Jim Adams is the illustrious host of Mindlovemisery Menagerie’s Music Challenge, or it that Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Music Challenges?  Whichever it is, it is a fun prompt.  Jim has chosen, “The Future’s So Bright,” by musical group, Timbuk 3, which is a satirical commentary on the ever-present threat of nuclear armageddon hovering over us, to inspire us to creativity.

The opening screen on the youtube video looks like a psychedelic madman wearing sunglasses.  What immediately popped into my head was the cult classic Repo Man, where a mad scientist is traveling across country with a radioactive something in the trunk that instantly disintegrates anyone unfortunate enough to look at it.  I remember the scientist wore big glasses and was still alive after handling it, but it took its toll on him, as radioactivity is wont to do.

A metaphorical armageddon is portrayed in the futuristic thriller called, They Live, where special glasses allow you to see who is still human and who are the evil extraterrestrials controlling the world through brainwashing to compel us to “Obey,” “Marry and Reproduce,” “Have No Independent Thought,” “Consume,” “Watch TV,” “Conform,” etc.

Yet another futuristic thriller where there is a metaphorical armageddon is The Matrix, where the machines use humans as their batteries and, like Jesus was the “human” interface of God, Agent Smith is the “human” interface of The Machine. WARNING:  Graphic triggering violence about 3:30 into the clip.

Are you starting to see a pattern?  Radioactivity and other insidious materials/agents appear benign on the surface, but they harbor malignancy, misery, and worse underneath.  In all 3 of these films, the sunglasses are the shade of hidden evil against humanity.