The Happening (Spoiler Alert)
This post contains my thoughts about a movie I saw this weekend, The Happening from M. Night Shyamalan. Just mentioning the theme of the movie, in combination with the seeing the trailers, is enough for any Objectivist or rational person to accurately predict the plot, so here’s your warning:
HUGE SPOILER ALERT!!! STOP READING NOW IF YOU REALLY WANT TO SEE THIS MOVIE!
I’m also going to try to employ the “more” blog tag for the first time. So if you’re reading this in a RSS reader, you’ll probably have to click the header and go directly to my site to read the post. Sorry, I know it’s a pain, but I’m trying to follow movie-ending-giveaway etiquette.
HUGE SPOILER ALERT!!!
HUGE SPOILER ALERT!!!
HUGE SPOILER ALERT!!!
I went to see M. Night Shyamalan’s latest movie, The Happening, this weekend. I liked some of his previous movies, like Signs, and The Village (and truth be told, even Lady in the Water a little bit), so I had some hope that the movie might be entertaining. From the trailers, I knew the movie was about something that makes people talk strangely and then kill themselves, but that’s all. I had some doubts about what the explanation could have been, but I didn’t give it much thought and just bought my ticket.
And guess what… they got me again. Just like last year, I dropped my guard and walked straight into a big environmentalist movie without knowing it.
So what makes people kill themselves in the movie? Neurotoxins from plants. What made the plants release the toxins? “Rapid evolution.” Plants developed a self-defense mechanism against their biggest threat (according to the movie): Humans. We’re destroying the environment, and now nature is fighting back. Whenever humans get together in larger groups (over 5-6 people in a 50 square feet area), the plants sense danger and kill them all.
Well, actually, not everybody. Sometimes the plants leave one survivor who is struck with confusion and fear at all of the people committing suicide, presumably so he or she can tell the rest of the world. It’s more dramatic that way.
The plants aren’t totally heartless, though. They only target the northeast section of the U.S., and the attack only lasts a few days. The movie ends with an tv interview with an environmentalist who tries to warn us that this was just a warning, and we’ll need to change our ways or they could strike again. The interviewer dismisses his argument and says that we need more evidence. Are we going to make the same mistake? Of course, we do, and the movie ends with the plants making a second strike.
I thought The Day After Tomorrow was ridiculous, but The Happening has it beat. Instead of showing people running for their lives from tornadoes or tidal waves, The Happening literally has people running from wind blowing in trees. It really pushes the idea that we don’t know how nature works — and we can’t know. No matter what the evidence shows or doesn’t shows, our safest course of action is to make ourselves as small as possible so we limit our effect on plants, rocks, and dirt. I’ve tolerated some really bad ideas in Shyamalan’s movies, but this movie has pushed me over the edge. I won’t support this man any longer.
Tags: [movies, the happening]Comments
One Response to “The Happening (Spoiler Alert)”
Leave a Reply
i only read this so i knew whether or not to see it. cuz i like you have seen his movies and i have supported him i like his strange ideas but this one just gave me a weird feeling that i was going to be let down. way down. so i wanted to read something on it first. and i know i should probably see it to get my own opinion on it. but from what i hear im already disappointed.. he is a creative person though and i will continue to see his movies.