The year is 2009. Many people fear the imminent end of the world. But what is meant is not the characters in Roland Emmerich’s disaster film 2012, which was released in cinemas at the time. Real residents of the United States of America reported concerns about the blockbuster to authorities. That’s why the American space agency NASA, which normally doesn’t deal with film criticism, came into the picture.
On Netflix: How the sci-fi blockbuster pissed off NASA
In the film with John Cusack and Amanda Peet it will 2012 phenomenon picked up. This is the idea, based on a Mayan calendar, that a cycle lasting over 5,000 years will come to an end in 2012 – with the end of the world. This is exactly what happens in the plot of Roland Emmerich’s film.
The film’s advertising in 2009 caused a stir among people who contacted NASA with concerns. There must have been quite a few, because the space agency felt compelled to create its own website that countered the misleading “scientific” findings of the 2012 phenomenon, which were popularized, among other things, by the film. The Spiegel also reported this at the time.
In short: NASA denied that the end of the world was approaching. The scientists emphasized that the Mayan calendar mentioned in the film does not end on December 21, 2012, but rather that a new cycle begins afterwards.
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2012 is the “most flawed science fiction blockbuster in recent memory”
But it didn’t stop with this statement about the cinema release. Two years later, Roland Emmerich’s film was again criticized by the authorities. NASA officially designated 2012 as the “most absurd and scientifically flawed science fiction blockbusters in recent memory”, as Wired reported. The reason for NASA’s public film criticism was the danger that films like 2012 or Michael Bay’s Armageddon – The Last Judgment could cause people to fear unfoundedly. Whether this view is justified remains to be seen.
So let’s end with the reassuring note from the authorities on the educational homepage at the time:
Nothing bad will happen to Earth in 2012. Our planet has been coping well for more than 4 billion yearsand credible scientists around the world know of no threat associated with 2012.
2012 is currently part of Netflix’s catalog. In the Moviepilot community it has a narrow average rating of 6.1 points (with over 35,000 votes). So watch it at your own risk.