Let me preface this with…
**SPOILER ALERT FOR THE FILM “TOMORROWLAND”**
Mkay. At this point, I’m assuming that you have either watched the film, or you do not care about me spoiling the plot. Welcome.
First off, I was completely and positively surprised by the film. I had few expectations going in, and wrongfully assumed that it was going to be another cookie-cutter movie with predictable characters, recycled plot points, unimaginative thinking, etc etc etc. I think that the topics covered were mature and relevant. It wouldn’t hurt for parents to take their teenagers and children to go and see the film, and it wouldn’t hurt the cynics to go and watch it as well, for there is a lot of truth to it.
In short, Tomorrowland is an alternate dimension where the world’s most creative and intelligent people collaborate and (listen) invent technology that will benefit society. They find a particle that (hang with me. sci-fi) travels significantly faster than light, so it can travel both forward and backward in time and brings visions back with it. They see that the Earth is going to die in a series of catastrophic events. Instead of rushing to invent something to save it, they send a warning signal, watch as people disregard the warning, and then sit back to count down to the Earth’s destruction with the full knowledge that they will be safe in their alternate dimension. The protagonists are trying to change the fate of the world through optimism and hope.
My two critical points of the movie come from David Nix, antagonist, and Casey Newton, the protagonist. My third point comes from the Holy Spirit.
Point one. David Nix implants a vision of the world’s apocalypse in the minds of every human being on Earth. His hope is that when the people see everything that they know and love become completely destroyed they will suck it up and start fixing the problem. Here the film gets meta (in an epistemological sense). Upon receiving the vision of the apocalypse they “love it.” They repackage it. They celebrate it.
Sound familiar? Check a film that was released in the last month, “Mad Max.” It was quite good. It was also about a post-apocalyptic world, and I feel that the majority of movie-goers thought that it was fantastic and very cool. Also, the irony of Mad Max (we kill the world) vs Tomorrowland (we save the world) playing side-by-side in theaters is not lost on me. Check another recent and somewhat passing fad: zombies. For a decade or more my generation was completely enthralled with the thought of flesh-eating reanimated corpses (or a slightly different spin if you were a George Romero fan) and we contemplated our zombie survival strategies. I had many enthusiastic multi-hour long conversations in high-school and college with friends about surviving and apocalypse. We were very passionate about it.
On some level, it seems that we’re expecting the world to go to hell in a hand-basket. So what are we doing about it?… Some of us are celebrating the growing royal British family. Some are keeping up with the Kardashians. Some are celebrating the next new metal band (guilty). Some of us are chasing money that will sit in a bank account when we die…
Point two. Enter Casey Newton. An opening montage shows Casey sitting in class with her hand raised while multiple professors discuss the tragedies of the world. At the montage’s completion a professor calls on her and she asks,
“Can we fix it?”
What a concept. It is later revealed that Casey’s overwhelming optimism is the solution to the crisis. Instead of implanting the vision of apocalypse to scare the people into compliance, she instead wants to fill the world with hope and brilliant minds that will come together to prevent the oncoming disasters. The film ends with Casey and Frank giving a speech to the crowd (from a film-goers perspective, they are looking directly at you) about how the world needs to be saved and that it is to be done by us.
A person with an overactive conscience will feel as if the movie is a guilt-trip, and I will say with full disclosure that I felt convicted myself. I spend too many hours a week playing video games and watching movies. I have passions for writing and music and could be using these to spread knowledge and encouragement and hope.
I also genuinely felt like I wanted to go back to college and pursue my passions with geology and help the earth. Hot dang. I’m going to make a difference, guys!
Point three. Holy Spirit. My efforts as a geologist, and the efforts of the protagonists, are to save the Earth and the environment. Which is very important, and we are called to be stewards of the Earth (Lev. 25:23-24 is my favorite explanation of that), so do not misunderstand my next statement.
Tomorrowland’s message is for the hopeful future of the human race and our continued existence on this magnificent rock, but we as Christians should be more concerned with the souls of the people here.
The Holy Spirit asked me, “Why aren’t you concerned with the people?” I know that the Earth will die and God will call an end to his own creation and we will be taken to New Jerusalem or Hell, so why am I concerned with something so temporary?
I appreciate the message of “Tomorrowland” for sure. The meta nature of the film is clever, and the usage of self-fulfilling prophecy is clever and useful as well, but I would like to spin it on its side and encourage those who are called to witness.
We have the book of Revelation, which is our understanding of the end of the world. We know how it’s going to play out. However, we cannot change the ending through our optimism and actions. I’m not going to go into too much detail because I don’t want to incite an eschatological debate, but my main point is this:
We know that at the end of time we will be judged fairly for our sins, and those of us who accept Jesus’s payment for our sins will be judged righteous based on his sacrifice, and those who do not will live in eternal separation from God and be cast into a lake of fire, which is the second death. (Paraphrasing Revelations Ch. 20). We need to witness. We need to tell people about Jesus and eternal life.
The Earth of Tomorrowland has an apocalyptic future because they falsely perceive that the world will end and there is nothing that they can do about it. We are in the position, through God’s Holy Spirit and by his will, to be his messengers in proclaiming the gospel. Isn’t that fantastic? Isn’t that such an amazing opportunity that we should be emphatically pursuing this purpose?
I think so. Let this be an encouragement. Thank you, and God Bless.
