Yup, I admit it, Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Charmed … I have a slightly unnatural love for the teeny bopper drama. The thing is these shows — rife with the undead, the supernatural, the witches, zombies, werewolves and end times — do double duty: 1) they are easy and fun to watch and 2) they make for excellent dharma contemplation. Seriously, the characters are so flat, the themes so black and white, the dharma lessons pop-out in the contrast. Which brings me to the season finale of my favorite 2014/15 show, The 100s.
Show recap: A group of humans (the 100s) left earth in ships to avoid ‘the end of the world’ and lived in space for several generations. Upon returning to earth these humans find others who had managed to survive a great apocalyptic event, including a community who lived underground. Initially, members of the underground community and some of these 100s folks became friends and lived together peacefully in the underground bunkers. But soon we learn the underground community is dying-out. They don’t have the resources to keep living underground, but they can’t live above ground due to high radiation. That is, unless…
The Scene: The undergrounders have realized that the bone marrow of their 100s friends (whom being born in space are immune to radiation) is their ticket to surviving above ground. But, for one undergrounder to survive they need all the marrow from a 100. For one to live another must die. The story’s hero, Clark, the leader of the 100s, learns that the undergrounders plan to murder all of her people and steal their bone marrow. There is only one way to stop them — kill or be killed. Just as the undergrounders go to kill Clark’s mom and harvest her marrow, Clark, torn by guilt, but filled with conviction, opens an air valve to the outside and floods the underground bunker with radiation. All the undergrounders die and the 100s are free to go. So the hero saves her people, and everyone (at least the important people, the 100s) live to see another day and another season on air. The end.
The Contemplation: The whole show is told from the perspective of the 100s. From the very first episode we, the audience, follow their struggles and their triumphs. We audience members are led to identify with them, to rejoice for them and worry about them. Their story is our story. So, it’s only natural that when Clark pulls open the air valve, I found myself cheering for her, relieved that her plan to save her people (my people) worked.
But when the show ended and the credits began to roll I started having second thoughts…two groups of humans, desperate to protect their families, children and communities. Two groups of humans willing to turn to the abomination of genocide to ensure their own survival. This is the danger of self and self belonging. It scared the shit out of me.
I put myself in Clark’s shoes, then in the shoes of the underground leader and the truth is, I didn’t know what I would do in either case. Probably the same thing and try to save my people. But, at the end of the day, it’s not about which group is right/wrong, it’s not about morals or values or justice. It is about a dark truth of this world — as long as I have an ‘I/We’ to preserve, I face the peril of committing unfathomable horrors.