MovieChat Forums > 2012 (2009) Discussion > Billionaires labouring to rebuild civili...

Billionaires labouring to rebuild civilization?

posted 10 years ago by patchesdf-62-114042
20 replies | jump to latest

The end of the movie. Let's give this some thought. A bunch of billionaires with the last intact army in the world landed on the shores of Africa. So where does it go from there? Hold hands with the natives, sing Kumbiya and rebuild civilization? Let's play this out.

Oliver Platt goes before a huge gathering of these billionaires with a bullhorn, drops a bunch of shovels at their feet and goes;

"You have a lifetime of back-breaking labour to look forward rebuilding civilization, have fun."

And there'll be this one foppish aristocrat in the corner, wearing a yacht's hat and stirring a pina-colada and says;

"We could do that, or, we could, hear me out, take this lovely army you were so fortunate enough to bring with us, send them out to round up the local natives and force them to do all the work for us. And if they organize resistance, we head back out to sea and threaten to drop nuclear bombs on the lot of them.

So, would you be so nice as to head back up to the bridge? Find that quaint little house ni##er who lives up there, tell him thank you for warning us about the end of the world and tell him to take his Phd and build me a mansion with it. Something with lots of terra cotta, very ostentatious. There's a good lad. Now lend me that bullhorn for a tic, would you?"

(heads to deck facing the shore and clears throat )

"Attention locals. APARTHEID REINSTATED. You there in the red shirt. Yes you. You have fifteen minutes head start before me and the lads come out and start hunting you for sport in gunship helicopters. Get going, chop chop."

[–] zaragozana 10 years ago

Spot on. That's precisely what would happen.

Most of those who could afford a green pass were precisely the type who were accustomed to having everything done for them. You could not see them even picking up a shovel. Seeing the entire world crumble was not about to bring some humility into their lives or perhaps some well deserved reflective thought. No, they would hit shore, establish a similar order and throw Dr. Helmsley off a cliff if he dared to object again.

And in real life, they would have sailed off without the surplus people from the damaged Ark, and slept very well at night.

[–] lokis_angels 10 years ago

I think the billionaires were only a small group of arkees. They were 'invited' to the ark so they would finance them. i don't know about the costs to build those, but on the 100,000 people on the ark there is maybe 100 people that paied 1 billion dollar.

On top of that, where was that army you are talking about? I didn't see it. I'd say it is more likely that guys like Helmsley and Jackson end up to be the leaders of the new world, and Anheuser and Yuri will find that pre catastroph power and money buys them nothing.

[–] sid_rich 10 years ago

First of all Billionaires are not lazy sadists....some of them are hard working and intelligent entrepreneurs and thinkers(no wonder they were able to become billionaires in their lifetime and others were not)....secondly all of the passengers' were not the green-pass purchasers but a lot of them were also chosen for their genes, abilities and achievements so they will play a more significant role in re-building the civilization than you are able to imagine....thirdly there are more than enough 'worker-class' people on board and also security-class people are on boarded too so this means it's pretty much well thought out....lastly are you saying that there is nothing you can think of from this story?? Come on!!....it's a possibility that the surviving humans may not make the same mistakes of the earlier ones...because we could save almost all the significant data, books, learning, art, technology, knowledge and history etc. ....plus there seems to be a lot of good folks from all races who survived....so I see a very positive and a better world order and a more cleaner and fairer re-building of civilizcivilization ?

[–] al666940-3 10 years ago

"Billionaires are not lazy sadists....some of them are hard working and intelligent entrepreneurs and thinkers(no wonder they were able to become billionaires in their lifetime and others were not)"

Sure. NOBODY makes it to the top without being cut throat. Just dig deeper into Buffet and especially Gates' bios beyond their authorized versions and you'll see plenty of shark mentality in their younger years.

You're dreaming if you actually think otherwise:
- They give money to charity? Guess what: they get more than their money's worth from that (tax deductions, good press, back scratching, kickbacks, etc). They don't do that out of the goodness of their hearts.
- They talk a good game about giving back? It's easy to do that AFTER you got rich off monopoly/strongarming (Microsoft) and speculation (Buffet).

Getting rich is NOT about working hard (otherwise mules would be rich). It's about having the right connections, the right family, the right opportunity being at the right place/time. Sure being smart and working hard ensures they STAY rich, but plenty of smart hard working people all over are poor to crap all over your statement.

"secondly all of the passengers' were not the green-pass purchasers but a lot of them were also chosen for their genes"

Platt said that, but did the movie EVER show that? Nope, whenever they showed passengers they showed mostly old rich people. If that was true then the overwhelming majority of passengers would be athletes:
- young and fit (plenty of backbreaking hard labour ahead to rebuild)
- female (plenty of incubator work ahead to repopulate)

I didn't see cheerleaders/figure skaters/swimmers/runners being loaded onto the ships.

"it's a possibility that the surviving humans may not make the same mistakes of the earlier ones"

Aha, because history is full of examples of people/nations learning of past mistakes and thus not repeating them...

It's also possible that The Jetsons would come rescue all of us, but I kinda doubt that as well...

[–] annamazzocchi-73264 9 years ago

Great great comment! I wish I could express myself as good as you do in English, but I realized I don't need it for this thread: You did it so well.

And, for those who said that "they needed billionaires' money to build the arks," well, what about tricking those filthy rich people by not letting them get on board?
New civilization need good people, no spoiled, self-indulgent ones. 

