10. The Christmas Connection
So by now you're probably asking, "Why is this on the frakking Advent Calendar"? Simple: the film's events start at Christmas time. The plague runs rampant at that time of year, causing the evacuation and quarantine of New York Island. Most importantly, it ties into the Savior metaphor that Neville embodies. Throughout the film, most notably during one of the first flashback scenes, Neville reflects on how New York is " ground zero". He sends his family to safety as he volunteers to help create the cure to The Krippen Virus, which will eventually ravage the land and leave him all alone.
(SPOILER) Even in the film's ending, he sends Eve and her son to Vermont with the successfully synthesized cure, only to sacrifice himself again to destroy the Hemocytes and their leader.
(END SPOILER) And we all know the story about a certain savior born on Christmas Day, so there's your big connection. Will Smith is Jesus (and would later be Jesus again in the dreadful Seven Pounds). However, for those of you looking for more of a holiday laugh, check out this fan art that was photoshopped with good old Saint Nick himself taking on the desolation of New York. (I suggest casting Ian McShane's Santa from American Horror Story: Asylum if we're going to move ahead with this idea.) So there you have it. While not the most Christmas-y of films, I Am Legend subtly used the Holiday Season to weave part of a tale that involves destruction, redemption, and atonement of a savior who feels personally responsible for the desolation he had helped inadvertently create. (Which means there's a slight chance this might be re-run during What Culture's "Easter Egg Hunt" next Spring. Apologies.)