Let’s be honest–if 2016 has taught us anything, it’s that the circumstances that could ultimately lead to the end of the world might be just around the corner. And if the world does indeed go up in some giant catastrophe, what will the surviving members of the human race know about our cultural past? Or, if we’re going to be really bleak in this theoretical scenario, lets say everyone on the planet dies; how will potential visiting aliens understand who we were as a species if none of our culture is left behind?
Luckily for us, someone has actually thought of these questions, and they’re the archivists for the Library of Congress. Right now, they are storing hundreds of thousands of films, arguably our country’s greatest cultural import since the turn of the last century, for preservation in a place that could withstand even the biggest disaster.Thanks to IndieWire, we’ve learned that a special undergroud bunker is in Culpeper, Virginia, at the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus. In this bunker, which was originally a gold storage unit that that later doubled as a shelter for the president in case of a nuclear war, thousands of film prints exist, safe from potential harm.
In the video above, we meet archivist George Willeman, who takes us on a quick tour of the vaults, where today some of the most famous films of all time are stored, and some of the biggest turkeys of time are stored as well (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’ legendary bomb Gigli is among them, as are all of Adam Sandler’s films). Is your favorite movie among them? Who knows, but if Gigli made the cut, I’d say anything is possible.
What movie do you hope is among the thousands being kept safe in case of a nuclear holocaust? Let us know in the comments below.
Image: Great Big Story
