It's been a subliminal message roaming the globe for a long time: Mankind's economic and political problems are so rooted and seemingly unsolvable, that the only hope for a pan-solution is being invaded by an alien race with the potential to put our species' long-forgotten survival purpose in the crosshair.

The last straw on the camel's back? Transformers. Putting aside considerations about the movie, the flick trivializes all mankind's problems, blurring civilians' and soldiers' roles and uniting everybody to fight Megatron's dudes. Admit it: it's a powerful movie with a helluva message!

Just to refresh your memory, the first serious attempt on an alien-triggered mankind solution came from Independence Day. The movie Transformers met the requirement of being visually jaw-dropping, as did Independence Day, but at the time, the memo about mankind's redemption was somehow lost, maybe not helped by the fact that in '96, the world - or at least Yankeeland - had too few problems.

An alien invasion to unite all men could seem preposterous, but on a less galactic - and amazingly factual - scale, did you know Pepsi-Cola Co. won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1993?

Okay, indulge me: It wasn't a conventional Nobel, of course, but one of the ignominious prizes Harvard awards every year for outstanding feats that, in the organizers' own words, "first make people laugh, and then make them think." The reason a soft drink company won it is that in 1993, the Pepsi guys announced the wrong winner in a sponsoring contest, creating a millionaire in the Philippines and bringing warring factions together for the first time in the nation's history among the 800,000 riotously expectant winners. Funny?

Should we be surprised that our planet could be saved only by galactic foreigners, as movies want us to think? For some reason foreigners seem to bring huge potential - maybe UFOs are the key after all.

In the 21st century, it looks as though the United Nations and NGOs could be joined by the civic potential of eye-entertaining movies and the peace-broker potency of palate-happy drink companies.

David Soler is a biomedical sciences graduate and a columnist for the Summer Kent Stater. Contact him at dsoler@kent.edu.

 

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