I Am Alone
December 27, 2007
We watched I Am Legend last weekend and I really liked it. In fact, I think this was the best Will Smith movie I have seen. He actually made a convincing performance as Robert Neville. I think he pulled off the act well and balanced a character on the brink of insanity, living in Manhattan all alone. The movie was much better than I could have hoped. And yes yes, the movie went a very different road than the book. In this day and age though, a movie about vampires just won’t cut it unless it’s a Whitewolf movie.
It did get me thinking about being alone. If I were completely alone in Osaka I would give myself at most 6 months before I went absolutely bonkers I think. The first few months would probably just be spent securing supplies and ensuring a certain standard of living. I would probably derive some entertainment from breaking into stores and then homes and rummaging through peoples’ lives for survival and to meet that social need. In absence of real social interaction I think holding and looking at things that remind us of interaction is a good substitute. (That’s why we carry photos of loved ones and reminisce of mom’s cooking).
The routine that was portrayed in the movie was probably something that could keep a person alive and going. Without the routine there would be no point in living. In the movie, Neville had his overriding goal of curing the disease. In my isolated life, there would be a need of some hope – perhaps meeting other people given X amount of time. Or perhaps knowing that people were alive at some certain location. Barring this, a bullet through the head would probably look very tempting.
For survival I would probably relocate next to the big department store near my house. There are many stores in the vicinity and it would be a central location for people to cluster around. Hell, I could probably live in the department store – there’s a sporting goods area that already has tents on display. They sell nice beds and lots of video games too.
Food would not be an issue in the first month or two – there’s a big supermarket at the basement. The biggest problem would be to preserve all the food that will spoil. Securing power generators will be important but considering my very limited experience with hardware like that, it would be a challenge to keep even evening lights on.
Entertainment would not be limited to video games and porn videos from Tsutaya. I think I would take up golf, like in the movie, only hitting golf balls off the highway onto houses. Hunting would be interesting but again, the lack of experience with firearms will certainly hinder that. Plus, there would initially be very little to hunt in Osaka, save for some rats and maybe some tiny songbirds.
I think the best part of this would be when I start going bananas due to the lack of social interaction. I think I’ll do what Will Smith did in the movie, start creating voices for inanimate objects. Punchy The Punching Bag would be my arch nemesis, Stickman the Walking Stick would be my sidekick and bail me out in times of great need, Flick the Switchblade would be my go-to-guy. The climax would be when I finally realize that Flick has been backstabbing me the whole time and Stickman jumps in front of the flying knife to save my knife. The end scene will be me fighting Punchy at the top of a buddhist pagoda.
January 9th, 2008 at 15:28
I knew you would enjoy the movie! I watched it too. It’s funny during one scene, when he strangles the dog, all the females in the movie theatre went “awwwww….” That was pretty sad though. I agree, one of the better, if not the best Will Smith movies. The Pursuit of Happiness is up there too.