I like made-for-TV disaster flicks even more than feature films because they have nutty juxtaposition with the commercials running every frigging 10 minutes. Tonight's End of the World is brought to you by Charmin and Lubriderm. Nothing's more important than a wiped ass and smooth skin! (Perhaps there's something to that.)
I like disaster novels too. The disasters don't have to be so-called "natural" either - I'm thinking of "The Big U" by Neal Stephenson and, my all-time top-of-the-list "The Stand" by Stephen King. With a novel, you can stop reading for a minute and imagine what you would do if you found yourself in that situation. What if I were the Frannie character in "The Stand"? I'd like to end up with someone like Stu, but would I really want to leave the Free Zone with a newborn and one on the way just so I could go back to Maine, where there's nothing but dead, rotting people and deer in the supermarkets? Not so much. Plus, I'm not from Maine, so that wouldn't make sense.
But I *have* thought about what I would do if I somehow managed to survive a world epidemic or nuclear war... and while it's pretty unlikely that my constitution is strong enough to avoid a medical thing, chance is chance, and there's no telling who would be left behind.
(Speaking of "Left Behind" - have you read the ultimate disaster story? Written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, it's the in-your-time story of the Rapture. Hey - it's a good story even if you don't believe in that stuff.)I'd like to believe that I would make good decisions and lead people to safety, but truth to tell, I'd probably be so freaking scared that I would follow the first person who came along that seemed to have a good idea. Of course, I would realize almost-too-late that the earthy messiah was a David Koresh-wanna be and I'd have to concoct a crazy scheme to run away, taking the non-believers with me.
I'm starting to think I've seen too many disaster flicks...
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