Instead, we’re brought to the brink of destruction. Unlike the original film, humans aren’t offered some distant threat to bring about change. And for all our tech and defence missiles – our perceived greatness – we can’t stop the inevitable. Devastatingly, this drops humans to the back of the line. Klaatu’s intervention reveals our delusions of grandeur by sanctifying and safeguarding animal life. Klaatu is here to save the planet from us. Helen’s shortsightedness similarly sets up the plot twist. Despite this, the US president’s final order is to destroy the orb in Central Park.Īs Secretary of Defence Jackson’s words reveal, we think of the planet as a possession: “our planet”. The military’s response to the swarm is to fire missiles into it, even though each strike makes it larger.When an engineer is trapped in the drill room his colleagues leave him to die. Ultimately, their attempt to fry it unleashes its biological weapon. Klaatu warns the automaton “activates in the presence of violence”, yet the army keeps trying to destroy it.A soldier shoots Klaatu even before knowing why he’s come to Earth.The film backs this up in a number of ways: The 1951 movie ends with a question: can humans change their ways before it’s too late? In the remake, the question is answered for us: humans are helplessly, insatiably destructive – and not worth saving. Klaatu’s message is that humans are prone to violence and destruction, and the Earth is paying the price. Like Knowing, it functions as an elegy for a doomed species. However, there’s another metaphorical sense of grief to this story. It may be scientific fact, yet given the film’s rampant religious imagery it feels more like a sell for the afterlife. Of course, in keeping with the film’s other spiritual parallels, Klaatu tells Jacob that: It’s only when he accepts the finality of death that Jacob can move on. Really, the refusal is another form of healing touch. Later, he begs for the redemption of resurrection when he pleads with Klaatu to bring his dad back.įor all the miracles Klaatu performs, however, the answer is an astonishing no. He struggles with loss, denies his emotional devastation, and takes out his anger on Helen (and Klaatu). In the meantime, Jacob’s character arc sees him move through a symbolic grieving process. The impending apocalypse first makes this much harder, then becomes the glue that fixes them. As a broken family their quest in the film is to reunite. As step-relations they’re not sure how they belong together heartbroken Jacob pushes away particularly hard. The Day the Earth Stood Still sells us a potent picture of apocalypse, ecological vandalism and human failings. In it, Klaatu dies and is resurrected by the automaton – a controversial move at the time. Klaatu as a Christ figure is common to the 1951 movie, too. And then – if we’re to believe Jacob’s closing remarks – he returns to the heavens. But at the eleventh hour, and after many prayers from Helen, Klaatu halts the extermination. Along the way, he raises the dead.Ī plague of insects kick-starts the apocalypse. But first, he herds the animals into arks for evacuation ( see also Knowing). The messenger comes bearing dread greetings: repent or die.īelieving that humans can’t be saved and won’t save themselves, Klaatu marks the species for destruction. So it is with The Day The Earth Stood Still, which borrows from biblical tales, images and prophesy.Īn intergalactic messenger is sent from the heavens to Earth where, like Jesus, he’s born in human form (Helen explains this ensures Klaatu can survive our environment). “Science” Fiction: the genre wears its secular credentials on its sleeve, and yet its stories repeatedly invoke religious messages and imagery. This article unpacks the metaphors and meanings of 2008 remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still – with spoilers. Then she learns his arrival marks the destruction of human civilisation – unless Helen and her son Jacob (Jaden Smith) can change his mind. Benson helps its pilot Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) escape. Can we survive if we don’t look after the Earth – and each other?Īstrobiologist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) is among a group of scientists summoned when an alien craft lands in Central Park. The 2008 remake of 50’s classic The Day The Earth Stood Still blends sci-fi speculation with modern-day environmental angst.
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