"The Mist": how would people really behave?

Question

Plot Summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mist_%28film%29

I found this film to be a fascinating glimpse of human nature. I identified with a few of the characters, specifically Amanda Dumfries and David Drayton. Dumfries because naively perhaps, I will often give people the benefit of the doubt and think they will do the right thing. And Drayton, because of his willingness to do what it takes to survive.

There is a passage in the Bible, “we walk by faith, not by sight.” This alludes to another character in the film, the Mist itself. The mist was an important character in that if human beings can not physically see some form of hope, they are bound to lose it. Please share your thoughts on the character of the mist?

What do you think? Would human behavior deteriorate to such a point that the common enemy (the mist, the monsters in it) would be forgotten and we word regress to fear, paranoia and superstition? What characters did you identify with the most? What role would you play in this scenario? For the longest time, I have been interested in survival situations and how people behave in them, stemmed from a book I read called ‘Deep Survival’, by Laurence Gonzalez, so please share your thoughts on the film/novella.

Answer 1

People Would Kill Each Other

That Movie Sux Tho

Answer 2

i love the short story, have read it several times. i identified with the main character as well, but for different reasons at different times. when i read it before i became a mother, i just saw him as the most sane, and i felt like i would do the same as him in his position. after having my son, i saw how much more difficult it had to be for him, being in that situation and with a small person to protect, and it made me fall in love with his character even more. i love Stephen King's work, all of it. he is a really gifted writer and he knows how to make his characters human. i think that the scenes in the grocery were pretty accurate, even though i don't know if it would deteriorate so quickly.

for the movie, i hated the ending. i don't think it was particularly believable, i didn't think the man would just kill his son, especially without a goodbye. also, the army just shows up 4 minutes later? yeah, right. i guess the message was "don't give up hope", but i really feel like the movie's ending was really just for shock value. plus, the story's ending was open and few people like open endings, but i prefer them.

Answer 3

As a metaphor, this already IS how people behave. The mist is our lack of real knowledge about Life-scientific truth, and the ultimates like why are we here, what made us, etc? And we result back with ignorance, superstition, conflict, a little undelfish heroism, a little common sense, and panic.

  But how is this a topic for G&WS? Wouldn't Culture or Psychology/Sociology be a better venue?

Answer 4

I haven't seen the mist...(do you recommend it?)

but to human nature and emergencies...sometimes humans pull together and do remarkable things.  USS Cole that ship should have sinked, the hole was well over a 1/4 of the side of ship...the crew saved her simple as that.  9/11 we could have lost a whole lot more people...but for the firemen, police men and civilian who stepped up to save people.

Other times...we fight each other...like wild animals

invasion of Mars(maybe the wrong name)...the radio "show' had people rioting in the streets.  

Katrina: "victims" were killing each other for no reason.  Stealing TV's ect...destroying homes that the storm hadn't touched.  The red cross pulled it's volunteers out and refused to send them in for a long time the people got so bad.  When they sent us back it was armed with pepper spray and guns....I've never had to do that before.  Server food and water while armed.

Answer 5

I didn't see the movie (thank you for reminding me it's out there) but read the book, and it still stands as my all time favorite short story.

Though by the description the movie has an entirely different outcome.

Sections that stood out to me were:

1. Drayton and Amanda sleeping together during one of the worst of times (the arms of another can be the best haven in the worst of times)

2.How the fear that is at the core of religion reared it's ugly face in the form of paranoia and it's tendency to follow a fanatic.

3. The huge (anthropod?) at the end. Something that big having gotten through only tells me whatever seam was torn at the test facility recently got stretched a little wider...

Answer 6

my husband and i live in a small town like the one where "the mist" took place... the movie fit our idea of what would happen, as far as the character's reactions.