End of Days
The Millennium has had a wide variety of effects on our popular culture, which is evident by how the ideas about the millennium are encoded, perpetuated, and disseminated to a mass adiuence. A large protion of ideas about the millennium are circulated to the population through the use of movies and film. To this end, one movie, entitled "The End of Days", which was released in December 1999, is an excelent portyal of the American reaction to the Millennium in general. "The End of Days" illustrates many of the fundamental topics relavent to the Millennium, such as the concept of End Time, religion, apocalyptic violence, and culture. To the general aduience, the synposis of the movie "The End of Days" which is publized by its producers, Universal Pictures, reads as follows: "Jericho Cane (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a beaten down ex- cop, is the reluctant hero of "End of Days." a chilling, horrific thriller set at the cusp of the millennium. When the ultimate personification of evil is unleashed upon the world, Cane is unwittingly drawn into a heart-stopping supernatural game of cat and mouse. Now as the countdown to the end of days approaches, all that stands in the way of man
kind's destruction is the salvation of one woman, whose fate comes to rest in Cane's shaky hands." Many of the expert film critics would have you believe that the "End of Days" is a horribly bad motion picture. However, it is more watchable than some critics would have you believe. For example, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the "End of Days" a slightly above -average overall rating but added that "Movies like this are particularly vulnerable to logic." Ebert's statement holds true because it is the intention of mass media to encode the popular culture's fears and ideas pertaining to the millennuim as entertainment so that it is excepted by masses. In doing this, mass media influences the popular culture by instilling their own thoughts on the matter. Furthermore, by disseminating popular culture's reservations about the milllennium through the illusion of entertainment, it is my opinion that mass media lessens the fears and anxieties of the popular culture surrounding the millennium. The first scene, emphasizes the fundamental concept of religion since "The End of Days" begins at the Vatican in 1979 with the declaration being made that the chosen one is about to be born. It is here where the struggle of good verse evil begins, as there is a brief debate between Vatican officials as to whether or not to kill the chosen one at the time of her birth or to protect and shelter her from evil. The debate of this matter ends when the Pope himself decides that she most be protected and sheltered from evil, because as he states, "In killing her we will sin, and there is no redemption for those who violate the laws of God". He continues by adding that their faith must lie with God to save them. With this the most basic and primial struggle of mankind, almost instantiniously thars the adieunce into the mindset of the classic Good verse Bad scenario. Furthermore, a couple critics even went as far as to say that the "End of Days" stimulated the viewer to discover the meaning of faith in our own lives, pointing out that the "End of Days" gives great warning to all that the devil is real and will sneak upon you when you are not careful. These concepts play into the popular cultures fears and anxieties but at the same time, instill a sense of hope for mankind. Overall the "End of Days" plot played on the reservations many people hold in regards to the millennium through the use of biblical notations and passages, as well as excellent special effects. Moreover, it reflects a number of the religious uncertainties and concerns the individuals of popular culture face at the end of the millennium. A number of criticisms regarding the "End of Days" have resulted from the film's gory, dark, and lustful imagery. Nevertheless, these images are essential to the film since they are the visual aids used by the mass media to encode the messages of popular culture's concerns with the millennium, which are therefore important to the film overall, seeing as the "End of Days" would have less of an impact on the mass audience without all the vivid and somewhat disguising images. Consequently, the dark imagery is necessary to the "End of Days" for the reason that it is used to create a very real representation of the Devil an
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2185
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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