Amanda Bailey

Geog. 1700
Disaster Movie Discussion

2012 is a 2009 science fiction disaster adventure film that follows a man named Jackson
Curtis (John Cusack) as he runs against time to bring his family to safety amidst the natural
disasters that strike the earth. The film touches on the Mayan Long Count Calendar and a theory
that the world will end in the year 2012. In the beginning of this movie, an American geologist
and an astrophysicist learn that the neutrinos from a solar flare are causing the temperature of the
Earths core to rapidly increase. After learning this, the men and other international leaders begin
a project to ensure the survival of the human race. The plan involved building large arks in
China, where people can go to survive.
During the building of the arks, Jackson takes his children camping in Yellowstone
National Park where the U.S. Army is evacuating the area. They meet Charlie Frost who hosts a
radio show from his trailer in the park. Jackson watches Charlies videos of his theory that polar
shifts and many disasters will occur. Meanwhile, many earthquakes begin affecting California.
This makes the San Andreas Fault shift and causes California to collapse into the Pacific Ocean.
Jackson retrieves a map from Charlie in Yellowstone showing where the arks will be. As Jackson
and his family leave for safety, the Yellowstone Caldera erupts, destroying everything in its path.
The group makes it out in time and flies to Tibet. While Jackson and his family are flying, they
see the state of Hawaii being destroyed by the volcanoes.
The story then focuses on other parts of the world where different disaster occur. Some
disasters include mega tsunamis that flood coastal areas like Washington D.C., the South Pole

ends up in the state of Wisconsin, South America is wiped out from Earthquakes, and hurricanes
and tsunamis take over the oceans.
After, Jackson and his family find a way to get into the arks for ensured safety. The crews
on the arks, find out that there is a mega tsunami about to hit them in less than 15 minutes.
Jackson helps the crews regain control of the arks by grabbing a tool that clogged the hydraulic
doors. If there were to be no control of the arks, they would have crashed into Mount Everest. 27
days later as the floods recede, the arks approach the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa where
the Drakensburg Mountain Range has emerged.
Many of the disasters that happened in this movie are possible. Earthquakes, tsunamis,
and hurricanes likely to happen in California along the San Andreas Fault, coastal areas, and in
the oceans, although, they may not be as disastrous as the movie makes them out to be. The
movie suggests that Earth crust displacement/ Polar shift causes California to break off and go
into the Pacific Ocean. This shift does occur but at a very slow rate. The geographical poles
have not deviated more than about 5 degrees over the last 130 million years. Even though polar
shift occurs, it would not move California at a rapid pace like it does in the movie. The movie
also shows Yellowstones Caldera erupting. This volcano is the largest in North America, but its
last catastrophic eruption was 640,000 years ago. It has produced smaller eruptions since then,
but the current activity at Yellowstone is limited to its famous geysers. So, it is possible for
Yellowstones hotspot to erupt, but it may not be catastrophic anytime soon.
2012 also demonstrated the five fundamental concepts that we have gone over in class.
The American geologist, the astrophysicist, and others predicted the hazards that were going to
happen in the movie. By making predictions, they were able to make important decisions to
ensure the survival of humans. They were able to come up with the decision to make large arks

to hold people and sail to safety in South Africa where everyone could live. The movie also
showed that hazards are linked to each other. For example, the earthquakes in California caused
the San Andreas Fault to shift causing California to sink into the Pacific Ocean.
Works Cited:
Tarduno, John A.; Smirnova, Alexei V. (January 15, 2001). "Stability of the Earth with respect to
the spin axis for the last 130 million years". Earth and Planetary Science Letters 184 (2): 549
553.
http://www.opengeography.org/natural-disasters.html (Chapters 3, 4, 6, 9)