'I Am Legend,' starring Will Smith -- Spiritual Themes
Arts & Entertainment → Television / Movies
- Author Patrick Roberts
- Published January 8, 2008
- Word count 401
Any zombie movie has the potential to illustrate the ugliness of sin. Zombies are formerly pleasant, hard-working, mostly honest people who turn into animalistic, blood-thirsty goons. Apparently, anyone has the potential to be a zombie. Resident Evil, for example, explains zombification through latent brain waves that give the body enough energy to keep walking around, except only as senseless beasts. According to Resident Evil, people without restraints become monsters.
Zombie movies are ideal for scaring people because they portray an everyday world gone wrong. The people you thought you could trust are now clambering to tear out your larynx with their teeth.
I Am Legend does a particularly good job of demonstrating the spiritual implications of such a biological disaster. There are hints throughout the movie that keep God in forefront of the plot.
(Warning: The following paragraphs might spoil the film's plot if you've never seen it!)
In the beginning of the movie, Will Smith defends God's reputation, saying that people imposed this disaster on themselves. Later on, after he endures a few years of loneliness and fear in a civilization devoid of civilized people, he struggles with this conviction.
Toward the end of the movie a young Cuban woman saves his life and claims that God guided her to find him just in time. She goes on about how, if we only listen, we will hear God's voice. Out of pent up frustration from years of fruitless work, Smith shouts back to the woman that God doesn't exist. Before the end of the film, however, Smith thinks over the young woman's words and comes around again. In fact, his faith in God's divine plans is so dramatically restored that he sacrifices his life so the woman can escape with her son and the cure to the disease.
It is realistic that a man in Smith's situation would struggle with his faith. The fact that his remarkable experiences test and eventually solidify his faith makes the whole ordeal worthwhile.
A recurring theme is, "Where is God when bad things happen?" The answer from I Am Legend is, "We should not blame God for our mistakes." There are posters in deserted city scenes that say "God still loves us, do we love Him?" Another poster portrays of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, except where the man's hand used to be, reaching back out to God, there is a gun pointing back at God.
Patrick is an average Christ-seeker. His goal is to turn people to Jesus Christ. www.KoGmedia.com, www.BooksByPatrick.com
Article source: https://articlebiz.comRate article
Article comments
There are no posted comments.
Related articles
- “The Rise of the Antihero: From Tony Soprano to Joker.”
- “When the Camera Lies: The True Stories Behind Hollywood’s Greatest Myths.”
- “Chaos Behind the Camera: Legendary On-Set Feuds and Filmmaking Nightmares That Changed Hollywood Forever.”
- “Alternate Reels: How Cinema Might Have Changed if History Rolled Differently.”
- “Francis Ford Coppola: Genius and Chaos in the Making of a Hollywood Legend.”
- Why the ARRI Alexa Mini Still Outnumbers Every 4K Flagship on Professional Sets
- “Marlon Brando: The Actor Who Changed Hollywood Forever.”
- “The Genius and the Scandal: Woody Allen’s Films and the Shadows Behind Them.”
- “Leonardo DiCaprio: The Reluctant Star Who Redefined Hollywood Stardom.”
- “Behind the Curtain: The Private World of Raymond Burr.”
- “From Pixels to Projectors: How Video Games Reshaped Modern Cinema.”
- “The Art of the Slow Burn: Revisiting 1970s American Cinema.”
- “Riding the Ponderosa: The Enduring Legacy of Bonanza.”
- “Navigating Nostalgia and Novelty in The Matrix Resurrections.”
- “Sin and Celluloid: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Scandalous Films Before the Censors Arrived.”
- North by Northwest: The Movie That Made Danger Look Effortlessly Cool.
- “Beyond the Lens: How Women Directors, Producers, and Writers Are Reshaping Cinema.”
- “Riding the Ponderosa: The Enduring Legacy of Bonanza.”
- “Beyond the Gavel: Cinema’s Most Compelling Courtroom Dramas.”
- Denzel Washington: Crafting a Legacy of Strength, Gravitas, and Change.
- “Blood, Power, and Legacy: The Godfather Trilogy’s Triumphs and Tragedies.”
- Visionaries Beyond Tomorrow: The Five Directors Who Reimagined Sci-Fi Cinema.
- “Greta Gerwig and the Rise of Women Behind the Camera in Hollywood.”
- “The Crown of Cinema: From Citizen Kane to The Godfather.”
- The Evolution of James Bond: Six Decades of Cinema’s Most Enduring Spy.
- The Man Behind the Cape: The Life and Tragic Fall of George Reeves.
- The 24-290 mm Paradox: Why a 12× Zoom from 2001 Still Outresolves Today’s 8K Sensors
- The 100 mm Paradox: Why the “Boring” Focal Length Is Quietly Becoming the Most Dangerous Tool on Set
- The Invisible Science Behind the "Natural" Look: How Modern Optics Quietly Rewrite Cinematic Language
- Mastering Smooth Transitions: How Crane Systems Shape Emotional Storytelling