After seeing the movie, I am Legend, I was struck by a very strange thought.  I must admit ignorance of the original novel, or any older versions of this movie, so my reaction is based entirely on the 2007 version with Will Smith.  What seemed rather odd to me was that, in his video diary after his encounter with the hive, Dr. Neville describes his observations and states that “all human characteristics are gone” from the dark seekers, or something of that sort. 

That struck me as an odd observation as they seemed to exhibit a number of human traits.  They were organized in a community, they knew their limits (stayed out of the sunlight), and the leader showed defiance and pride.  These qualities manifested themselves more fully as the movie went on, as well as others.  First, the dark seekers could learn - they used the same trap to catch Dr. Neville that he used to catch one of them.  They were highly organized and calculating in their attacks on the doctor, and followed the leader explicitly.  These qualities seemed innately human and unlike other zombie movies in which the monsters seem aimless and unorganized.

This got me to thinking, what if this new breed of human is not the enemy, or some degenerative version of us.  What if the “dark seekers” are just the next evolutionary step for Homo Sapiens?  They are stronger, faster, more resilient and clearly harder to kill.  Sure, they can’t stand the daylight, and seem to have no appreciation for art, but so what?  There are plenty of things that our current evolutionary stage does that makes no sense, and who knows that the next step can’t learn to appreciate art?  Civilization as we know it couldn’t possibly be the pinnacle, could it?  When Tara and I visited the History of Natural Science in New York, one point that really stuck with me was how presumptuous and narcissistic it is for is to believe we are the culmination of human evolution. 

So, if it is the case that the dark seekers are our evolutionary progeny, and Dr. Neville is a lone stand out of the old ways, then could you see the new history written sometime in the future?  Neville wouldn’t be the hero, he wouldn’t be “Legend”.  He’d be the enemy, a veritable Sasquatch, a villain bent on holding us back.  Suddenly this story takes on entirely new meaning, and even causes me to question my own existence and goals in life.  Who’s to say my dreams for tomorrow aren’t just the antitheses of a better world than I can imagine?  Getting in deep here, and will leave the rest up to you to think about.