The Village (movie) : WARNING SPOILER INSIDE

by Oroborus21 8 Replies latest jw friends

  • Oroborus21
    Oroborus21

    WARNING THIS POSTING CONTAINS SPOILER INFO ABOUT THE NEW MOVIE, THE VILLAGE. IF YOU PLAN ON SEEING THE MOVIE AND DON'T LIKE TO KNOW STUFF IN ADVANCE STOP READING NOW......

    Greetings!

    I saw M. Night Shyamalan's new movie, The Village, today. (his movies are sometimes good like Signs and Sixth Sense or terrible like Unbreakable).

    The central premise of the story is that this community is created by a group of persons who are attempting to escape from modernity and the associated ills (and "heartache") of contemporary life. They thus have created a wildlife sanctuary where they can preserve their way of life, isolated and frozen in an early American period of about the 1820's or so. It is for them a spiritual and physical refuge from the evil persons that live in the "towns." This village is located deep in the woods and separated far from the "towns." In the woods surrounding the village dwell dangerous creatures of horror. There is a very strict boundary line. The villagers do not enter the woods and in turn the creatures do not enter the village and leave the residents unmolested.

    This is all a facade of course. The creatures do not really exist. They are a concoction of the Elders that serves to instill fear and keeps the young and uninitiated from wandering away from the Village and by extension away from discovering the truth of the situation.

    So readers of this board by now see where I am going by this. As I was watching this movie, which was highly enjoyable by the way, I couldn't help but think of the way the leadership of the Organization create various bogeymen for exactly the same purposes as in the movie. They have good intentions no doubt but we have to wonder about the morality of imposing one's view by not presenting a choice by saying "We have this life here and there is that life out there. Now that you are old enough, it is your choice as to which is best for you."

    It reminds me of the concept of Rumspringa among the Amish which I just learned about thanks to Fox's Amish in the City, which as far as the first episode went was kind of interesting and not half bad at all. This is probably not true for all Amish sects but apparently some allow for a time period where those that have grown up as Amish children and teens may be free to experience modern living and even to pursue and engage in activities and things that may even be contrary to acceptable conduct and belief. At some point whether they choose to participate in Rumspringa or not or to whatever extent they engage in modern living or these unacceptable activities, these Amish youth are presented with a choice to take their vows and suscribe fully to the Amish life or not.

    Although Jehovah's Witness youth don't live as restricted a life as Amish youth, I think the concept is a right one. We are often very proud to tout that we do not practice infant baptism, etc. but is this enough? Probably not when the reality is that we practially compel our young to accept the JW life and we often encourage them to do it at fairly young ages. In my opinion, no one under the age of 21 should be permitted to enter into the contract of baptism as a Jehovah's Witness. And going further, the concept of actually encouraging a Rumspringa like period of growth and experience should be embraced.

    No doubt many would say that is just crazy to say to young persons hey go have fun, get wild, etc. They will say that will just lead to bad consequences and association, etc. (sex, drugs & rock n roll)

    But my response is simple. First, young persons predisposed to going off and doing these things are going to do them anyway and there is little that you can do to physically prevent it. Secondly, for those not predisposed and even those that are tempted by these things, if as a parent you have really done your job in instilling in your child positve values, strong self-esteem, a healthy appreciation for moderation in all things, a foundation of trust and communication and above all the discernment that for every choice they make there is a conquence, then as a young adult they should make choices that should at at least not be self-destructive or overly harmful and might even make you proud.

    any thoughts anyone?

    -Eduardo

  • fleaman uk
    fleaman uk

    Is it rue that Amish youth are allowed to "sow theyre wild oats"for a period of time and then are allowed back ?

    I remember seeing a TV prog about it once i think.