[–] MadSimian 9 years ago

well, what about tricking those filthy rich people by not letting them get on board

Well, for one, they apparently left the rich people to their own devices when getting to the Ark site if Yuri is any indication. Also, notice how all the green pass holders were detained and seemingly going to be the last to get to board the Ark anyway(the scenes where Yuri is arguing with the Ark crewmember near the end...the guy he punches and then says "Follow me!" as they race down to the Ark entrance).

Which seems to imply that most of the important passengers(important as in doctors, carpenters, chemists, metallurgists and any and all other professions that would be needed in the post-apocalypse world; not athletes and baby incubators as the other poster said) were already onboard if the crowds shown on the open decks at the very end of the film were (also) any indication.

I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey.

[–] annamazzocchi-73264 9 years ago

You've got a good point. I think someone else mentioned something like you said.

However, I thought billionaires were detained because the last ark with room for those who bought the tickets was malfunctioning (some back door was not completely closed,) and they decided to leave earlier because the tsunami was expected to arrive sooner.

I only wish that if humankind would have a second chance to amend things, extraordinary people with more heart than greed, better not greed at all, will be in command.

[–] MadSimian 9 years ago

They were likely supposed to have been onboard the pinned Ark which was technically functional but just couldn't be moved(so would have been underwater when the tsunami hit and flooded the Ark facility). The problem with the 'American' Ark's door didn't occur until they let Yuri's group of richies and the Chinese workers in(as Jackson and his group were sneaking in through the door's hydraulic chamber and gummed up the works in the process).

And, I totally agree with you on the last thing you wrote. :)

"A revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having."-Emma Goldman

[–] gotmyorangecrush 9 years ago

Spot on. The billionaires represented a tiny fraction of the people on the arks and were only chosen to help fund the arks in secrecy.

Still Shooting With Film!

[–] ThoseLittleRabbits 10 years ago

didn't like the fact that there weren't too many black people on that boat...

i've got feelings too, ya know - inbetweeners

[–] al666940-3 10 years ago

None of the boats seemed particularly coloured (except for the Saudi boat that is, and that is the colour green of money)

[–] codynundy5000 9 years ago

patchesdf-62-114042 said

"Attention locals. APARTHEID REINSTATED. You there in the red shirt. Yes you. You have fifteen minutes head start before me and the lads come out and start hunting you for sport in gunship helicopters. Get going, chop chop."

That's when I would shoot him...

[–] kolchak-thenightstalker 9 years ago

The op said that some rich guy would say attention locals...what locals? A wave of ocean water wiped out everyone. The only survivors are on the arks. Not to mention that that rich guy is no longer rich. The arks dont have a bank onboard and money is only as valuable as the nation that backs it, so with no nations paper money is worthless. After that a-hole was done giving his orders, i would tell him to go *beep* himself and next time he wants the bullhorn, i will cram it up his stink hole.

[–] TRhett 9 years ago

I am seriously LOL! Have a picture of the fop in my head right now.

We could do that, or, we could, hear me out, take this lovely army you were so fortunate enough to bring with us, send them out to round up the local natives and force them to do all the work for us. And if they organize resistance, we head back out to sea and threaten to drop nuclear bombs on the lot of them.

Although, on a serious note, isn't that pretty much what always happened when affluent people went on the move in the 19th and 20th centuries?

[–] WorldSacred 9 years ago

That's one of the most idiotic posts I have read on imdb. Quite appropriate, though, to go with a stupid movie. A billionaire in a post apocalyptic world would not be a billionaire. Probably no more than a person who had it all. He might think he has power over other people, but those days are gone. And nuclear weapons? What nuclear weapons? They would be no more. The surviving natives of Africa, what little there might be, would not be willing to work for the newcomers. They would more likely be willing to call to be saved by the newcomers.

[–] mrs-tweedy 9 years ago

I agree. In a post-apocalyptic society the people with tradeable skills like carpentry, engineering etc. and the medically trained would be the ones with the most clout. The billionaires would no longer be rich, they'd just have the clothes on their backs and whatever personal belongings they were allowed to bring. They'd have to have something to offer in return for services and being good at making money would be useless in the first few years. Anyway, humans are often jerks in a crisis so I hope I never end up having to depend on my fellow homosapiens being altruistic because I reckon I'd be disappointed.

[–] robjade1 9 years ago

You did watch the movie right? Cause if so you should remember the fact that the entire world, including Africa, was flooded. Africa is just the only part that the waters receded from.

In short, there are no natives.

[–] lemner (231) 9 months ago

Potentially, there might be human, animal, and plant survivors. They said that the African continent had risen and was now the new roof of the world. They speculated that parts of the continent might have been spared inundation. In the final shot of the planet, they showed a barely recognizable continent of Africa with a large lake in the middle, surrounded by greenery.

[–] aussiemiguel 8 years ago

You do realise there are NO LOCALS, and everybody on Earth died during the earthquakes and the GLOBAL flood?
The only survivors were the people on the arks. Nobody else survived, anywhere. The new continent is part of what USED TO BE Africa, in a completely reshaped landmass.

[–] foster11 8 years ago

More than likely true.

Notice most the heads of state, elected or heritage made it out, unlike they ot their families would be shoveling anything

Plus there's all the extra folks they took with them, they'll be put to work

You don't have to stand tall, but you do have to stand up!