History repeats itself, as I will throughout this post. That phrase has been a part of western
culture for as long as I know. I’m not
going to look up the origin of that phrase.
That’s not what I’m here for.
This is a movie blog, and that is why I’m going to take the idea of
history repeating itself and relate it to film.
Specifically, I’m going to relate it to the 2012 film 7 Below and possibly some other movies I
have seen as a part of my journey through the Sunday “Bad” Movies.
Let me start by explaining how 7 Below is a movie that uses the concept of history repeating
itself. 7 Below tells the story of a group of strangers who get stranded in
a house. A century earlier, a boy killed
his entire family in that house. In the
present day, the group in the house is being murdered one by one in ways
similar to those from the previous century.
As one character says near the end of the movie, the cycle must complete
itself. History must repeat itself in
order for things to be right.
Now, the phrase I am writing about is represented in a very
literal way throughout 7 Below. Most times, when history repeats itself, it
means that people make mistakes and similar events occur because of them. This movie causes the same events to occur
due to the spirits of the ghost family haunting the house. These ghosts include that of the murderous
son who is once again killing people.
The movie even goes the extra mile by having a character explain
everything that has been going on. It is
a movie based upon history repeating itself the entire way through.
There is one major flaw in 7 Below’s use of history repeating itself. The flaw is that there is no lesson to be
learned by the unfolding events. There
is no way for the characters to prevent what is happening. When people mention that history repeats
itself, it is more telling of the nature of human beings than anything. It should be used in a human context; it
should involve something that could have been prevented but wasn’t because of
the actions of people. That is a
difference between 7 Below and a
better supernatural tale about history repeating itself, Sinister. Sinister’s core struggle is Ethan Hawke’s
character’s obsession rather than the monster. (Sinister II comes out at the end of August guys! This isn’t an advertisement. I’m just trying to get excited for it, since
I love the first.) History repeats
itself through the movie not because of the sinister being, but because of how
the patriarch of the family acts. It
works better in the story, and is more engrossing for a viewer.
A very simplistic way of showing how history repeats itself
through human actions was the film Death
Bed: The Bed That Eats. The movie
didn’t make a whole lot of sense, depicting a bed that ate people. One thing that came through loud and clear
was that the bed had been eating people for many years, and would continue
doing so long into the future unless it was stopped. This was shown through different segments of
the film as different main characters met their demise. It was also reinforced by the narration of a
hidden victim of the bed’s evil nature.
And if that wasn’t enough to tell you about the repetitiveness of
history, there was a montage of people from different times being eaten.
Though Death Bed: The
Bed That Eats is one of the worst movies I’ve seen for the Sunday “Bad”
Movies, it at least held the people somewhat responsible for history repeating
itself. The reason that so many people
died was because they decided to make use of a bed they had never seen before. The bed could have been anyone’s. Their deaths were a sort of punishment for using
someone’s goods without permission. The
repetitive cycle of the bed eating them was brought on by human nature and
could have been prevented by people learning from the mistakes of using other
people’s stuff without asking. Sure, the
evil bed would still be there, hungry for humans, but if nobody used the bed,
it would be more difficult for the bed to eat.
I respect the movie for having (even if unintentionally) a human reason
for the repetitive history.
Another movie I have covered that takes a different look at
how history repeats itself is Repeaters. Instead of showing different instances in
which history is repeated throughout a long period of time, it is about a day
repeating and the actions that the main characters have to take to try and stop
it. The movie is very much like Groundhog Day. The events of the day repeat themselves to
the point that both the audience and the characters know what is going to
happen. It doesn’t focus as much on the
long term history as the others, but the learning from mistakes is very
important to the story. The only way for
the characters to escape the time loop they have found themselves in is to
learn from their mistakes. They are
learning because history is repeating itself.
The timeframe is small scale compared to many other movies, but the lessons
learned throughout the day could be used in other times in the characters’
lives to get them out of bad situations that they seem to be finding themselves
in. It is the human story that all
history repeating tales should have; people learning to be better people.
History has been shown to repeat through many films that
have been made. Some simply use the
concept as a nifty twist in their story.
Other movies tell a story of human morality though this historical
context. However it is used, it is a
theme that seems to show up in movies all the time. You could say that history repeats itself
with movies that involve history repeating itself. Anyway, I should get going before I repeat
myself any more than I already have.
But before I go, let’s have a few notes:
- This movie was suggested by @Deggsy, who is no longer on Twitter. I wanted to mention the suggestion anyway.
- Both Ving Rhames and Luke Goss appeared previously in the Sunday “Bad” Movies in the two sequels to Death Race. Now they’re both in 7 Below.
- I mentioned Ethan Hawke in this post. He wasn’t in 7 Below, but he was in Getaway, which I recently covered for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.
- I might as well link to the posts for Repeaters and Death Bed: The Bed That Eats, since I brought them up in this post.
- What do you think about movies that try to present history repeating itself? Do you agree with my idea that grounding it in a human element is usually better? Do you think I’m full of crap? Have you seen any of the movies I mentioned? You can discuss all kinds of stuff in the comments section if you want.
- You can also use the comments section to suggest a future movie for the Sunday “Bad” Movies. If not there, you could try my Twitter account or my email at sundaybadmovies@gmail.com.
- Ant-Man comes out this week, so next week’s movie is a celebration of bad superhero filmmaking. The movie is the eagerly anticipated Batman and Robin, because why wouldn’t I cover that movie at some point. I’ll see you next week after I rewatch it yet again. I never know if I’ll enjoy it or despise it. It changes with every watch.
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