Our love of death
I went to watch Transformers last night and whilst I thoroughly enjoyed it, it did get me thinking. What is our fascination with dying? Any expert will tell you that for a story to succeed (in a movie, book or song) there must be a protagonist. We have to fight against something – always. The bigger the battle (aliens work well) and the higher the death toll the more fun we have.
I must say that the trailer for GI.Joe promises wonder. I’ve always had a deep love for anything magical or superhuman and when they get the CGI right heaven itself cannot compare. But still – why are we so entertained with epic battles and horrifying deaths? Every single part of our lives are governed by conflict. We battle our minds, our hearts and our souls. We battle in our relationships. We battle in our jobs. Lately we battle aging.
Countries stockpile weapons in case another country attacks, and then sign treaties to ensure no one actually ever does. I wonder if we would ever be able to live without conflict? And here is the mystery of humanity: we fight against the need to fight. Everyone (ok most everyone) wants peace between man and woman, between the races, between religions, between us and the Earth yet our entertainment has always been violent in nature.
From the gladiator arenas to modern day horror movies and terrorism our evolution has had violence holding our hand every step of the way.
I think perhaps we need to first decide if we actually want to stop fighting, and then maybe we will.
