Mayan and/or Aztec Bleifs: Apocalypto

Topic: Beliefs

Source: Saturday, December 11th around 9pm in the dorms with friends


Relation: Observing how the movie "Apocalypto" depicts the beliefs of the Mayan (or Aztec) Culture before the Spanish Colonization 

Description: Last Saturday I watched the movie "Apocalypto" Directed by Mel Gibson. I really liked it, even thought there was some bad reviews. It a story about a young Mayan man, Jaguar Paw, and his journey back to his family and his village which was raided by another tribe who practice human sacrifice. It shows the strong connection the main character has to his wife, son, father, brother, tribe, and forest he lives in. These connections and the overall intensity of this film is why I liked it so much.
On the other hand, "Apocalypto" was very gruesome at some points. They vividly show the attack of many innocent people and the bloody sacrificial practices of the Mayans.

Analysis: I read some of the reviews for "Apocalypto." Most of them were bad because of how Mel Gibson depicted the Mayans. Anthropologists say that the theme of mass human sacrifice was mainly present in the Aztec society rather than the Mayans. All through there has been some evidence of sacrifice, they wouldn't have done this mass execution of villagers, there would have been occasional sacrifices of royalty or elites. There also wouldn't have been a massive pit of dead bodies that was shown in the movie.


Other than the downsides of the movie, it showed a great connection the main character had with multiple things such as his family, tribe, and forest he lived in. I feel like this connection would be much more hard to see in our modern society. I think that, generally, Americans in specific, are raised to be less connected to our families, community, and environment. I think that the life style of the tribes people in the movie showed how in tuned they are to where they live and the people they live with. Nowadays, most American children are brought up with a heavy influence on media and technology to influence us how to act or look or live. The Mayans have to hunt for their food, hand make everything, and work together to have a successful community. Even though the movie showed a gruesome, somewhat not true, view of the Mayans, I think our society would be more peaceful if we all had to work together and harder for our way of living.