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The Mist and mankind's ability to deal with the Uncanny

Lark

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I think the movie/story The Mist has a lot of different things to recommend it but I always really liked the conclusion and the point I felt it was making about hope vs despair.

Plot points for the movie follow:



This probably is type related but I was wondering what do you think is mankind's default when confronted with the truly uncanny like in this movie? Is it despair, insanity and death? Or do you think most people would be more likely to trust or be part of mankind prevailing against the odds? Why?
 

Maou

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I think the movie/story The Mist has a lot of different things to recommend it but I always really liked the conclusion and the point I felt it was making about hope vs despair.

Plot points for the movie follow:



This probably is type related but I was wondering what do you think is mankind's default when confronted with the truly uncanny like in this movie? Is it despair, insanity and death? Or do you think most people would be more likely to trust or be part of mankind prevailing against the odds? Why?

The ending in the movie was different than the book. I did like the movie ending more though.

I think humanity would adapt, and learn to survive against the odds. Mankind will have to return to survivalist thinking though. If humans are united against a common enemy, they tend to overlook or forgive past transgressions. So yeah, people would trust more to survive, especially if not confident in their own ability.
 

The Cat

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Depends on the person. But I think the point of the ending of the mist is to question what true horror is. The monsters who affect your survival or the choices you make and have to live with. Regardless of your ethics and what you feel is right in the moment. The world covered in mist filled with monsters or the one you see in the mirror when you make a mistake you can't come back from. Which is more horrific.
 

Pionart

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Uncanny doesn't necessarily mean bad.

The uncanny is associated with the deep unconscious; beyond the uncanny is the miraculous.
 
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The biggest thing I took away from the movie wasn’t the ending. Although the ending was unexpected and I did enjoy the movie overall.

It was the supermarket or department store madness that I found interesting. How ignorance about a situation drives people to madness as they grapple to fill in the blanks. How one lady in that store made a bad situation a lot worse by stirring up paranoia as she manipulated the crowd. It reminds me of Midnight, one of my favorite episodes of Dr. Who or Night of the Living Dead. The theme of normal people being put into unusual circumstances and how fear and stress can transform them into an ugly mob.
 

Obfuscate

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gotta agree with pop... the store was the location of the most interesting dynamics... i expect people to act a bit like that when things are fucked/isolated enough...
 

The Cat

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The biggest thing I took away from the movie wasn’t the ending. Although the ending was unexpected and I did enjoy the movie overall.

It was the supermarket or department store madness that I found interesting. How ignorance about a situation drives people to madness as they grapple to fill in the blanks. How one lady in that store made a bad situation a lot worse by stirring up paranoia as she manipulated the crowd. It reminds me of Midnight, one of my favorite episodes of Dr. Who or Night of the Living Dead. The theme of normal people being put into unusual circumstances and how fear and stress can transform them into an ugly mob.

Yeah. I'm with Pops and Ob on this one.
 

Lark

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The biggest thing I took away from the movie wasn’t the ending. Although the ending was unexpected and I did enjoy the movie overall.

It was the supermarket or department store madness that I found interesting. How ignorance about a situation drives people to madness as they grapple to fill in the blanks. How one lady in that store made a bad situation a lot worse by stirring up paranoia as she manipulated the crowd. It reminds me of Midnight, one of my favorite episodes of Dr. Who or Night of the Living Dead. The theme of normal people being put into unusual circumstances and how fear and stress can transform them into an ugly mob.

I read someone from the RCC press interviewed King about this movie once, apparently its choc full of religious themes deliberately, King said its meant to challenge a lot of stereotypes about religious people or thinking without denying that the bad sorts are actually, definitely a thing, which I sure thought.

Apparently the bit where that biker dude who appears like a real hard case says something like "I believe in God too, just not the blood thirsty douche you make him out to be" and then goes out into the Mist is pretty significant, or so said King, although that same dude dies. That and the fact the lady who leaves at the beginning can be seen riding back into town in the back of the troop carrier vehicle at the end.

There are themes about hope for sure, not despairing despite the odds.

The movie is also meant to showcase King's fear of spiders, insects and insectoide monsters. The Leech scene in Stand By Me is about that too.
 
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I read someone from the RCC press interviewed King about this movie once, apparently its choc full of religious themes deliberately, King said its meant to challenge a lot of stereotypes about religious people or thinking without denying that the bad sorts are actually, definitely a thing, which I sure thought.

Apparently the bit where that biker dude who appears like a real hard case says something like "I believe in God too, just not the blood thirsty douche you make him out to be" and then goes out into the Mist is pretty significant, or so said King, although that same dude dies. That and the fact the lady who leaves at the beginning can be seen riding back into town in the back of the troop carrier vehicle at the end.

There are themes about hope for sure, not despairing despite the odds.

The movie is also meant to showcase King's fear of spiders, insects and insectoide monsters. The Leech scene in Stand By Me is about that too.

I’m not very religious. That being said, I don’t automatically regard people that are as being zealots. There are degrees of belief coupled with degrees of mental stability. The lady in The Mist was obviously a character meant to represent a mindset more like that of a person living in the Middle Ages, where superstition held far more sway than science. I don’t find religion and science have to be mutually exclusive either. I don’t necessarily dismiss the possibility of a higher power.

I share Stephen King’s aversion to spiders. I hate the damned things!
 
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