Hollywood epic blasted by historians

Mayan experts have blasted the forthcoming epic disaster movie '2012'.

 
The film, which stars John Cusack and is directed by Independence Day's Roland Emmerich, uses the backdrop of the Mayan calendar – which is said to have foretold the end of the world on December 22, 2012.

 
That date is when the calendar runs out, and because it stops on the 13th baktun (a term which was how the civilization measured time, with each baktun lasting 400 years), and with 13 being a sacred number the long running theory is that it spells the beginning of the apocalypse.
 

And what an apocalypse if Emmerich's version is to be believed. Yahoo! Movies saw a sneak peek of a third of the movie and it's truly spectacular stuff.

 
However, it seems it's all nonsense.

 
David Webster, author of The Fall of the Ancient Maya, fumed, "This is just all kinds of mystic nonsense, and of course when 22 December 2012 comes around, no one whipping up all this goofiness will ever have the courtesy to say 'Sorry, we were wrong'.

 

"There is no evidence the Maya imagined their world would come to an end on this date and since their own society basically fell apart in the 9th century AD, they would have been very poor predictors if they relied on this as a prophecy of doom."

 

The theory is said to have come from a Mayan monument that had the date of when they believed the world would end inscribed on it but "it's badly destroyed and the event that follows the date can't be read very well right now" – said Yale professor Michael Coe.

 

Not that Hollywood is the only ones to be suckered by the theory, as the date gets closer expect more TV documentaries, books and websites dedicated to the 'impending apocalypse'.

 

"This whole uproar about the supposed end of the universe, end of time etc, tells one much more about my fellow Americans than it does about the classic Maya," added Coe.

 

The debunking of the 2012 myth isn't the only theory used in the film that has been disproved. Emmerich also uses the Earth Crust Displacement theory - which purports that every set number of years the earth crust shifts – as the reason for the disasters that take place in the movie.

 

However, despite Albert Einstein endorsing the idea put together by Professor Charles Hapgood in the 50s, it has since been disproved by experts.

 

Not that you would expect Emmerich, or indeed cinema audiences, to lose too much sleep over it all. These kinds of films are meant to entertain, and not be interpreted as a history lesson. As for Mayan experts who will pop along to see for some, an accurate representation of the lost civilization, well, it’s best to 'move along, watch you don't step on any popcorn, there's nothing to see here'.

 

Do you care that the film's theory has been disproved or should people just sit back and enjoy the spectacle?

 

'2012' is released on 13th November.

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