  • JBB
    JBB

    What blew me away was the fact these people did not really live in the late 1800 as you were led to believe at first, but some how made their way to a wild life preserve that existed in our day and age. And of course M. Night had to do one of his famous cameos that he has done in all his movies. If you want to know when his cameo appearances were, just send a post and I will give the information

  • MegaDude
    MegaDude
    As I was watching this movie, which was highly enjoyable by the way, I couldn't help but think of the way the leadership of the Organization create various bogeymen for exactly the same purposes as in the movie. They have good intentions no doubt

    Where would you possibly get that idea? The only read I get on any intention of the Gov. Body is that they are desperate to keep a hold on their power and thus refuse to drop some extremely harmful policies that hurt their members.

  • Oroborus21
    Oroborus21

    Hey JBB,

    I guess you didn't make the connection between the last name of the girl and the name of the preserve as seen on the fence signs and on the ranger's uniform. They were the same. The Elders, the people from the same counseling group, led by the former professor are the ones that set up this trust, this preserve, it is not like they just wandered into it and set up camp. This was a construct from the beginning. ONly the young and older ones who had been born there were unaware.

    The only thing is that the village consisted of more families than the original 6 couples plus Sigourney Weaver and more kids of various ages than is possible to have and raise since the 1950s-early 60s so that is either just something we are supposed to overlook or else we must assume that others joined the original counseling group and are in on it too.

    And yes I spotted M. Night in the reflection too. At least he was clever this time.

    -ed

  • joannadandy
    joannadandy

    I just had to comment on the Amish thing, Rumpspringa, which ex-jw's often seem to equate with, "Wow that's cool why couldn't we have something like that"

    Rumspringa is not nearly as great as it would seem. Much like the JW rhetoric of, "We don't make anyone do anything they don't want to, it's their choice", we as ex-jw's all the fine print of those statements which is, "as long as you do what we want you to".

    Most Amish kids get to dabble a little. But it is not nearly the earth shattering and all encompassing chance at liberty and freedom. Most of them don't even make it 100 miles from home. Much like disfellowshipped people, they have no support nor any skills to hack it in the real world, and many of them return, unaware of what might have been.

    Back to the topic...

    As soon as I saw the movie, I knew there would be posts about it comparing it to the JW's. I think Shamalan was trying to make it more of an allegory about present government than anything else. Anyone notice the main elder's name is Walker? Hmm...who could that be?! I didn't really enjoy it. I was expecting more of a scare fest and creepy thriller than a preachy piece. It wasn't bad, but it seems like he is trying too hard. Plus I kind of figured out the ending after the first few scenes anyway.

  • WildHorses
    WildHorses

    We just got back from seeing it. It reminded me of religion in that they used fear to control.

  • roybatty
    roybatty

    Yes! That movie did remind me of the "Organization." They both SUCK! Don't waste your money on either.

  • Preston
    Preston

    I think rather than a statement on religion I think the movie acknowledges broader themes of using fear to contol people. I don't consider "The Village" to be a movie that uses suspense to its advantage (its not a scary movie at all). However, (SPOILERS ahead) Once you get past the surprise of the movie, you see how the "Elders" removed themselves from the modern world of death, murder, rape, war, to create in their minds the perfect utopian society, and yet their whole plan backfires when what they have left is a population living in fear of ambiguous threats, marks on doors, and skinned livestock. The Elders used those fear tactics to limit human rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness, Noah's envy of Lucius results in greed, attempted murder, his eventual death, and other things as well. Young children die of sickness and lack of modern day necessities because the all-knowing Elders are too proud to risk their way of life.

    Plus, as the Elders get a retrospective look at what their society has done (i.e. death, heighened fear) they fail to realize their planned utopia is hell on earth. The villagers continue to die, murder, and get sick.

    If there is one main theme of the movie its the question of "Can we really escape the horrors of this world?" The answer is no. So maybe we should learn from the mistakes of modern society and put our efforts into contributing to the betterment of life here and now, Instead of escaping into a utopia where we deceive ourselves into thinking that everythings okie-dokie.

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