When I saw the movie trailer for 2012, the motion picture seemed to me to be more about a lot of action/blow-them-up scenes than any real plot. Because of that, I decided to hold off on seeing the movie until it came out on DVD.
Then I read certain comments by Roland Emmerich, the director of the movie, which gave me other reasons not to see 2012. When discussing why he had not blown up the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure in the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Emmerich advised scifiwire.com that:
- “Well, I wanted to do that (blow up the Kaaba), I have to admit,” Emmerich says. “But my co-writer Harald said I will not have a fatwa on my head because of a movie. And he was right. … We have to all … in the Western world … think about this. You can actually … let … Christian symbols fall apart, but if you would do this with [an] Arab symbol, you would have … a fatwa, and that sounds a little bit like what the state of this world is. So it’s just something which I kind of didn’t [think] was [an] important element, anyway, in the film, so I kind of left it out.”
Much as he indicated, Emmerich spared the Kaaba in the movie, but had no qualms about destroying a number of Christian religious symbols in 2012. In Hollywood-blow-them-up fashion he trashed the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica in Italy and Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro.
So I guess I’m boycotting Emmerich’s 2012 movie for a couple of reasons.
The first reason: If it’s disrespectful to destroy religious symbols for the purpose of fictional stories, then maybe Emmerich should respect all religions and not just those that might threaten harm to him.
The second reason: As long as we kowtow to extremists because they might do us harm, we’re actually encouraging them to continue with those practices. It’s the typical bully in the schoolyard scenario, although unfortunately these bullies have big bombs. As long as you let the bully continue to beat you down or threaten to beat you down, he’s in control. When you stand up to bullies, you end the power of their threats and intimidation.
Mr. Emmerich, I won’t put a fatwa on your head and hurt you physically because I’m a good Christian and don’t believe in that kind of thing. But I will put one less penny in your pocket.
What are your feelings on this? Do you think what Emmerich did was right?