The One Place on Earth Not Destroyed in '2012'

[Aleenik]

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-roland-emmerich-fatwa.html

Well, I guess I can see his reasoning.

When I interviewed director Roland Emmerich a few months ago about his upcoming disaster flick "2012," the first question I asked was, "Why do you like killing the world?" His response: "It makes for a good story."

Over the past fifteen years, Emmerich has crafted some great tales about global doom, featuring some spectacular scenes of destruction. He had aliens zap the White House in "Independence Day," he let a massive lizard flatten New York City in "Godzilla," and he sent killer tornadoes through downtown Los Angeles in "The Day After Tomorrow."

For "2012," Emmerich set his sites on destroying the some biggest landmarks around the world, from Rome to Rio. But there's one place that Emmerich wanted to demolish but didn't: the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure located in the center of Mecca. It's the focus of prayers and the site of the Hajj, the biggest, most important pilgrimage in Islam.

"Well, I wanted to do that, I have to admit," the filmmaker told scifiwire.com. "But my co-writer Harald [Kloser] said, 'I will not have a fatwa on my head because of a movie.' And he was right."

Emmerich went on: "We have to all, in the western world, think about this. You can actually let Christian symbols fall apart, but if you would do this with [an] Arab symbol, you would have ... a fatwa, and that sounds a little bit like what the state of this world is. So it's just something which I kind of didn't [think] was [an] important element, anyway, in the film, so I kind of left it out."

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Traditionally, a fatwa has meant religious opinion by an Islamic scholar or imam. The term has gained currency in the West after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a death sentence in the form of a fatwa against British author Salman Rushdie for alleged blasphemies in his book "The Satanic Verses" in 1989. As a result, the Indian-born writer was forced into hiding for most of the '90s.

Emmerich has no qualms about wrecking other major landmarks, however. The massive dome of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican rolls on top of a crowd of churchgoers. The huge Christ the Redeemer statue that looms over Rio de Janeiro disintegrates. And, of course, the White House gets crushed when a wave drops the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy on top of it.

The director was also reportedly approached by people hoping to get their famous landmarks trashed, like Taiwan's Taipei 101, which is the tallest completed building in the world. There's no word yet if that structure will meet the same on-screen fate as the Vatican and the White House. "2012" opens nationwide on November 13.

Watch Los Angeles Get Destroyed in a Clip from '2012'

 

[Godwynn]

cool story bro

 

[kramerfan86]

I think the more obvious reason is watching a cube get destroyed is infinitely less entertaining.

 

[kulade]

cool st... godamnit godwynn

 

[Earthling]

I think the more obvious reason is watching a cube get destroyed is infinitely less entertaining.

Well, it's more like the Cube would be destroying the Earth, true story bro, if we didn't travel back in time to stop it.

 

[kulade]

This is all besides the point, God wouldn't let Mecca be destroyed anyway so it would be unrealistic to put it in a movie.

 

[azzaman333]

Australia will survive because we have giant seagulls.

Proof;

 

[Traitorfish]

"An Arab symbol"? Doesn't he mean "Islamic"? There's plenty of Arab Christians about, after all- around 8-10% of the total world population- not to mention the billion or so Muslims who are not Arabs.

 

[Babbler]

We should put a fatwa on Emmerich anyway.

 

[emzie]

Australia will survive because we have giant seagulls.

Proof;

bwaahahaahahaha

 

[MagisterCultuum]

"An Arab symbol"? Doesn't he mean "Islamic"? There's plenty of Arab Christians about, after all- around 8-10% of the total world population- not to mention the billion or so Muslims who are not Arabs.

I was thinking that too at first, but the Kaaba was considered holy in pre-Islamic Arabia too.

 

[Arwon]

"Fatwa" doesn't mean contracted hit.

 

[Karalysia]

"Fatwa" doesn't mean contracted hit.

Fatwa also doesn't come from Sunnis only Shi'is clergy are allowed to issue them. Sunni's lack a organized clergy of the same sort. People like Osama like to issue them but he has no religious authority to do so.

 

[Harshad]

I was thinking that too at first, but the Kaaba was considered holy in pre-Islamic Arabia too.

Yea, that's exactly why he wouldn't blow up the Kaaba, lol.

 

[Death_Machine]

All this shows is that the man is a coward. If you have the balls to attack Christianity or other religions then have the balls to do it to a crowd that will fight back. That is why SLAYER is so great. Indiscriminate hate.

 

[Joecoolyo]

All this shows is that the man is a coward. If you have the balls to attack Christianity or other religions then have the balls to do it to a crowd that will fight back. That is why SLAYER is so great. Indiscriminate hate.

Nah it just shows that he know what to destroy. What would look cooler crumbling and exploding?
This:

or this:

 

[Arwon]

Fatwa also doesn't come from Sunnis only Shi'is clergy are allowed to issue them. Sunni's lack a organized clergy of the same sort. People like Osama like to issue them but he has no religious authority to do so.

I think they're still done, since it basically means "Islamic legal opinion". My reason for thinking this is that I recently read an editorial by the princess of Jordan criticising Australia for lowering its slaughtering standards to no longer require stunning before killing:

"Contrary to some claims, killing without stunning is not necessary under Islamic principles. I say this based on several fatwas and extensive discussions with the Islamic authorities who are qualified to pronounce upon such matters."

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Both Sunnis and Shia use Fatwas, but Sunni Fatwas are always non-binding while Shia ones are can be binding under some circumstances.

 

[Winner]

He should dedicate at least 10 minutes of the film to destruction of various Islam-related landmarks around the world just to stick it to the Muslims.

1) Muslims will make a big a deal out of it, as usual, and thus prove again their religion doesn't belong to the 21st century.
2) Emmerich will be killed, which will benefit all humanity

 

[Death_Machine]

Nah it just shows that he know what to destroy. What would look cooler crumbling and exploding?

I guess it would depend how many people got crushed running from the bouncing cube.