I haven’t seen Cloverfield yet, but I’m sure I will at some point. The History Channel’s “Life After People” premieres tonight, too. It gets me wondering–and I have no answer to this question–what it is about the destruction of familiar landmarks in movies that is so dang entertaining.

A few examples include Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and Armageddon/Deep Impact, a nice compilation of which is found here:

Think of it as disaster porn: the “money shot,” if you will, of all these movies is the mega-CGI scenes of destruction and mayhem. Maybe we as a culture just need to be repeatedly desensitized after events like 9/11 and Katrina, and watching NYC get blown up/flooded/smashed by a monster/inundated by leprechauns is the way to do it.

Or maybe we’re just a nation full of assholes. Hard to tell. Anyway, I prefer the much more sober, survival-against-all-odds Battlestar Galactica over fluff like Armageddon.

And besides, the spoilers about the Cloverfield monster make it look pretty silly.