The Millennium has had a wide variety of effects on our popular culture, which is evident by how the ideas about the millennium are encoded, perpetuated, and disseminated to a mass adiuence. A large protion of ideas about the millennium are circulated to the population through the use of movies and film. To this end, one movie, entitled "The End of Days", which was released in December 1999, is an excelent portyal of the American reaction to the Millennium in general. "The End of Days" illustrates many of the fundamental topics relavent to the Millennium, such as the concept of End Time, religion, apocalyptic violence, and culture. .
To the general aduience, the synposis of the movie "The End of Days" which is publized by its producers, Universal Pictures, reads as follows:.
"Jericho Cane (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a beaten down ex- cop, is the reluctant hero of "End of Days." a chilling, horrific thriller set at the cusp of the millennium. When the ultimate personification of evil is unleashed upon the world, Cane is unwittingly drawn into a heart-stopping supernatural game of cat and mouse. Now as the countdown to the end of days approaches, all that stands in the way of mankind's destruction is the salvation of one woman, whose fate comes to rest in Cane's shaky hands." .
From this synopsis the average American notes the ideas of End time and the millennium rolled up into a nice action-adventure film, with really vivid scenes. I believe that the "End of Days" was intentionally created so that it would be appealing to everyone, as it encompassed both truth and fiction, through action, lust (sex), horror, and drama. However, most American do not notice the subtle messages being relayed about end time. .
Perhaps the part of the reason for the adiuences inability to pick up on these sublties was due to the fact that the main hero character of the movie was Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is also at least a majority of the reason the critics hated this film.
