The Sky is Falling

(the views expressed herein are not necessarily the views shared by the author's management and subsidiaries, whomever they may be)

The Apocalypse is close.

But not really.

The 'End of the World' phenomenon seems to spread like wildfire and cause nearly as much damage.  It leeches onto the film and television industry first, seeking the widest audience possible by including as many attractive people avoiding explosions, aliens, diseases, and famine, all the while wondering what they could have done to prevent this tragedy.  If they had only watched the television a bit more and heeded the words of Nostradamus, the Mayans, the Atlanteans, Merlin, or Chicken Little maybe there would be a logical way out of this nightmarish future of death and decay.  Some more recent examples of a world facing destruction:

-The Terminator series future
-Bedknobs and Broomsticks (just kidding. this movie makes my skin crawl)
-Independence Day
-Deep Impact
-Armageddon
-The Happening
-2012
-The Road

I've certainly left quite a few off; these just came to mind.  Earlier examples would include The Day the Earth Stood Still, Mad Max, and others of that sort.

I could be mistaken, but of recent memory this topic seems quite cyclical.  Several years of normalcy, puppy dogs and ice cream, followed by a year or two of everyone going batshit crazy.  I remember news footage of piles of burning animal carcasses teeming with Mad Cow Disease, the Y2K mess, numerous Mayan, Incan, or Egyptian calendars telling us our turn was over, global pandemics, shortages of the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll, killer bees, and nuclear war if Matthew Broderick couldn't beat the computer at Tic-Tac-Toe.

I think we're all going to be fine.  The theme plays so well in fiction due to the fact that it allows for the emergence of heroes, love, and humanity.  It entertains the cliche that even the smallest, forgotten characters can make a difference in preventing the world from splitting in two and letting the planet's tasty cream filling ooze into the cosmos.  As a people, we've made it through real pandemics, built bunkers during the cold war, and watched the sun rise on the morning of January 1st, 2000.

Things might get weird, or downright scary.  But ultimately...I think we'll be fine.  Blind optimism, you may say.  That's fine with me.  You can wring your hands and line the bunker with another layer of lead, but I'll be inside with my lemonade wondering what is keeping the Nuggets from a legitamate shot at an NBA title.

(But I already know the answer to that.  The Black Mamba.  Maybe he'll retire one of these days...)