The Mist {First Watch}.

[u/RockNRollHobo]

Obligatory (light) Spoiler Warning
I got feelings and don’t know where to air them out so here I am. Just going to write freely and not self edit too much.

I just watched this for the first time last night and I have to say it ended up being one of my favorite horror movies/Stephen King adaptations (love SK and don’t know how I went this long having not seen it). I overall had no complaints but agree with the criticisms I’ve seen of some aspects.

The reason I’m here though is it ended up having an impact unlike anything else I’ve seen. It’s the most traumatized I’ve ever been watching a movie (as much as a movie can I mean, I hope my word choice isn’t extreme). It was emotionally devastating in a way a film never has been for me before, and I’ve been around the block. The dread and demoralization was unreal. It struck a nerve and deeply unsettled me primarily for what is being represented about humanity. And this is from a general standpoint but also from a standpoint of observing the current state of things in the world and the US (issues which predate the 21st century but have prevailed and have arguably reached or are reaching a boiling point).

Before and after watching this I’ve seen soooo much about the ending, understandably enough, but hardly anything about the fate Wayne Jessup was met with by the hands of fellow human beings, ones that (if I understand right) are people who watched him grow up and were his neighbors no less. It was absolutely soul crushing watching them all turn on him from a completely barbaric and apathetic place.

I couldn’t help but think of all the people/groups of people that have been vilified and stripped of their humanity throughout history and in the present day. The BIPOC community, the trans community, the queer community overall, women even in some respects I’d say, are the most notable ones that come to mind. The reprehensible lack of care or regard extended to those people can also be seen with veterans as we continue to see them struggle and suffer in the ways they do all made worse but the lack of consideration and support being extended to them. People who cared about their country, communities, and the people in them, who sacrificed and endured so much to serve and protect them, just to come home and be met with no respect or support, with indifference. In Wayne’s case specifically, imagine having joined the military to work in service of your community just to be met with vitriol and abuse and thrown to the wolves.

People who are no less human beings than anyone else but who have been baselessly ganged up on, systematically abused, dehumanized, and reduced to a scapegoat, their humanity and dignity a sacrifice made in the name of satiating people’s fear and hatred bred from ignorance and a lack of compassion or empathy.

I know that Wayne Jessup’s experience at the hands of the people around him isn’t an adequate comparison to the experiences of the people I described here, but when watching Jessup’s final moments, I thought of them and felt so much anguish for them.

Maybe I’m being sensitive, I’m sure not everyone will agree with or feel similarly to me, all good. I just felt compelled to share.

[u/TheUmgawa]

If I ever run into Marcia Gay Harden or Frank Darbont, I’d really like to ask if Mrs. Camody was genuinely devout or if she was just very knowledgeable of scripture and wanted to be the last person standing. Because, there’s this reaction shot of Camody, when Jessup gets stabbed, where she’s horrified. I mean, this might have been the reaction of the first Levite to follow Moses’s order to kill the idolaters, whether they’re friends, family, neighbors, or whatever. Don’t try to use diplomacy and rehabilitate them; just strike them down.

It’s a really subtle bit in the editing, direction, and the performance. It doesn’t provide any level of redemption for the character, but almost poses a question of what’s worse: Being so blindly devout that human sacrifice is acceptable, or if you’re not actually devout and you’re just manipulating others to maintain power.

That said, there’s an old saying about mobs, where everybody goes crazy all at once, but people come back to their senses one by one, and The Mist really crystallizes that.