Why
We Chose To
Build This Page
Forced By
Teachers, or Inspiration
From a
Higher Power?
Things started changing
for people in the latter half of the 1990's. As the human race approached the
dawning of the new millennium, the fear of human beings towards the coming of
the Apocalypse became more apparent. This is not to assume that these feelings
have never existed until now, but that they became more openly prevalent within
society. With the impending Y2K bug assumed to be able to end life as we knew
it, many people decided to store canned goods and bottled water in the hopes of
surviving on their own. Believe us, one of these people is in this very group
today (and living quite comfortably, we might add).
Human beings have always held a strange fascination with the
unknown, whether it be tales of horror, occurrences of witchcraft, or the force
with which Organized Religion entrances most people. As the supposed end of the
world came upon us, most looked to the words of a higher power to reach
solstice in their lives - most prevalently, the Book of Revelation and the Book
of Daniel as contained within the Bible. By looking towards what was on the
other side of ordinary life as we knew it - namely, the salvation of the
innocent and the promise of heavenly rewards and eternal life, people began to
question what, indeed, was it that brought us here in the first place
(Strangely enough, the common obsession with vampirism stems from some of the
same beliefs).
The way in which we, as people, feel most free in the
expression of our ideas, thoughts, and beliefs has always been best evidenced
within the creative arts. In the 16th century, this fear of the end times was
tackled by Hans Burgkmair in the form of paintings, while, in the 19th
century, Gustave Dore found solace in his woodcuttings. Both artists used
the most innovative technique available at the time to imagine what the end of
the world would be like as stated in the Christian Apocalyptic texts.
Today we have a new breed of artist, crafting both words and
pictures to imagine the ferocity with which the end times will come upon us:
the filmmaker. Whether they be brothers, a Frenchman drawing upon a surreal
childhood dream, or a pair of college dropouts who once spent their days
writing musicals revolving around cannibalism, the fear which the millennium
and its self-assuring doom struck in their hearts was captured in the form of
artwork. These souls, like those who lived before them, used the most
innovative medium available for art today - the feature-length film. In doing
so, they reached out not only towards grasping personal fears, but towards the
millions who saw these films as well. Whether these images were genuinely
effective in altering the normal thought process of the audience or the message
was laid by the wayside as subservient humor, all deal with images of a world
to come, and inspired thought as to what the approaching millennium would
bring.
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