Never mind Hollywood’s perpetual fascination with the end of the world motif.  Humankind has always been curious about how we got here and how it will all eventually end.  This writer wonders if it’s at all a coincidence that 2012 will be this nation’s next presidential election year.

At the risk of reading excessively into the influence of movies on the thinking of the general public, it’s worth pointing out a couple of things from the film’s theatrical trailers on Apple’s website.  In the trailer below we see a Tibetan monk running for cover as the question pops up on screen: how would the governments of our planet prepare six billion people for the end of the world? Answer: they wouldn’t.  How comforting.

Trailer 2 features eye-popping special effects and questionable, over-dramatic acting (after all, John Cusack is famous for [fill in the blank]).  What really stood out for me was seeing an African-American president preparing to speak in the Oval Office.  The Mayan calendar predicted an end to the world on December 21, 2012, more than a full month after the 2012 presidential election.  Apparently, we are being conditioned to the idea of four more years of Obama in the White House.

Also, if you pay really close attention to the wording on the side of the first “2″ in 2012 at the very end of the trailer, you will see the words “ever into a place,” a phrase purportedly taken from the Book of Revelations: “There is coming that time when they will be turned away forever into a place known as the lake of fire, a place of eternal torment which is so much worse than anything they have yet experienced.”  I thought it was interesting that Roland Emmerich, the wizard behind the so-bad-it’s-good “Independence Day” and the forgettable “The Day After Tomorrow,” would covertly toss in this biblical reference that most people won’t even think to investigate.  Plus, Roland is a highly active liberal who is outspoken about global warming and equal rights.  Has Roland become disenchanted with Obama to the point where he would paint him as a disconnected leader ready to implement shady plans for the continuity of government?  Nothing new here (see George W. Bush, rex84).

I’d love to hear some input about general impressions of the trailers as well as the timing of this film.