Day of the Locust

Michael Garcia

10/29/03

Film

Disaster In Los Angeles (revision)

         

          The movies "Day of the Locust" and "Volcano," which are classified as disaster movies, can indicate that disaster is retaliation for immoral lifestyles to the inhabitants of the city of Angels. By not being careful with their everyday routines to make things safer, the people in the movies are not aware of the dangers, which inch closer and closer, until all hell breaks loose. The people who inhabit Los Angeles receive a rude awakening in both movies. Even though one of the movies creates a natural disaster and the other a “man” made disaster, they both demonstrate how the people are not responsive or prepared for something immense as what befalls  them. Los Angeles is not disaster prone, though the movies show how it is inevitable, which isn’t true.

To begin with, The movie “Volcano,” is “an apocalyptic scenario that seems to be unfolding, posing unbearable peril to the stranded protagonists”. Do I see it as a form of retaliation for immoral lifestyles? Yes, In that movie, gas spews out of the sewers which is very deadly, but the people who go further into the investigation did not have a clue that what was underneath them was a volcano ready to erupt and create widespread panic. The Metro company even builds the Redline underground, not aware of what danger is underneath . In the Review, it states that “The mayhem looks like a nuclear disaster, but it all turns out to be quite manageable.” The Inhabitants of Los Angeles did

not meet certain requirements to regulate the problems, which came in the end to bite them in the rear end. If you do not take care of something, it will not come out perfect like you imagine it to be.

            In the movie “Day of the Locust”, Homer Simpson is the key to the ignition that began the disaster. He would do anything for his girlfriend, Faye.

“Willing to relinquish all his money for Faye’s happiness, he houses her, [Faye] feeds her, clothes her, and allows himself to be abused by her to the point that Faye eventually despises him for his very spinelessness.” Faye takes advantage of Homer, while Faye is too blind to see that she is hurting him inside. Homer finally one night lets it all out and takes his retaliation on some annoying kid, who actually deserves to get hurt, but not killed. Eventually the whole city sees this, and widespread chaos ensues throughout the area. Homer as well gets brutally hurt, and in a way, the whole city is hurt by this one little incident. The review states, “For no ascertainable reason, the event turns into a riot, and fighting and bloodshed are rampant, not merely within the ranks of the spectatorsm but also against the film luminaries they have come to worship.” The violence grows and grows, each minute the people wanting more and more of aggression towards each other.

No one would tend to Homer’s problems and issues, so he kept things bottled up until he could no longer control it. People around him just left him alone, not wondering what he was capable of doing, which was create the disaster that sent the city to hell. Because of that, things would turn ugly and bloody, all over one night.

            Furthermore, Both disaster films relate to each other because both of them begin with something small that no one paid attention to. As time progresses, the people would soon find out that they are trapped in their own mistakes. That is when retaliation comes into play. It is like a punishment to let the inhabitants know that there are more things in life to tend to than just themselves. They need to be aware of what is going on around them, so no trouble will occur.

            Finally, to sum things up, revenge is obvious in both films, due to not paying the certain attention that was needed to prevent future pandemonium. With all the fighting, violence, explosions, it is hard to tame something as big as that. Los Angeles does not normally participate in disasters, yet the views of these 2 films make it seem that way. Even though the volcano eruption is not possible, it will give a visually memory of that certain place, which will lead to negative criticism by people who have never even been to Los Angeles. The people who already live in Los Angeles know that this is a nice place to inhabit, that what other people from other places think of Los Angeles is not all completely true. It is difficult to determine a place that you have never been to, which leaves them with a “foggy” view of it all. Although there are earthquakes and faults caused by the tectonic plates below and the shifting of plates, people here have adapted and grown to love Los Angeles, for all it has to offer. In conclusion, both of the movies portray revenge caused by immoral lifestyle and little effort to seek and solve the small problems which rose to create a “perilous plunge” in Los Angeles.