathically to be told that their real mission was to save Earth from the Emergence (the End of the World).

Friction ensues amongst the Eternal for what they feel as being 'used' by Arishem. The rest of the show is about how Earth is saved and how they resolve crises.

The human race is meant to progress through the exploration of their intelligence. Their discoveries are meant to propel them collectively forward. Exclusive control of power and knowledge by alpha predators (leaders) seems unhealthy as they would steer the whole race towards a particular that would benefit them. Hence, the Deviants were meant to clip the wings of the alpha predators. Unfortunately, the wisdom handed to Earthlings seem not to civilise them but instead lead to their own destruction. The Emergence/ Armageddon/ End of Days is their own doing.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.