by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
This past Wednesday passengers on board a Spirit Airlines flight from Charlotte to Newark were treated to some in-flight entertainment - and more than a bit of excitement - as a bat suddenly began flying up and down the plane's cabin. As some shrieked and tried to hide exposed skin from the flying rodent, at least one whipped out his cellphone and gleefully filmed the airborne adventure - and soon had it out on social media where people around the globe were able to enjoy all of the high-flying mayhem while they were supposed to be working.
A group of innocents being trapped in dangerous circumstances is a literary device that has been used in countless books and movies. In 2006 Samuel L. Jackson starred in a movie which revealed it's main thrust in the title, Snakes on a Plane, and recently the country of Korea produced a hit movie, Train to Busan, which had a gaggle of zombies munching on passengers during a long train trip across the Korean Peninsula. There is something about being scared - and trapped - that appeals to many of us.
(Okay, so what is the collective noun for zombies? A "zoo of zombies" perhaps?)
And the "trapped on some form of public transportation" scenario seems to be particularly appealing. A sequel to Train to Busan is currently in production, and it's surprising that all sorts of follow-ups to Snakes on a Plane didn't quickly result from that film's release.
(My own personal horror is crying babies on a plane, but that's fodder for a whole other blog post.)
Two years ago I wrote about a scorpion on a plane - one that dropped from an overhead bin onto the head of a business-class passenger on a flight from Houston to Calgary, and I had the personal experience of once taking a flight that was crammed with show dogs. I thought there might be potential in both of those sets of circumstances for a good movie, but Hollywood apparently couldn't see the possibilities.
And then there was the young carnival worker who fell asleep in the back of a Greyhound bus as it was traversing the western Canadian prairie late at night. The mentally unstable fellow sitting next to him stuck a knife in the sleeping passenger's throat and proceeded to cut off his head - while the other passengers forced the driver to pull over and then ran screaming out into the dark prairie night in fear for their lives. Hollywood didn't grab that one up either.
Perhaps bats on a plane will capture the film industry's interest. One journalist said that if Hollywood decided to put bats on a plane, it would, in essence, be picking "low-hanging fruit." Bat humor - gotta love it!
Others overlooked the mysterious presence of the bat and chose instead to make fun of economy carrier Spirit Airlines. Comedian Stephen Colbert observed: "I can't believe there was a bat on a Spirit Airlines flight. I've only ever seen raccoons!"
So there you go, Hollywood - yet another possibility for a movie!
Citizen Journalist
This past Wednesday passengers on board a Spirit Airlines flight from Charlotte to Newark were treated to some in-flight entertainment - and more than a bit of excitement - as a bat suddenly began flying up and down the plane's cabin. As some shrieked and tried to hide exposed skin from the flying rodent, at least one whipped out his cellphone and gleefully filmed the airborne adventure - and soon had it out on social media where people around the globe were able to enjoy all of the high-flying mayhem while they were supposed to be working.
A group of innocents being trapped in dangerous circumstances is a literary device that has been used in countless books and movies. In 2006 Samuel L. Jackson starred in a movie which revealed it's main thrust in the title, Snakes on a Plane, and recently the country of Korea produced a hit movie, Train to Busan, which had a gaggle of zombies munching on passengers during a long train trip across the Korean Peninsula. There is something about being scared - and trapped - that appeals to many of us.
(Okay, so what is the collective noun for zombies? A "zoo of zombies" perhaps?)
And the "trapped on some form of public transportation" scenario seems to be particularly appealing. A sequel to Train to Busan is currently in production, and it's surprising that all sorts of follow-ups to Snakes on a Plane didn't quickly result from that film's release.
(My own personal horror is crying babies on a plane, but that's fodder for a whole other blog post.)
Two years ago I wrote about a scorpion on a plane - one that dropped from an overhead bin onto the head of a business-class passenger on a flight from Houston to Calgary, and I had the personal experience of once taking a flight that was crammed with show dogs. I thought there might be potential in both of those sets of circumstances for a good movie, but Hollywood apparently couldn't see the possibilities.
And then there was the young carnival worker who fell asleep in the back of a Greyhound bus as it was traversing the western Canadian prairie late at night. The mentally unstable fellow sitting next to him stuck a knife in the sleeping passenger's throat and proceeded to cut off his head - while the other passengers forced the driver to pull over and then ran screaming out into the dark prairie night in fear for their lives. Hollywood didn't grab that one up either.
Perhaps bats on a plane will capture the film industry's interest. One journalist said that if Hollywood decided to put bats on a plane, it would, in essence, be picking "low-hanging fruit." Bat humor - gotta love it!
Others overlooked the mysterious presence of the bat and chose instead to make fun of economy carrier Spirit Airlines. Comedian Stephen Colbert observed: "I can't believe there was a bat on a Spirit Airlines flight. I've only ever seen raccoons!"
So there you go, Hollywood - yet another possibility for a movie!
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