After Scientology

 

"After Earth" is a film starring Will Smith and his son Jaden. It was released in 2013. Directed by M Night Shyamalan, it´s based on an idea by Will Smith and was originally intended to start off an entire franchise. Since "After Earth" tanked at the box office, most of the intended cottage industry was scrapped. Perhaps just as well, since the film has been accused of having a hidden Scientology message. Which it might indeed have. Will Smith has connections to the controversial New Religious Movement, often accused by critics and defectors alike of being a dangerous mind-control cult. However, he denies being an outright member of the "Church" of Scientology.

The plot of "After Earth" is set in the far future. Earth, devastated by an ecological crisis, has been abandoned by humanity. Unfortunately, the new human home world, Nova Prime, is claimed by a race of evil aliens who use monsters called "Ursas" to hunt down and kill humans. (The aliens themselves are never actually seen in the film.) When a routine space flight goes wrong, General Cypher Raige and his son Kitai crash on the abandoned Earth. A captured Ursa kept at the space ship gets away and the hunt is on! Earth also turns out to be teeming with human-hating animals of various kinds (the entire planet seems to have recovered from the eco-disaster and reverted to an earlier stage of biological evolution).

One of the main plot elements is the idea that the Ursas can track humans by sensing their fear. The key to defeating an Ursa is therefore to suppress all fear inside you - a technique the film calls "ghosting". Cypher has mastered this meditation method (as well as a sword that would put any Jedi to shame) and has therefore become the de facto savior-figure of the human race. Kitai must learn the same trick, or perish at the hostile planet that was once humanity´s home...

It could have been an interesting story, but the weird or bad acting combined with an extremely simplistic plot, makes the film boring or even somewhat hard to watch. You expect Will Smith to be funny, and Shyamalan to be mystical, and here, none of them delivers. Even the special effects are bad. The Ursa isn´t particularly scary, except maybe to kids. 

But what about the Scientology? While some critics of the "Church" claim that it´s just as shitty movie, I think there are references to L Ron Hubbard´s peculiar belief system in this production. One example is the curious lack of emotion in Cypher (starred by Will Smith), who comes across as lobotomized or robotic. This is contrasted with the constant emotional outbursts of his son Kitai. Much Scientology training is about suppressing emotion, and Scientology parents are supposed to act in a cold manner towards their children. The volcano is a dead give away (look at the cover of "Dianetics" sometimes), and so is the Ranger Corps (probably a hidden reference to Sea Org). Kitai´s fear is caused by a guilt-ridden memory from his childhood, which he has to overcome using various mental techniques. Engrams and auditing? The entire "space opera" angle is also very Hubbardian. It´s a well known fact that Hubbard was a succesful science fiction writer. Some critics claim that the peculiar space crafts in the film are similar to those mentioned in the (secret but leaked) Xenu material.

I was also struck by the strong anti-ecology angle of the film. While Earth is said to have been abandoned due to an ecological crisis, it´s obvious that the flick is really pro-high tech. Nature constantly tries to kill Kitai (the eagle that eventually saves him is anomalous), while salvation is always some form of technological gadgetry. This opposition between Nature and man makes "After Earth" very different from standard pop culture (compare "Avatar"). I assume this is also in keeping with a Scientology message. 

Overall, however, "After Earth" is mostly just a failed cinema production...

[Revised 2021-11-14]