{"id":2858,"date":"2010-08-28T22:58:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-28T22:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/08\/the-road\/"},"modified":"2010-08-28T22:58:00","modified_gmt":"2010-08-28T22:58:00","slug":"the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/08\/the-road.html","title":{"rendered":"The Road"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I finally saw the movie The Road<\/a>\"\"<\/span> recently. It offers a profoundly disturbing depiction of a post-apocalypse world<\/a> in which scarcely any living thing has survived other than humans, and even though many humans have died either by starvation or suicide, others try to continue to survive, whether by scavenging for any food they can find, or by turning to cannibalism.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>\"\"<\/span>Perhaps what is most disturbing for the typical viewer is that scarcity has reduced life in the United States to a horrific struggle merely to find food, and to evade those who would at least rob you and more likely eat you. It is a situation that turns even those who want to be \u201cgood guys\u201d into people who do horrendous things to other human beings. And the reason this is so disturbing is because it situates in a fictional future North America something that is a reality in some places today. Food doesn\u2019t grow, people starve, and pain is a daily reality.<\/p>\n

In my opinion, what is most disturbing is not this vision of the future itself, nor the reality that our societies have created weapons that could leave the world in a state like the one the film depicts, nor the fact that nature is ultimately beyond our control and could wipe us out or leave us barely surviving where once we thrived. What is most disturbing is that aspects of the future the movie envisages are already part of life for many human beings, and those of us who are wealthy compared to most of humankind (that includes most people reading this blog) are doing just what the \u201cbad guys\u201d in the movie do: survive while others starve, or even take their lives or livelihood\u00a0as part of our attempt\u00a0to ensure our own survival, if not indeed prosperity.<\/p>\n

If you watch it, you\u2019ll be horrified, but in a challenging way. It asks us to ponder what we\u2019ll do to avoid ruining our world and our future. It asks us to ponder who we\u2019d become if we lived in such a world. And it may even force us to realize that the questions it raises are relevant to the present and not merely an imaginary future, and may challenge us to act to change the world<\/a> we live in.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more that could be said. It has many similarities to the world depicted in The Book of Eli<\/a>\"\"<\/span>. And like The Book of Eli and arguably all science fiction, it is not devoid of religious themes, topics, and symbols.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I finally saw the movie The Road recently. It offers a profoundly disturbing depiction of a post-apocalypse world in which scarcely any living thing has survived other than humans, and even though many humans have died either by starvation or suicide, others try to continue to survive, whether by scavenging for any food they can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Road<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I finally saw the movie The Road recently. 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