The appeal of the post-apocalyptic genre

[Max Demian]

Ever since I had first played Fallout in the now distant year 1998 at the age of fifteen, I've always been astounded by the most singular appeal the post-apocalyptic content exhibited upon my psyche. It’s as if I had always thought the world to be a sinister and foreboding place, an outgrowth of a continuous process of unabated decadence caused by mankind’s blind faith in technologically attainable utopia. At first there was just an incommunicable feeling that something was amiss with humanity as a whole– a sentiment clearly induced by emotional hypersensitivity I had suffered throughout my childhood. At the age of five I had already seen the Mad Max movie over a dozen times, been awestruck by the Terminator and utterly saturated by the uncountable atrocities exhibited in the horror movies my babysitter had me watch to the point that I had already, at that fragile age become fully aware of the pain life had in stored for us. The Road Warrior motion picture left an almost equally deep impression, as did its Tina Turner staring sequel. I find it important to note that I’m not a native English speaker and consequently at such a young age could not have understood but an insignificant portion of the verbal content therein presented. But the fact that such and similar titles (including computer games of the time) left so wonderfully vivid images in my mind was not solely to be attributed to the infantile mind’s propensity to commit such sensory overabundant content to memory. I admit that what I’m attempting to imply here is a little preposterous, but even at such a young age I was astonishingly self aware (from my current point of view) and had a pretty clear, though incomplete grasp of the concept of right and wrong, thanks to the rather thorough moral conditioning my nanny had me go through. So it’s not entirely unthinkable that my little inner self of the time identified with the post-apocalyptical hero of the movies herein mentioned… and subsequently the notion of heroism and Apocalypse had become forever interconnected and subconsciously indistinguishable from each other to the degree that one always recalled the other into being.

The reason why I wrote this introspective paragraph was to give you my personal account on the question proposed by this thread. Another answer, albeit rather more profoundly analyzed, can be found in the following article, of which I will give but a few excerpts:

“…Furthermore, post-apocalyptic film concerns the theme of humanity's possible demise -- when the modern world lies broken and fragmented, and its remaining vestiges struggle for their very survival. In post-apocalyptic film, mankind itself hangs in the balance -- a reality which lends the post-apocalyptic action its urgency. It is precisely insofar as the future of mankind is at stake that heroism becomes a sensible and important theme in post-apocalyptic film....“

“For the viewer, the real thrill of post-apocalyptic film is feeling the heroic in him or her being called out into a world that in many ways already feels post-apocalyptic. Thus, part of the revelation of post-apocalyptic film concerns what is illuminated in the viewer's own person and world-situation.
In calling out the heroic in its audiences, post-apocalyptic film implies the further startling idea that a technology destructive enough to annihilate the human race has the power to call mankind into a more deeply and genuinely humane way of life. Curiously, the bomb is not only a horrible monster; it also offers the human race a great, positive value -- the bomb's very existence has the potential to motivate mankind to attain greater wisdom in life. Post-apocalyptic film suggests to its audiences that the time has come to grow beyond mankind's age-old self-absorbed territoriality, and to seek out a deeper, more heroic interrelatedness with each other and the world in which we live...“

„What is it about post-apocalyptic film, or any other genre for that matter, that makes it popular across the land at a particular time? Films become popular insofar as they speak to the psychological spaces many of us inhabit. A popular film, even the most fantastical popular film, appeals to us because at some level it gears into what matters to us (of course, the converse is not necessarily true). In one way or another, a popular film resonates with what we think and feel -- with what attracts or repels us, with our desires or fears. In short, films are popular insofar as they appeal to our current collective social-psychological state. Consequently, popular films can serve as indicators of important social-psychological dynamics, and an interpretation of popular film offers the promise of illuminating those dynamics.
What then is the social-psychological import of post-apocalyptic films, which initially seem so fantastical, and so distant from the everyday reality of our lives? Most obviously, post-apocalyptic films invite a fairly immediate identification with the post-apocalyptic hero (see footnote 4). Like the post-apocalyptic hero, the viewer feels himself suspended between two worlds, but without the hero's cool equanimity. „

„

Despite the fact that today's post-apocalyptic films admit post-modern interpretation, it is clear that for the most part they favor the modern, existential world over and against the post-modern world. The protagonist is the self-sufficient individual rather than the social, pluralistic horde. Throughout most of the film, the protagonist sides with the modern world, even if he ultimately returns to his own origin between worlds. As we have already seen, post-apocalyptic films speak both to our nostalgia for the modern world, as well as to our disquiet about a post-modernity that appears barbaric and foreboding. And so, the post-modern world comes to be represented in post-apocalyptic film by the antagonistic horde.
However, as our own world becomes more and more post-modern, perhaps our world-attitudes will shift far enough so that tomorrow's post-apocalyptic film will naturally favor the post-modern perspective, and the post-apocalyptic hero will assume the antagonist's role (precisely as a function of his heroism). For instance, instead of focusing on preserving and reestablishing modern existential values, tomorrow's post-apocalyptic film may focus more explicitly upon how the horde finally manages to deconstruct modernity's final remnants, despite the unenlightened efforts of the last few puppet-heroes of the dying power status quo. Instead of calling out the feeling of individual heroism in its viewers, tomorrow's post-apocalyptic films may call out the exhilaration of being a part of a plurality of equally valid social/linguistic/political discourses (of course, it many be argued, as above, that post-apocalyptic film already does this). „

Link: http://www.westga.edu/~psydept/dodson/postapoc.html


I would very much like to hear your opinion on the matter herein presented as well as your personal account of what you find most appealing in post-apocalyptically related movies, books and computer games.
I think this’ll do for now. Thanks for having the patience to read through all this stuff.
I’m off to the beach now. 8)

 

[welsh]

Damn, that's a lot of introspection for a neebie.

What is it about the post-apoc genre- Probably few adventures are as extreme or as exciting as the survival of the human race.

I agree that the genre it's self highlights a kind of "anti-hero"- the loner who wants to be left emotionally distant yet is called to transcend himself- Mad Max for instance.

Alternatively, post-apoc is more horror than sci-fi. It's science and technology that created Frankenstein, but in the Post-Apoc, we are left with the consequences of our own Frankenstein's monster. Our ability to excel in the sciences has surpassed man's humanity and moral compass- leading to self-destruction.

One might also think of the post-apoc as not only as existential fears, but also as a liberating theme. For those who live in the modern world in which structures of government, family, employment, church seem overwhelming and overpowering- the post-apocalyptic world may seem refreshing free of those troubles. The structure of the past has been destroyed for new liberation.

But of course that's a false liberation. The post-apoc survivor has a different structure of elements to deal with. His or her life may in fact be more structured and constrained that a modern character.

What you have is a new, more technical, dark age. Vikings in battle armor and with plasma rifles (See Brotherhood of the steel) do battle with genetic mutant dragons (master's mutant army and his monsters). Hidden magic treasure is some lost scientific artificat.

That and what Stephen King said was one of the appeals of horror- vicarious living and the cathartic release of the viewer.