***SPOILER ALERT*** If you haven’t read “I am Legend”, I really urge you to stop and do it now. Not because of the zombie craze that’s rolling through Hollywood-land, but because it is so much more than another zombie book. Unfortunately Will Smith and his German Shepard came nowhere near capturing it in the most recent version of the movie. I've thought about the book often since I read it 5 or so years ago (thanks Brother Jord for the reccomendation) and here’s why and I think you’ll learn a little something from it.
What made “I am Legend” the book superior to the movie is the entire reason for the book’s title. The story was gut-wrenching as it explored a humanity we can only hope never comes to be. Our main character, Robert Neville had to witness his neighbours, friends and most importantly family transform into creatures he only heard about in horror stories. In one horrific tale he sneakily buried his wife instead of burning her in a pit, which was required by law and he logically knew was the only way she wouldn’t become a zombie. Yet, he did it anyways, he buried her out of respect for their love, respect for her body, and respect for her life. Well, just like when the cat came back, she showed up at their home, where they shared their lives together, on the door steps that night. Not like the cat, she came as a shell of herself. A scary-living-dead-skin-falling-off-there-to-kill-him shell of herself. Without a care for their love or respect for his life and his body the way he just respected hers. Now that was moving but not what made the book superior to the movie. Which didn’t even explore that, for all we know Will Smith’s wife and child are happily living in Canada or did the helicopter blow-up? I don’t remember… Anyways, back to it. It wasn’t the fact that the zombies in the movie didn’t resemble their former selves. The fact that the movie was missing the all-important former neighbour screaming and taunting Neville late at night “neeevvvillee”. Driving Neville mad, as he can still flash-back to a place where his neighbour was his friend, now that same man tries night after night to coax Neville outside to kill him. Powerful? Yes. But not what made the book far superior to the movie.
What did that is the ending. Robert Neville, our beloved hero who wakes up early every day as the sun rises to stalk the streets, the dark corners, the seemingly empty houses to kill zombies, and he does it all for survival. Not just his own survival, but survival of man-kind. The hope that there is a man-kind left. These zombies, these monsters, these used-to-be friends, family, neighbours, co-workers are his legend. These are the creatures from horror stories told late at night around campfires to scare children. Now these legends are reality. Just as he’s able to wrap his head around that fact, he discovers the zombies have mobilized, they’ve created a civilization, they’ve created government, and they’ve created life after the apocalypse. And here’s the thing, Robert Neville is their legend. He is their monster. He stalks them while the sleep, while they are vulnerable. He seeks them out and he kills them. He is their monster. The book ends soooo powerfully, he remarks to himself as he surrenders to this notion and ultimately dies “[I am] a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend”. That is why the book is far superior to the movie. Also, the reason why “I am Legend” is so much more than part of the zombie craze.
It is that realization on Robert Neville part that sends chills through your body and brings you to a new level of awareness. What if I am someone’s legend? What if that person I just cannot get along with and I just cannot find any way of getting along with, or find a resolution to our conflict, is my legend, and I am his/hers. Asking yourself that very question may be the key to opening up to the other person’s perspective. You may be able to see their motives for survival more clearly. This is not to say your approaches to this person and situations you have been in that have forced conflict are wrong. That you are in the wrong and they are in the right, or you right or them wrong, I have no idea about that. What I am saying is, if you look at things with Robert Neville’s AHA Moment, as Oprah would call it, then maybe you’ll be able to break through that brick wall and find a way resolve the conflict. Or at minimum you’ll be able to grasp a better understanding of the other person’s motivations which may lead to a less abrasive approach on your part. Now, if only both parties of every conflict could reach this Robert Neville AHA Moment at the same time. Ha! Ya… that’s not likely. Regardless, here’s hoping you survive your zombie apocalypse.
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