We live in a world at risk. Dire predictions about our future or the demise of planet earth persist. Even fictional representations depict narratives of decay and the end of a commonly shared social reality. Along with recurring Hollywood blockbusters that imagine the end of the world, there has been a new wave of zombie features as well as independent films that offer various visions of the future. The Apocalypse in Film: Dystopias, Disasters, and Other Visions about the End of the World offers an overview of Armageddon in film from the silent era to the present. This collection of essays discusses how such films reflect social anxieties-ones that are linked to economic, ecological, and cultural factors. Featuring a broad spectrum of international scholars specializing in different historical genres and methodologies, these essays look at a number of films, including the silent classic The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the black comedy Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, the Mayan calendar disaster epic, 2012, and in particular, Lars Von Trier's Melancholia, the focus of several essays. As some filmmakers translate the anxiety about a changing global climate and geo-political relations into visions of the apocalypse, others articulate worries about the planet's future by depicting chemical warfare, environmental disasters, or human made destruction. This book analyzes the emergence of apocalyptic and dystopic narratives and explores the political and social situations on which these films are based. Contributing to the dialogue on dystopic culture in war and peace, The Apocalypse in Film will be of interest to scholars in film and media studies, border studies, gender studies, sociology, and political science.
Acknowledgements Introduction Karen A. Ritzenhoff and Angela Krewani PART I THE EARLY DEPICTIONS OF DISASTER Chapter 1 World War One and Hollywood's First Modern Armageddon: Understanding Wartime and Post-Conflict Representations of a Global Cataclysm in Civilization (1916) and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) Clementine Tholas-Disset Chapter 2 The End of the World: Loss and Redemption in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) Karen Randell PART II GLOBAL DEMISE AND COLD WAR Chapter 3 'Radiation's rising, but one mustn't grumble too much': Nuclear Apocalypse Played as Farce in Richard Lester's The Bed-Sitting Room (1969) Thomas Prasch Chapter 4 The Legacy of Dr. Strangelove: Stanley Kubrick, Science Fiction Blockbusters and the Future of Humanity Peter Kramer Chapter 5 'Gentleman, You Can't Fight in Here': Gender Symbolism and the End of the World in Dr. Strangelove and Melancholia Catriona McAvoy PART III MELANCHOLIA AND OTHER REPRESENTATIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE Chapter 6 Is There an End to It? Fictional Shelters and Shelter-Fiction Solvejg Nitzke Chapter 7 Melancholia and the Apocalypse Within Pierre Floquet Chapter 8 Eco Apocalypse: Environmentalism, Political Alienation and Therapeutic Agency Philip Hammond and Hugh Ortega Breton PART IV POLITICS OF SHOWING THE UNTHINKABLE Chapter 9 Disaster Films: The End of the World and the Risk Society Hero Frederick Wasser Chapter 10 The (Gender) Politics of Disaster in 2012 (2009) Charles Antoine Courcoux Chapter 11 Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice: A Religious Humanist Apocalypse Tatjana Ljujic Chapter 12 Dead Narratives: Defining Humanity Through Stories A. Fiona Pearson and Scott Ellis PART V MOVING BEYOND THE END OF THE WORLD Chapter 13 Opposing Thatcherism: Filmic Apocalypse as a Political Strategy in 1980s Britain Angela Krewani Chapter 14 Painting in Time: On the Use of Digital Visual Effects in Melancholia (2011) Andreas Kirchner Chapter 15 The Corporate and Corporeal: Min(d)ing the Body-Conscience and Consumption in Early 21st Century Hollywood Dystopia Wendy Sterba Index About the Editors and Contributors
