Light Up the Darkness

Lieutenant Robert Neville (and his dog Samantha) walking
through an abandoned New York City

In the 2007 movie I Am Legend, a cure to cancer has been found- the measles virus has been genetically mutated to stop the growth of cancerous tissue in the human body. Until the measles virus mutated for the worse, starting with patients showing rabies-like symptoms, and eventually transformed its subjects into highly aggressive and bloodthirsty zombies. The last known survivor of the plague, Lieutenant Robert Neville (Will Smith), along with his dog Samantha, is left to try to find a cure for the “KV infection” and search throughout New York City in an attempt to survive. Neville works out of a small lab in his basement to find a cure to the virus, as he works on lab rats and live infected humans, hoping to return them to their original (fully human) form. Robert Neville quoted Bob Marley, who said “The people who are trying to make this world worse aren't taking a day off, why should I? Light up the darkness.” While the quote was opposing racists in the time of Marley, Neville is in a similar situation, unable to take a day off from fighting the zombies and trying to find a cure to the disease that could save humanity.  Just as Robert loses all of his will to survive with the loss of his only companion, Sam, two survivors (Anna and her son Ethan) come to his aid in a sure-death situation and bring him back to his house. Just as he notices that his last vaccine injected into the zombie finally worked, the zombies invade his lab and begin breaking down the bulletproof glass door that Anna, Neville, and Ethan are cornered behind. After extracting blood from the zombie, Lieutenant Neville gives it to Anna and allows her and Ethan to escape the lab through a vent, as he stays to fight the zombies. He then pulls a grenade from a lab desk and blows up the zombies, along with himself. Because of Robert’s actions, Anna and Ethan were ensures a safe escape and allow them to eventually reach a small community, where they share the cure and tell the story of Neville’s selfless actions to save what is left of humanity.

Robert Neville and Anna in lab with infected zombie

                Utilitarians would say that Robert Neville made the correct decision in sacrificing his own life and killing himself with the grenade, while killing many zombies in the process. Utilitarians, in the words of Heather Salazar, believe that “one should benefit oneself only if these acts benefit the whole of conscious life, where measurements of benefits include both short and long term consequences” Salazar, p2). Since the measles virus mutated, Lieutenant Neville has been searching to find a cure to save himself and the rest of humanity (if anyone else is left), and is a perfect example of the quote. Utilitarians believe that one should not be self-interested often, and Neville showed that with his selfless actions throughout the movie, up until his truly selfless action of committing suicide to ensure that not only Anna and Ethan survived, but ensured that the cure would be spread and could save any other humans left on the earth. Neville’s sacrifice of his own life made a huge positive impact on all other humans, and even the zombies as his cure to the KV infection would return all of the zombies to their original [fully] human form. This is a great example of Utilitarianism, as they believe that, “the benefit of the whole requires self-sacrifice, especially for those able to substantially impact the benefits that others receive” (Salazar, p2). The sacrifice of one life would have saved the whole rest of humanity, and may have been the only way that humans avoided extinction altogether.

                Kantians would also agree with Lieutenant Neville’s decision to sacrifice himself for the greater good of humanity. Kantianism “holds people accountable to their inner value of humanity,” (Salazar, p1) and Neville clearly felt that the rest of humanity’s ensured survival was much more important than his own life. Kantians, in the words of Heather Salazar, are,” motivated from duty, seeking to do what is right simply because it is right, …not out of fear of punishment”(Salazar, p1). Robert Neville would not have been punished for leaving along with Anna and Ethan, and surviving the zombies for the time being, as it is likely no one would have put blame on him for zombies killing everyone, as it was probably the presumed outcome already.  But instead, he made sure that Anna and Ethan had a safe escape, and killed many infected zombies during his suicidal actions. His actions would be considered the right action because he defended the security of Anna, Ethan, and the cure by putting himself directly in harm’s way.

Infected human

                Though both theories agreed with the actions Lieutenant Robert Neville, I feel the utilitarian theory fits better. Kantianism focuses mainly on human to human interactions, and while Neville’s actions greatly benefited Anna and Ethan, as it greatly increased their chances of surviving the incident, and benefited the rest of humanity as the cure was spread, I feel that Utilitarianisms is a better theory to apply to this ethical situation. Utilitarianism talks about making personal sacrifices to benefit the greater good, and Neville was constantly sacrificing his time, safety, and eventually life, in an attempt to find(and help) other survivors and to find a cure to the infection.

I believe that although all three could have escaped the lab, those zombies would only continue to attack the Robert, Anna, and Ethan, whether they also entered the escape tunnel, or just continued hunting the three. Although Robert believed no survivors were left, as he repeated multiple times throughout the movie, I feel he made the right decision in giving those alive a much greater chance of surviving the apocalypse. It seemed that the more the movie progressed, the more Neville lost his hope in surviving and finding a cure, finding survivors, and the more he lost his mind. He already felt alone, talking to only his dog (the only living member of his family – his wife and son exploded in a helicopter in front of his eyes at the beginning of the apocalypse) and manikins inside stores. After losing his dog, he acted suicidal in taking on the zombies in his car, giving up on his hopes of survival and finding the vaccine. After Anna saved him, he still had little hope that anyone other than himself, Anna, and Ethan, were alive, insisting to Anna that they would not find any other survivors. In his final moments, Neville showed a renewed hope in humanity, as his purpose became clear. He had found the cure, and decided to join his wife, child, and his dog Samantha and sacrifice himself to allow his cure to save Anna, Ethan, and the community they travelled to.

References

Blackburn, Simon. Being Good: An Introduction to Ethics. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001. Print.

Salazar, Heather. “Self-Interest,” The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Series on Ethics and Morality, 

ed. by Robert  Fastiggi. Gale Cengage Learning, 2013