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I am Legend (2007)

I am Legend (2007). I am Legend (2007). Relation of Human and Non-Human? Typical Opposition between Heroic Human and Inhuman Monsters, seemingly bent solely on destruction. Neville as not only hero, but savior of Humanity (thus he becomes “a Legend”).

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I am Legend (2007)

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  1. I am Legend (2007)

  2. I am Legend (2007) • Relation of Human and Non-Human? • Typical Opposition between Heroic Human and Inhuman Monsters, seemingly bent solely on destruction. • Neville as not only hero, but savior of Humanity (thus he becomes “a Legend”). • But monstrosity presented as result of viral infection: thus, quarantining of New York City. • Inhuman must be isolated, destroyed, OR else cured (i.e., returned to human state). Neville, a military man and a doctor, says several times: “I can fix this.” • No overlap of human and the Infected?

  3. I am Legend (2007) • The Infected, Hemocytes—how portrayed here? • Animalistic? (Like the Lions?) Irrationally Aggressive? • Neville discusses their Social De-evolution; “Typical human behavior is now entirely absent.”

  4. I am Legend (2007)

  5. I am Legend (2007) • But are there any hints in the film that Neville is wrong about the Infected? • Do we see any suggestions of human behavior in them? • They trap him—using mannequin for “bait.” They follow him to his home, follow a plan of attack. • Neville’s behavioral note, behavior of Infected, makes much more sense in the Alternate Ending of film—wh/ was intended to be the original ending.

  6. I am Legend (2007) • Alternate Ending completely changes the film: The Infected have human traits: including love, rational behavior. • The earlier traits that suggested their de-evolution are now seen as human-like anger at a loved one being taken. • And Neville realizes that his own experiments and killing of the Infected (note photos) are monstrous. • The opposition between human and monster is undermined. • Why, though, was this ending not seen as acceptable for release?

  7. I am Legend (the novel) • Alternate/Original Ending brings us much closer to the idea of the original novel I am Legend. • In novel, Neville discovers that many of the infected Vampires that he had been killing had in fact found a way to live with the infection and formed their own society. • Thus, to them, he is the monster, killing them: He has become a Legend, a monster or bogeyman about whom scary tales are told.

  8. Other Versions • Two earlier movie versions made from I am Legend: • The Last Man on Earth (1964) and The Omega Man (1971) • And while The Omega Man, with Charlton Heston, is a kind of camp classic (and I am Legend 2007 borrows things from it), it takes a very different direction from the novel. • On the other hand, The Last Man on Earth, a very low budget film shot in Italy and starring Vincent Price as Robert Morgan, is probably the closest to the novel of all the movie versions.

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