Japan: a catastrophe, not a disaster movie

This article was published in Spiked Online 14 March 2011

Forget the Hollywood-style finger-pointing about human ‘arrogance’ and ‘powerlessness’ – we can overcome and learn from the worst disasters.

The devastation unleashed by the mega earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan last Friday is one of the greatest disasters the country has faced. Yet the Japanese refuse to respond as if they are two-bit extras in a Hollywood disaster movie. By all accounts, people are behaving with courage and dignity. Contrary to the image popularised by films such as The Day After Tomorrow, there has been no panic, no chaos and people do not appear as stunned, helpless victims driven to irrational behaviour. Instead of the scenes of anarchy familiar from such movies as Titanic, Armageddon, Twister or The Towering Inferno, we have been witnessing orderly queues and cooperation.

Yet the response of many in the West suggests that the perception of a disaster is in the eye of the beholder. Yes, there is sympathy alongside expressions of the basic human desire to help those whose lives have been overturned by this tragedy. But all too many Western observers appear more interested in using this disaster as an argument for promoting their own agenda.