It may not be apparent to the average viewer, but Will Smith claims the protagonist in his newest movie is like the biblical character, Job – as in the Job whom God allowed to be nearly ruined by Satan.
In I Am Legend, which opens Dec. 14, Smith portrays Legend, the last man on Earth, a military scientist who survives a biological pandemic that has apparently turned the rest of humanity into night-crawling vampire zombies. Legend spends his daylight hours trying to concoct an antidote to vampirism and retiring to his locked and loaded Greenwich Village brownstone at night when the “freaks come out for blood.”
The movie is the third big-screen iteration of celebrated Twilight Zone writer Richard Matheson’s popular 1954 science fiction novella of the same name, The Last Man on Earth.
For Smith, who says he has felt compelled to have his movies “mean something” since topping the box-office chart with his inspirational father-son drama, The Pursuit of Happiness, last year, the movie was a splashy way to pose certain big existential questions: Can a person find a reason to continue when everything has been taken away? Can someone find the hope or desire to excel and advance in life? Or does the death of everything around him create imminent death for himself?
Do you explore these types of “big questions” with your students? If so, how? If not, why? Do you think movies like Last Man on Earth are more helpful or harmful for students’ spiritual development? Would you use a horror film to explore biblical themes with your students?
