The Apocalypse in Film

Dystopias, Disasters, and Other Visions about the End of the World

Karen A. Ritzenhoff, Angela Krewani (Herausgeber)

Buch | Hardcover

254 Seiten

2015
Rowman & Littlefield (Verlag)
978-1-4422-6027-6 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

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.

Karen A. Ritzenhoff is professor in the Department of Communication at Central Connecticut State University and is also affiliated with the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. She is the co-editor of Screening the Dark Side of Love: From Euro-Horror to American Cinema (2012) and Selling Sex on Screen: From Weimar Cinema to Zombie Porn (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015). Angela Krewani is professor for Media Studies at Philipps University in Marburg, Germany. She is the co-editor of Hollywood – Recent Developments (2005) and McLuhan’s Global Village Today (2014).

Acknowledgements
IntroductionKaren A. Ritzenhoff and Angela Krewani
PART ITHE EARLY DEPICTIONS OF DISASTER
Chapter 1World 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)
Clémentine Tholas-Disset
Chapter 2The End of the World: Loss and Redemption in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Karen Randell
PART IIGLOBAL 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 4The Legacy of Dr. Strangelove: Stanley Kubrick, Science Fiction Blockbusters and the Future of Humanity
Peter Krämer
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 IIIMELANCHOLIA 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 8Eco Apocalypse: Environmentalism, Political Alienation and Therapeutic Agency
Philip Hammond and Hugh Ortega Breton
PART IVPOLITICS OF SHOWING THE UNTHINKABLE
Chapter 9Disaster 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 11Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice: A Religious Humanist Apocalypse
Tatjana Ljujić
Chapter 12Dead Narratives: Defining Humanity Through Stories
A. Fiona Pearson and Scott Ellis
PART VMOVING BEYOND THE END OF THE WORLD
Chapter 13Opposing Thatcherism: Filmic Apocalypse as a Political Strategy in 1980s Britain
Angela Krewani
Chapter 14Painting in Time: On the Use of Digital Visual Effects in Melancholia (2011)
Andreas Kirchner
Chapter 15The 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

Erscheinungsdatum	25.12.2015
Verlagsort	Lanham, MD
Sprache	englisch
Maße	157 x 239 mm
Gewicht	531 g
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV
	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Theater / Ballett
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
ISBN-10	1-4422-6027-0 / 1442260270
ISBN-13	978-1-4422-6027-6 / 9781442260276
Zustand	Neuware