I don’t like the film and I neither like Roland Emmerich as a director. But because I’m writing here about ruins, decay and destruction and the iconographic interpretation of it, I cannot prevent to write at least some few words about this nuisance.
First I’m annoyed with what great delight Emmerich celebrates (once more) the destruction of the world. Now it’s not only Godzilla (1998) trampling down New York or wicked aliens blasting away the capitals of the world like in Independence Day (1996). Neither the destruction of half of the world like in The Day After Tomorrow (2004) is enough. All this is kid’s stuff compared to the new apocalypse. Now Emmerich is tearing continents apart and engulfing the Himalayas. And nobody should think that all these disasters are a kind of warnings, how Emmerich sells them sometimes, it’s pure lust of destruction, always more, bigger and faster. Maybe he will trample down the whole universe in his next movie.
But what bothers me most, is that all these films have lost the good old grace of narration. There’s no time for a global warming or freezing, for the continental drift, all has to happen like Mission Impossible in some hours, maybe some days or weeks. Means that there is no story, there is only a hollow spectacle. Maybe that’s the real apocalypse which Emmerich is showing us.
Rio de Janeiro is underwater but good looking people have still a lot of fun, on their yachts.
In flooded New York there is also nice weather, so that people use the rooftops of the skyscrapers for sunbathing.
Even foggy London became a tropical island.
"Rebel" is A graphic novel by the Spanish comic book artist Pepe Moreno. Rebel was first published in Heavy Metal magazine in 1985 and then in the following year as a graphic novel.
So it was done long before 9/11. And though Moreno left great parts of the Twin Towers standing he converted other parts of Manhattan in ruins. Anyway his illustrations seem really prophetic compared to later photos.
These two paintings are by the American painter and illustrator Michael Whelan (born in 1950). He is a well known science fiction and fantasy illustrator who produced hundreds of book covers. Like many artists in this business he knows quite well to use ruins and decay in his work.
I don’t like the film and I neither like Roland Emmerich as a director. But because I’m writing here about ruins, decay and destruction and the iconographic interpretation of it, I cannot prevent to write at least some few words about this nuisance.
On his website he writes about this series: "This project’s aim is to reflect upon the fragility of human projects, and comes from two different ideas. Firstly, the idea that our civilization (as any previous civilization) will come to an end and, secondly, at a formal level, the treatment of ruins in romantic painting. In the 18th century, many painters aiming to improve their knowledge of Greek and Roman civilizations, traveled across different European cities, documenting the remains of these civilizations. In this project I have used the same three elements as them: ruins– vegetation- painter, with one key difference, which is the originality of this work: here, the traveler does not admire the remains of a previous civilization, but travels to the future to see what is left of his own."
