Why We Can’t Leave the World Behind
Reflections and Comments on the Netflix Movie or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Others
Netflix’s recent streaming movie, Leave the World Behind is a divisive dive into the terrifying truth that no one is in control. SPOILER ALERT, if you have not seen this movie, please watch and return if you don’t want anything ruined. Better yet, if this leads you to read Rumaan Alam’s book of the same name, then kudos to you!
It seems as if fewer and fewer movies leave a lasting impression after the credits roll, but Sam Esmail’s apocalyptic drama is certainly highly ranked as haunting watch. Esmail, famous for creating, directing, and writing the USA Network series, Mr. Robot, brings a family to a Long Island rental home, away from the Brooklyn hustle. It is a sudden decision by Amanda Sanford (Julia Roberts) to flee from their worries because she says, “I fucking hate people.” She packs for her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) and their two children and, without excuses, away they go to a beautiful estate, one even impressive for their upper middle-class tastes. But this is where their attempted escape from the world is thwarted.
First off, the two children, Archie and Rose, are constantly on their devices as teens often are. Older sibling, Archie, is trying to keep in contact with a female friend and Rose is addicted to the 90’s sitcom Friends. She even asks to visit Central Perk Coffee as seen in the show, but her father tells her that it’s just a stage set. Even though the teens claim that their parents allow them unlimited screen time when they are on vacation, something slowly wipes out the internet and all digital communication. The irony is that their desire “to leave the world behind” is something that is forced on them by a mysterious malicious event. No matter how hard, the Sanfords can’t seem to leave the world behind.
Unless a person becomes religious ascetic, abandoning the world is not an easy option. In the first century, the Essenes were a Jewish sect that lived in the desert, apart from society to anticipate their Teacher of Righteousness. Various Christian sects have also tried this escape, with various degrees of disengagement. This depends on how we define the word “world.” The world is our society. It is our culture. It is the planet. Likewise, in biblical literature, there are several different uses for the word. When the apostle Paul uses the word “world” he is talking about the demonic forces, or the “rulers and principalities.” It is him talking about systematized evils. When the Gospel writer John speaks about world he talks about how “God so loved the world.” This world is the Greek word cosmos. It is the universe, all of existence. This is the realm of people who are created by God and where God chose to reside as the divine logos: “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” The world could not see the creator in the creation, which is completely understandable. So, the “world” is something quite different for one Gospel writer than it is for the Apostle Paul. What we can make is that the early Christians had mixed feelings about the “world” they lived, depending on how they saw it.
The world is one we live in. As the planet itself, it is good. It gives us resources. It is the place life emerged some 3.7 billion years ago. It contains systems and societies that produced culture, invention, and artistry. It is also the same world that has produced countless wars, prejudice, and bigotry of all kinds. When two Black people, who happen to be well dressed, knock on the door of their vacation house, Amanda is immediately suspicious. G.H. (George) Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter, Ruth (Myha’la Herrold), came back to their home after experiencing a blackout during a concert in Manhattan.
One cannot help but think that if the two late night visitors were nicely dressed white people, then Amanda would not have a problem. But she immediately gives them an inquisition and even after George proves to her time and time again, they eventually are relegated to staying in the basement of their own home. Albeit this is the nicest basement apartment I’ve ever seen, the thought that one had to live in the guest house of one’s own home is unfathomable. Clearly, Amanda could not leave her biases behind. We know she hates people, but it seems as if her hatred is not equal. However, George eventually wins her over with his natural charms, even to the point of an awkward embrace.
George is expecting his wife to return on a trip and his worry for her outweighs his need for any fling with a renter. As the world spirals downward, George and Ruth seem to ones who keep their cool, perhaps George more than Ruth. George even risks his own life trying to help the Sanfords’ son, Archie, get medical care after being bit by an infectious tick. Ruth assists Amanda to find her runaway daughter Rose, even after many uncomfortable exchanges. When the Sanfords seek to leave the house at one point, George encourages them not to depart fearing things might be worse in the city. After the Sanfords return, George welcomes them back and end up sleeping in the basement again! The Scotts who are evidently much wealthier than the Sanfords continue to be hospitable host to the ungrateful and distrusting Sanfords. Both humanity’s flaws and humanity’s beauty can be seen in the relationship between these two families.
No one is in control. This is the conclusion that George shares with Amanda when he tells the story of one of his high-profile clients. George is a financial advisor to some influential people and one very wealthy person even jokes about being part of an elitist cabal. But when he makes a final call to George to move large sums of money around, the client admits that no one is pulling the strings on that level. Something much larger than them is at work. Whether or not this is a commentary about QAnon or other conspiracy groups is unclear, but what is certain is the critique of the notion of a single causality to things that happen. Whether it is the Covid-19 or a stock market crash or a war between countries, seldom there is one clear cause. The world is much more complex than that, but amid uncertainty, our minds want to connect dots where both dots and connections don’t exist. A single explanation (or single narrative) is akin to a conspiracy theory.
When the character Danny showed up played by Kevin Bacon, I erupted in immediate laugher. This is the same Kevin Bacon that we play the six degree of separation game with. Everyone is connected to Kevin Bacon and therefore we can trace it all back to a single source. That’s the conspiracy web. Naturally, Danny is a prepper who is stocking up on cases of water and supplies, knowing that the end of the world is coming. Being a doomsday preparer and conspiracy theorist are often stereotyped in the same person. Danny says it’s either the Chinese or North Koreans without an ounce of evidence. When he is told by Clay that he received a flyer in Arabic that says, “Death to America,” Danny quickly dismisses it. Confirmation bias runs deep for conspiracy theorists.
Rose’s Friends addiction fueled her need to leave her parents in search of a conclusion to the series storyline. Ruth recognizes this on Rose’s iPad and comments that it is a need for nostalgia, of a time long past. I could remember watching episodes of friends in the 90s in my graduate apartment with my roommates. My world was nothing like the world of the sitcom and I wonder if any world was like that world. Whether the 90s or 50s or some other era, there is no going back again. Even the Eastern Father, Irenaeus of Lyons said that the Kingdom of God is not like the Garden of Eden and that going back to that mythical paradise was not the goal. For Christians, there was never movement to “make Eden great again.” It was a bygone time and leaving and moving forward was now the aim. But many of us think that those times can be somehow recaptured through culture wars and policy making, that Christendom could be re-established through nationalism and fascism. While our reptilian brains might want to return to the comfort of the past, the individual and society is rewarded for progress and innovation, however painful and slow. The inability to grieve the perceived or real losses of the past, keeps many from embracing the future.
The Scotts’ potential loss of a family member, the wife and mother, is contrasted to Rose’s disregard for her own family. The irony is that for Rose, finding vicarious companionship through a fictional television show causes her to abandon the people who (should) mean the most to her. First, she wanders off into the woods not thinking of the danger she would put herself and her brother through. Then she rides off into the forest again looking for “salvation” because she is “done waiting.” Her story of God rescuing a person is trapped in the flood is her story feeling trapped by the world. It is the same world that says this is how a person becomes likable, becomes whole. The reality is there is no group of friends who will come together daily to solve problems and engage in comedic antics (the other reality is there are no nice and affordable New York City apartments to do so in). Our friends and love ones prove themselves to us much differently than that. Their loyalty and love are shown in times of heartbreaking difficulties. They are the ones we can truly celebrate with. All others are simply acquaintances.
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