2012: The Aftermath Film Review

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In Roland Emmerich’s 2009 disaster movie ‘2012’ the earth is sent into a geological and meteorological super-disaster based on the 2012 phenomenon and the Mayan calendar myth. This involves shifting in the earth’s plate tectonics, the total collapse of L.A, destruction of famous landmarks and worldwide flooding. Due to a lucky break three massive arks were being secretly built in China for 3 years under the jurisdiction of the highest powers in the world.
Following their ‘parody’ of the biblical “Noah’s Ark” story two of every animal on earth were brought and stowed in the arks for the impending hit and only a select group of the earth’s ‘elite’ were boarded; after surviving the final flood that signaled the restart of civilization the arks set course for Africa where the waters had begun receding. But what happened after the ships sailed off into the horizon? How will life continue on? What happened to all the plant-life? Where will the animals go? How will the animals survive and continue on? Where will everyone go and how will civilization start itself up?

Animals
I noticed in the movie that there were allot of clear comparisons to “Noah’s Ark” in which the world is ending by a great flood and the last vestiges of humanity are saved by giant boats. In one of the scenes during the end of the film, as our ragtag team of survivors is trekking across the Himalayan Mountains, a group of helicopters fly overhead each carrying one animal. Now, if the movie is going all out with its comparisons, combined with the limited amount of space for both people and animals, there will have only been enough space for two animals each. This is later confirmed in a later scene inside one of the ark’s holds where you can only see two ...

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...ived. While aquatic plants would most likely survive, land plants can die very quickly.
Even then, assuming that seeds survived, the conditions would almost certainly not have been amenable for the regrowth of vegetation. The masses of silt and debris would have been fairly uniform across the world - the flood was global, remember? - yet different plants have adapted for different conditions and different soil types. In order to reproduce and spread, many plants need a symbiotic relationship with animals or insects for pollination and seed dispersal. Often this can be remarkably specific, with only one species of plant working with one species of insect. While some plant species can pollinate and disperse seed just with the wind, an environment reduced to only a few individuals spread across the entire planet, in hostile conditions, is hardly conducive to this.

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