What a Disaster!

After seeing the classic (???) disaster films The Towering Inferno and Earthquake, a certain similarity between them struck me as both interesting, yet bewildering.

It wasn't the cardboard characters, the emphasis on special effects, the amazingly corny dialog, or how  overlong they were. It was this:

The filmmakers have some kind of grudge against skyscrapers.

Both films have gung-ho male leads who wail at some point about how whatever gimmicky disaster featured could have been averted if mankind had been content to have short buildings, instead of building great towers that seem to welcome Armageddons with open arms.


Well, they don't put it so eloquently, but you get the idea. There is plenty of hate going around for tall buildings. Not the lazy government people (and believe me, they always turn up in these kinds of films), not the shoddy cuntruction that contributes to the descruction and the loss of lives. But the building itself.

So in the mindset of the films:

Skyscrapers = Towers of Babel = magnets for disaster = Bad news for mankind!

Both images from impawards.com